For Paul Giamatti, Christmas just isn’t Christmas without a good panettone.
In a December interview with PEOPLE, The Holdovers the actor, 56, says that while he doesn’t have many Christmas traditions, he always has to provide a loaf of Italian sweet bread — the type of fruitcake most commonly found during the holiday season.
“Well, I’m Italian, so we had panettone every year,” says Giamatti. “It’s the only thing I still do, which is the Italian breakfast cake you eat on Christmas Day.”
Giamatti, who is nominated for a 2024 Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Comedy for his role in The Holdovers — a film set in a 1970s boarding school during the Christmas season — is no stranger to holiday movies. In 2007, he played Santa Claus himself in the film Fred Clausin which he co-starred with Vince Vaughn, who played Santa’s sloth older brother, Fred.
Paul Giamatti (center) as Santa Claus in Fred Claus. Warner Bros/Kobal/Shutterstock
But despite having two festive films under his belt, the father of one of them – Samuel Paul Giamatti, 21 – says he had a “standard sort of Christmas upbringing”. However, he recalled that one year was memorable for the wrong reasons.
Billions Series finale: How it ended and who became ‘really rich’. Even the rich
“One year a tree fell over and caught fire,” he says. “I remember that. Everything was fine, but this was probably the worst.”
If the tree that caught fire is his worst Christmas memory, the Oscar nominee’s best holiday memory is one that involves an unforgettable gift.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
“I remember—when I was probably about 7 years old—I got a plastic castle set,” says Giamatti. “That was probably the best thing I ever got that I can remember.”
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education