Last month, I reported some surprising, but VERY welcome news. Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers” was test-screened to enthusiastic reactions in Los Angeles. As someone had told me, it was a total return to form for Payne in what was being described as a smaller-scaled film.

A private screenings occurred at TIFF this weekend for buyers, with a bidding war ensuing. Focus finally bought the damn thing for $30 million. The movie has to be of top quality for all of this to have occurred.

This is the biggest deal ever in TIFF history, and the film is not even part of the official lineup. Wild. “The Holdovers” is practically finished post-production editing, but we will have to wait 15 months before it is released.

“The Holdovers” has Payne reuniting with his “Sideways” star Paul Giamatti. Giamatti will play a “curmudgeonly walleyed disliked history teacher” who has to deal with the only student of his, a holdover, who remains in town for Christmas, as all the other students have left to see their families for the holidays.