Payne’s film Sideways has three picnic episodes, none of which are in Rex Pickett’s novel Sideways.
The picnic first is Miles Raymond’s memory of a vineyard, wine, and food. He recalls that he and his ex-wife used to like this view. “Once, “he says, “we had a picnic here and drank a ’95 Opus One. With smoked salmon and artichokes, but we didn’t care.”
The second picnic is idyllic. On a hillside near La Purisima Mission Church at sunset, Miles ponders his relationship with Maya Randall. They sit beside one another but do not touch. With them is Jack Cole, a cad having a fling even though he is about to be married the following Sunday.
At the third picnic, Miles and Maya have a leisurely time eating store-bought food. As so many long-term loving couples, they sit comfortably on the grass; he’s doing a crossword puzzle; she’s reading the paper.
See Alexander Payne. Sideways (2004). The screenplay by Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor is based on Rex Pickett’s Sideways (2004), Rex Pickett. Sideways. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2004.
The cast: Paul Giamatti as Miles; Thomas Haden Church as Jack; Sandra Oh as Stephanie; Jessica Hecht as Victoria