WAX PAUL NOW FAMILY NEWS
"I think people started telling me, “oh, there's these posters all over the place," and they were all up and down the Eastern seaboard. I thought it was hilarious. I thought it was very funny, and I think the whole idea of wax statutes is hilarious, and I always have. And then I, actually, through complete total coincidence, happened to run into one of these three young women who created the whole thing."
-Paul Giamatti, GQ Magazine
See more about the 21st annual Through Women's Eyes Festival lineup
"The films also vary considerably in subject matter, from serious topics to more lighthearted stories like “Sensei Fran Kicks A--” (about a woman in her 80s who is also a martial arts expert, snowboarder and skier), and “Wax Paul Now” (about three women’s campaign to get a wax statue of actor Paul Giamatti into Madame Tussauds)."
-Jimmy Geurts, Herald Tribune
"Seventeen short films compete for the Festival’s Short Film Award, including Wax Paul Now (directed by Val Bodurtha, Sophie Mann, and Rebecca Shaw)"
-Miami Community News
To see the film featured among ten of AFI Fest's shorts, click
"There are 40 shorts screening in six programs (as well as in front of features) at this year’s AFI Fest presented by Audi. Here are ten highlights from the festival, which unspools November 14-21 in Los Angeles."
- Gary M. Kramer, filmint.
“Curated from thousands of entries, this year’s short films highlight unique voices from around the world—emerging and established filmmakers pushing the form of storytelling in inventive, challenging, and sometimes hilarious ways—all in 40 minutes or less.”
-Women in Film
To see Wax Paul Now highlighted in AFI's lineup, click
"Apparently, after the trio visited Madame Tussauds Times Square, they discovered the museum encourages its attendees to suggest a celebrity to next be turned into one of their wax statues. The girls see an opportunity to express their appreciation for Giamatti.
They sent multiple emails, but despite the museum’s earlier encouragement to do so, they are unanswered and ignored. The three women, confused and spurned, stepped up their game and start an online movement to get Paul Giamatti his own statue at Madame Tussauds.
Thus, the viral “Wax Paul Now” movement was born. The project was covered by Vulture, Forbes, The New York Times, Buzzfeed, and even featured on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert."
-Colin Costello, Reel 360
To read more about Wax Paul Now's origins and festival presence, click
To read more about Wax Paul Now at AFI Fest, click
"We all have our personal causes that we stand behind. For three New York women, that cause is to get the great actor Paul Giamatti immortalized as a wax statue at Madame Tussauds. In their documentary short film, Wax Paul Now, friends Val, Sophia, and Rebecca document this journey, which screens this weekend at the AFI Festival in Los Angeles. Screenings will take place at the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, ironically situated next door to Madame Tussauds in Hollywood."
"And, finally, there’s one short film that was brought to my attention that’s too weird to ignore."
-Natalie Gempel, D Magazine
"It started with three friends, a tour of Madame Tussauds wax museum in Times Square and an immediate recognition of injustice. When writer-comedians Sophie Mann, Val Bodurtha and Rebecca Shaw ventured to the hallowed halls of the New York City staple and perused the collection of uncanny replicas of celebrities, their amusement gave way to serious concern. The reason for their justified distress? Madame Tussauds has no wax statue of New York-based, world-renowned actor Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti.
To right this wrong, Mann, Bodurtha and Shaw used the recommended procedures for redress — they sent Madame Tussauds an email, and awaited a reply. None came. They sent several more emails — still, silence. The women decided to take matters into their own hands, and the “Wax Paul Now” movement began. In its newest iteration, the movement brought a short film to the Virginia Film Festival, which screened on Saturday and Sunday."
-Robin Schwartzkopf, The Cavalier Daily
"The festival, which runs November 14-21 in Los Angeles, will close with with Apple’s The Banker, starring Anthony Mackie, Samuel L. Jackson, Nicholas Hoult and Nia Long, and will feature the world premiere of Clint Eastwood’s Richard Jewell."
New York Times
"And who could forget “Wax Paul Now,” a viral campaign to bring Paul Giamatti’s likeness to the attraction? Not Madame Tussauds New York, which threw a Paul Giamatti-themed party on March 25 — and promised to cast him in wax if petitioners get 500,000 signatures."
-Dayna Evans, The New York Times
Vulture's Story on the Party at Madame Tussauds
"On Sunday night, as a cluster of eager New Yorkers exited an elevator and entered Madame Tussauds in Times Square, they were greeted by more than a dozen Paul Giamattis.
