It took me three whole episodes of the new show. Paul T. Goldmanavailable with your peacock subscription , to understand what director Jason Woliner wanted in his documentary/comedy/thriller. This show is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before and has been described as something out of Threat Level Midnight (the mock spy movie Michael Scott made in Office) to a first cousin of by Nathan Fielder Proof , which left audiences guessing last year. Since Woliner recently made Borat movie later with Sacha Baron Cohen (after trying dissuade the actor ), this put my shit meter on high alert to Paul T. Goldman…because Paul himself is such a character.
I don’t even know where to begin to describe this show to you. But deep down, Paul T. Goldman is the pseudonym of a real-life man named Paul Finkelman, who has an amazing story to tell about his third wife, who may have tried to con him while helping run an international prostitution ring. Seriously, the story goes in directions you can never predict. But a riddle raised by Paul in a previous episode remained unanswered: what does the “T” have to do with it. Paul T. Goldman? So when I spent a few minutes with Jason Woliner, I asked him about it and he just laughed and said:
It’s not really on the show. We had it in versions. He didn’t end up making the cut. But, I mean, Paul said it meant “Problem.” (Laughs). No one has asked me yet. You have exclusivity.
This is the most Michael Scott answer imaginable. And this fictional character, played beautifully by Steve Carell , is the closest scripted personality to the real-life marvel that is Paul Finkelman. Because believe me, everything you see Paul T. Goldman it’s not scripted. It’s not a bit. This story really happened to Finkelman. And while he was going through divorce proceedings with a woman he said he was stealing from him, he wrote a book called Duplicity. You can order it on amazon (opens in a new tab) even now.
However, as mentioned, for the first three episodes of this true crime documentary, I wasn’t sure how much Paul T. Goldman it was directed by Jason Woliner…if it was all directed. And in our interview, he clarified those concerns, saying:
I’m usually on my own, trying to do something I’ve never seen before or do something cool with the form. I never intentionally try to confuse people. And I mean, for me the show is very simple, actually. He tells you exactly what it is. Start by telling yourself how it happened, in a very simple way. (Paul) tweeted me, and that’s what we did. … But now I understand that maybe because of what we’re used to seeing, (or) because of other things I’ve worked on, people see it and wonder what’s real. Is it all a hoax? This morning I read a very surprising and long Reddit thread from someone who was convinced it was all made up and made up by me. And Paul doesn’t exist. Which is so flattering to think that someone thinks they can design this thing for a decade from scratch and create the whole thing.
I hope you continued Paul T. Goldman. He is certainly one of best true crime shows available to stream, as it slides into humor to balance out the bizarre turns this true story actually takes. The season finale hits Peacock on Sunday, January 22. To follow the rest of new shows open this winter Keep checking our guide as we update it frequently.
Source: Cinemablend
