Toby Ziegler & Miles

I recently re-watched Sideways, a very good film from 2004 starring Paul Giamatti as a middle-aged teacher/wannabe writer. His performance as Miles was perhaps a career defining role for him and he was very unlucky to miss out on an Oscar nomination. 

One of my favourite television series is The West Wing and my favourite actor on the show is Richard Schiff, who plays Toby Ziegler, the White House Communication Director. Ziegler is droll, witty, intelligent and abrasive. 

About half way through Sideways I was suddenly struck by the thought that I was watching a film version of Toby Ziegler. Giamatti was surely channeling Schiff in some way. I have had trouble finding clips of Sideways on Youtube but I would be interested to find out if Giamatti was a fan of West Wing and/or Schiff. 

Meanwhile, here is a wonderful collection of 'Tobyisms' from season 1 of The West Wing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03TRlGuvx1g