There was Paul Giamatti in a tux, Paul Giamatti in leather, Paul Giamatti in a shimmering blue dress. Three Paul Giamattis peered down from an upstairs balcony. There were Paul Giammatis of different shapes and, apparently, genders, all wearing the same somewhat bemused Giamattiesque expression. Every pair of Giamatti eyes appeared to follow you around the room. Beholding them was like a strange dream, or some sort of Giamatti genome-splicing experiment gone fascinatingly wrong.
In reality, the figures were Paul Giammatis from the shoulders up only. Just for the evening, Madame Tussauds had repurposed (improved) a room’s worth of its inanimate residents — among them, wax figures of Daniel Craig, Patrick Stewart, Morgan Freeman, Sofia Vergara and Anne Hathaway — by crudely affixing Paul Giamatti masks over their faces. Partygoers milled about, posing with the Pauls, asking questions like, “Will you get a photo of me with the P. Diddy Paul?”
-Darryn King, Vulture
Party at Madame Tussauds
On Friday, March 16th, Madame Tussauds announced on their website that they were hosting a party for Wax Paul Now, featuring Paul's face over every statue in their A-list room and a screening of the Season Three premiere of Billions.
We here at Wax Paul Now were invited to give opening remarks and enjoy the "Gallery of Giamatti", which we did.
Photos courtesy of Darryn King
Q & A in Forbes
"In 2017, I spotted a flyer on the upper west side of Manhattan. It featured the kindly visage of Paul Giamatti—the sad-eyed star of Sideways—and a bold appeal in all caps: “GET PAUL HIS WAX”.
Since then, the grassroots campaign to get the ubiquitous but underrated character actor a wax figure at Times Square’s Madame Tussauds has gathered some serious momentum. Last week, Stephen Colbert name-checked Wax Paul Now on The Late Show, in a segment culminating in the pasting of Paul Giamatti's face onto a wax figure of Zachary Taylor. The following day, Madame Tussauds pledged to give Paul his wax figure if this change.org petition receives 500,000 signatures; on Sunday 25 March, they're throwing a Paul Giamatti-themed viewing party of Showtime’s (Giamatti-starring) Billions."
-Darryn King
The Late Show With Stephen Colbert
On March 14th, 2018, Stephen Colbert unveiled his own wax statue of Paul Giamatti, in solidarity with our movement. It took the internet by storm, and Madame Tussauds was inundated with requests from the public: "When will we see our wax Paul?"
"We are gathered here to right a wrong that has been done to one of America's greatest actors...With Cinderella Man he captured our hearts, with Sideways he touched our souls, and with San Andreas I assume he bought a summer home."
-Stephen Colbert, The Late Show
"We're still out there fighting it, we're still out there fighting for it."
-Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti on March 14th, 2018
Colbert has declared the war over, and though we love the enthusiasm, we know the fight is far from finished. We will not rest until Paul gets his wax statue.
The Fateful Appearance (At 7:00)
"We're still out there fighting it, we're still out there fighting for it."
-Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti on March 14th, 2018
The A.V. Club
"Noting that, as is their wont, people on the internet have gotten a bee in their collective bonnet over the fact that Giamatti doesn’t have his own Madame Tussauds wax likeness, Colbert ceremoniously wheeled out his prized (if slightly cockeyed) Zachary Taylor statue...And sure, it’s not Madame Tussauds, but at least its new home in the lobby of Colbert’s Ed Sullivan Theater home will be a reverentially silly shrine to, as Colbert put it, “the guy who was good in that thing you really liked.”"
-Dennis Perkins, The A.V. Club
TimeOut New York
"Earlier this summer, a trio of New Yorkers visited Madame Tussauds wax museum in midtown and were inspired by a call for suggestions. The group (Rebecca Shaw, Valerie Bodurtha and Sophie Mann) was taken aback by the omission of Giamatti's visage from the uncanny gallery and have since made it their mission to get a wax figure of him made.
They proceeded to launch a campaign, simply titled Let's Get Paul Giamatti a Wax Figure, urging members of the public to reach out to Madame Tussauds and ask them to produce a wax sculpture of Giamatti. It's confusing, hilarious and perhaps a crass misuse of one's personal time. Nevertheless, they persist.
"The country is pretty divided right now," Bodurtha says. "We think that this is one thing that can unite everyone."
She may be right—it'd be hard to imagine a celebrity less controversial than the co-star of Big Momma's House. In an era where America can't even agree on whether or not a hot dog is a sandwich, rallying around a wax sculpture of Paul Giamatti might be exactly what everyone needs."
-Clayton Guse, TimeOut New York
