Paul Giamatti goes to the mat in 'Win Win'

During the filming of director Tom McCarthy's "Win Win," young Alex Shaffer -- who plays a high-school wrestler -- looked up at Anthony Ciolino -- who plays a referee -- and had one of those "Don't I know you?" moments.

"He said, 'Weren't you coaching the New York team at the nationals in Kansas City?' " Ciolino recalled. "I said, 'Yeah.' And he said, 'I was on the New Jersey team that you guys beat. We hated you guys.' I said, 'You got out-coached.' He said, 'I know.' "

Ciolino, an occupational therapist by profession, is a wrestling coach at Rocky Point High School and also works on the national level with ninth- and 10th-graders; Shaffer, who is making his film debut in "Win Win," was the 2010 New Jersey state champ at 119 pounds. One of the stunt men on the movie -- McCarthy's first as a director since "The Visitor" (2007) -- was the filmmaker's high school wrestling coach.

There was clearly an effort to get the small things right in "Win Win," even if some of the bigger things are not quite what they seem: Set in New Jersey, the film was shot almost exclusively on Long Island. (It opens March 18 in Manhattan and is scheduled to open on Long Island April 1.)

But there was a reason for that, said producer Mary Jane Skalski -- namely, the tax incentives provided to films shot in New York State. "It makes such a huge difference," said Skalski. "New Providence, where the film takes place, is a real town and Tom wrote it with real places in mind and nothing would have made us happier to shoot in the same place where he set the story. But, fiscally, shooting in New York meant we got more money and more shooting days. And we couldn't ignore that."

"I was worried at first," McCarthy said, "but after a brief scout of the neighborhoods on Long Island, I knew we were going to be OK."

The movie -- shot mostly in Rockville Centre -- stars Amy Ryan, Burt Young, Bobby Cannavale, Jeffrey Tambor and Paul Giamatti, as a small-town lawyer and part-time wrestling coach named Mike Flaherty, who is, professionally speaking, about to get pinned. So he turns slippery: His client Leo (Young) is suffering from dementia but would prefer to live at home; the state would prefer Leo in assisted living. Mike offers to solve the problem by becoming Leo's guardian, a job that comes with a $1,500-a-month stipend -- and then he puts the old guy in the home anyway.

OK, not good. But Mike's not really a bad guy, either. And when Leo's grandson (Shaffer) shows up -- a runaway from a negligent mother and her abusive boyfriend -- Mike and his wife, Jackie (Ryan), take the kid in. Just by chance, the lad happens to be a wrestling genius.

More of a family movie

"Win Win" isn't a sports movie. "If it is, it's the weirdest sports movie ever," said Cannavale, who was in McCarthy's "The Station Agent" (and is currently in rehearsals for Broadway's "The ---- With the Hat"). McCarthy agrees. "It's really about Mike Flaherty," he said. "It's probably more a family movie than anything else. I knew I didn't want to make a sports movie. I wanted to make a story about a decent guy making some bad choices, some really questionable ethical choices."

Mike's motives are financial. But McCarthy said he didn't want to make a movie about the economic crisis, either, but, rather, one in which hard times are part and parcel of the characters' lives. "I don't think anyone feels like being preached to at this point," he added.

It's unlikely they'll feel that way, given the performances and the movie's efforts to be genuine -- something due, in no small part, to the all the wrestlers McCarthy cast in his movie, either as extras, or in the pivotal role of Kyle (Shaffer). "You can shoot it much more authentically," McCarthy said of having real athletes, "and you don't have to cut it up and edit it like an action movie, to cover for people who can't really do what they're supposed to be doing."

Casting a wrestler

In the case of Shaffer, he said, he didn't cast an actor -- he cast a wrestler who, fortunately, became an actor in the course of making the movie. "I knew that I didn't have the time to teach some kid how to wrestle," he said.

"I guess I was a little apprehensive," Giamatti said about acting with a young guy who'd never done it before, "but he's an interesting kid. And being a wrestler, he's kind of used to taking instruction; he has that discipline. So it worked out." Regarding his own character, Giamatti said Mike is a likable guy, despite the unsavory thing he does, partly because what he does really doesn't define him. "He's doing something the likes of which he's never done before, and that he'll never do again, so yeah, he's likable because it's not really him."

Both Cannavale and Giamatti were friends with McCarthy, who's an actor as well as a writer-director, but not with each other -- nor, for that matter, did either have much background in wrestling. So as part of what Cannavale called "Tom's devious plan," the two actors wound up driving to New Providence, N.J., together regularly, to watch McCarthy's old wrestling team work out.

"It's definitely a subculture," Cannavale said of the sport, "and it's amazing how close they get to each other." Kind of like actors. "On the other hand," he added, "sometimes the stuff they're doing, you feel like you shouldn't be watching."