Jason Woliner may be famous for directing titles like Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Tim and Eric’s Bedtime Stories, Nathan for You, and stand-up specials from Patton Oswalt and Aziz Ansari, but there’s one project he’s kept out of sight. For over a decade, Woliner patiently filmed and quietly developed what is now known as Paul T. Goldman, a six-episode series that premieres on Peacock on January 1, 2023. The title, synopsis, and release date of Paul T. Goldman were announced only three weeks ahead of this release, which speaks to the mystery surrounding the show.
Paul T. Goldman is difficult to describe, and not just because of its mysteriousness. The series follows the real-life Goldman (which may or may not be his real name) and adapts his book Duplicity, an autobiographical, account of the quirky man’s previous marriage with a suspicious woman.
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Oscillating between a documentary about him and a cinematic adaptation of Goldman’s true crime book (with Goldman starring as himself), Paul T. Goldman gradually reveals itself and its eponymous character as perhaps less objective than initially thought. We have an exclusive clip that perfectly distills this admittedly complicated, odd, brain-liquefying show.
A few things become apparent upon watching this clip. First, Goldman is not a professional actor, which is where some of the humor comes from in Paul T. Goldman. Woliner decided to film Goldman’s own script and cast him as himself in it, and there is a cringe factor in watching him act it out. However, this also offers unique insight into the man and his personal true crime story, giving Goldman the kind of agency most subjects in true crime never receive.
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The second obvious aspect of this clip is that we are watching a movie and its own production simultaneously. This is a classic metafictional device that dates back to Man with a Movie Camera and Symbiopsychotaxiplasm, and it allows the audience to explore the supposedly true crime tale while also providing insight into the artificial structures which bring it to life, blurring fact and fiction in the process.
Above All, Paul T. Goldman Is Funny
NBCUniversal
The final immediate conclusion from this clip is simple — it’s ridiculously funny. From Goldman pointing out in the most unsubtle fashion that something is a foreshadowing device, to him breaking character (despite playing himself), to the sudden invasion of a surprisingly large bug, this tiny portion of Paul T. Goldman reveals the humor, discomfort, weirdness, and mystery that are all so essential in the series. There’s both spontaneity and artifice involved here, and they dance with each other in an extremely fascinating way.
The brief, three-hour-long series chronicles Goldman’s story (the factual and the fictional) in a way that few documentaries ever attempt. Woliner cedes a great deal of control over to Goldman, who hams it up in an unexpectedly magnetic way. In Paul T. Goldman, Goldman is the true definition of a ‘character’ in every sense of the word — larger-than-life, a little fictional and fake, but unbelievably himself.
From Point Grey Studios, Caviar, and NBC Universal, be sure to check out Paul T. Goldman on Peacock beginning January 1
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