In the new Paul Giamatti film Win Win (which opens today and has been getting stellar reviews), the actor plays a wrestling coach. At an advanced screening of the comedy at the SVA Theater and Chelsea Room this week, Vulture talked with Giamatti about his days as an athlete, though it turns out he wasn’t a wrestler in high school, he was a Speedo-wearing swimmer. “We had to shave our whole bodies,†he told us. “So it was weird. It’s a weird sport. And then when you’re really getting serious, you sandpaper some skin off.†While doing this movie, did he try out any half-nelsons? “No, but [Bobby] Cannavale kept trying to wrestle the kid in the movie and got his ass kicked really embarrassingly. Ask him about it.†So we did: “What possessed you to wrestle a 17-year-old, Bobby?†“All that adrenaline going,†he fessed up, “all these kids wrestling with each other … I was like, ‘I feel like I can take him, dude!’ I was telling Paul Giamatti that. ‘I think I can take him, dude.’ And he was like, ‘Go ahead. See if you can take him. I bet you you can’t.’ And I couldn’t.†For more amusing celebrity anecdotes and quotes, click through our slideshow.