Paul Giamatti is "terrified" about the idea of winning an Oscar.

The 56-year-old actor has already won a Golden Globe and been nominated for a BAFTA thanks to his movie 'The Holdovers' and he's widely tipped to be one of the frontrunners when the Academy Award shortlists are announced - but he is uneasy at the prospect because he hates having to talk about himself.

He told Sky News: "I'm terrified, I dread having to speak in public and having to be myself... but because I really like this movie it's been easier to do."

Despite his long career, Paul has been nominated for an Oscar just once before, for 2006's 'Cinderella Man', but he joked he doesn't feel overlooked.

He said: "I'm amazed that I was ever nominated for anything."

'The Holdovers' saw Paul - who plays a boarding school professor who has to reluctantly take care of the students left behind over the Christmas holidays - reteam with Alexander Payne, 20 years after he made 'Sideways' with the director and he explained it felt like the right time to work with him again.

The movie sees him reunited with filmmaker Alexander Payne whom he last worked with 20 years ago on the film Sideways.

He said: "The timing, it feels like the right movie at the right time, you know, this kind of nice movie about empathy and connection in times that feel pretty fraught and divisive.

"I went to a school like that and I was raised around environments like that, I was stunned at how authentic it felt."

And working with Alexander again "felt like coming home" so he's keen to work with him again in the future.

He said: "I hope it's not another 20 years, "although it'll be interesting. We'll both be very old so it could make for an interesting movie."

The veteran actor's family were all teachers but he doesn't think it's a profession he'd have been any good at in real life.

He said: "It was very much something I could have done. I'm glad I didn't, I don't think I would have been any good at it. So, you know, I had a moment when I dodged that bullet."