Shyamalan repeats his Village actor in new film

Movie buffs who made Sideways a sleeper hit with a $70 million gross in North America are still upset actor Paul Giamatti was not even nominated for an Oscar. His fans were convinced he should have got an award for his luminous work as a sad school teacher who never got over his divorce but learnt a few life lessons on a road trip with a pal who was to get married.

There may still be an Oscar in the future but right now, Giamatti is one of Hollywood's envies. He has been signed by M Night Shyamalan for a lead role in Lady In The Water, reports Variety.

Sideways was made for $16 million (which means everyone connected with the film got paid little) and Lady In The Water is expected to cost $75 million. Surely that means Giamatti's paycheque will also be fatter. This may be his best paycheque in his 15 years in the movies.

But his big challenge would be to give a strong performance under Shyamalan's direction. Nobody expects him to top his acting in Sideways.

Though he has a decent part in the depression-era movie Cinderella Man -- directed by one of Hollywood's best, Ron Howard, Giamatti won't get too much exposure in it, since Russell Crowe plays the lead. So it could be the Shyamalan film, which is scheduled to be released in the summer of 2005, that would bring Giamatti, 38, his biggest exposure till date.

He has worked in more than 40 low budget films. One of his very few big budget films is the current hit, Robots, in which his voice is used for Tim, the gate guard.

Featured with him in the Shyamalan film is Bryce Dallas Howard, the 24-year-old daughter of Ron Howard, who made her debut in Shyamalan's last film, The Village. She gave a radiant performance as a blind woman who shows exemplary courage to save her boyfriend. She was cast without having an audition after Shyamalan saw her in a Broadway show.

Given Shyamalan's penchant for secrecy, we will have to wait for a long time to find out what exactly happens to Giamatti and Dallas Howard in the movie.

Shyamalan recently quit the Disney stable, where he had made four of his five movies, and hitched his star to Warner Bros. According to the initial information put out by Warner about the film, it is a suspense fantasy about a superintendent of a building who finds a nymph in the water tank.

Now, Giamatti can play any kind of role and we know that Dallas Howard has a charming look.

Unless Shyamalan has one or two key parts in his new film reserved for a mega-buck star, he will be making yet another film without stars. The Village was his first big film that had no stars like Bruce Willis (The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable) and Mel Gibson (Signs).