It was Oscar’s own Class of 2006 as this year’s crop of Oscar nominees assembled at the Beverly Hilton Hotel for the 25th annual Academy Awards nominees’ luncheon. And though the previous weekend’s blizzard had stranded some of the honorees–including Rachel Weisz, Paul Giamatti and Ang Lee–on the East Coast, only a similar force of nature could have kept the other nominees from gathering for the annual meet-and-greet and “class photo” in an afternoon where there were no winners or losers.
Best Actress nominee Felicity Huffman was the self-proclaimed eager beaver of the group–the first to step out of her limo at the Hilton’s circle driveway, the first to chill in the cocktail lounge/green room and the first to brave the press room. “I’m two hours early. I’m like ‘Hi! I’m at the nominees’ luncheon! Anybody else here? Anyone want to talk to me?’” the Transamerica actress joked. “I arrived early, I set up the tables. Then I helped everybody with their cameras, I wanted to be here so bad.”
“I have to turn to my husband several times a day and do that annoying thing of like ‘Hey, I forgot to tell you…”And he says ‘Oh, what?’” ‘I’m going to the Academy Awards!’” she shrieked giddily. “I think he’s getting tired of that.” Not likely–her hubby, William H. Macy, was busy crafting congratulatory surprises for his missus. “On Saturday, my husband said we were having dinner with some friends, and I was kind of like [annoyed], ‘Oh! I’ll have to put on the skirt’ and cranky, putting the kids down,” she revealed. “And we go to the dinner, and my whole family–all six of my sisters and my brother, and their children and their husbands–had flown in from around the country and met me at the restaurant and surprised me, and Bill wrote a song on his ukulele, everyone pulled out their little pieces of paper and sang along.”
And Huffman’s Desperate Housewives co-stars were equally enthusiastic when they heard the news of her nomination. “There was a lot of screaming and dancing and hugging and hopping around the make-up trailer. Which, I don’t know if you know, is the classic way of celebrating the Academy Awards.”
Even a major movie superstar like George Clooney was gob-smacked when it came to his trio of nods, for Best Supporting Actor (for Syriana), Best Original Screenplay and Best Director (for Good Night, and Good Luck). “Look, it’s a pretty amazing time for us–for me in particular,” he explained. “Who’d have thought after doing The Facts of Life that things would’ve worked out quite this way? If you can survive a mullet, you can survive anything.”
Clooney was asked if he thought the bulk of the Academy voters had actually seen many of this year’s lower-profile crop of nominees. “I didn’t watch any of them. I just voted,” he quipped, before getting serious. “I think the secret of the Academy, the beauty of the Academy, is that it points at things that aren’t necessarily something an audience would readily go to, and that’s a good thing. Sort of the focus and the point of the Academy, I think, is to not just reward, but also to bring focus to things that aren’t necessarily immediately popular.”
Clooney also couldn’t resist playing around when Hollywood.com asked if it had been sweeter to share the Oscar ride with his longtime friend and Good Night co-writer Grant Heslov. “I don’t like him, so no, it hasn’t. It’s hurt me a lot, and I tried to take some nominations away from him, because I don’t like him,” he replied, straight-faced. “Yeah, it’s great. He has been one of my best friends for 25 years, and it makes it really fun. It’ll make a fun night with all of the boys out, and we’re really looking forward to that.”
Best Actress nominee Reese Witherspoon may have mastered her performance as June Carter Cash in Walk the Line, but she revealed she’d already had some insight very early on. “I was nine years old, when I heard the Carter family, and I actually played her mother in the fourth grade play. I had to practice over and over again, ‘I Saw the Light,’ and play the autoharp. I had to play it in the fourth grade play, so I had a little practice at the autoharp.”
The actress’ recent gold rush at various awards galas has led her daughter Ava to believe that “when you get dressed up, you’re gonna get something, you’re gonna win, and you’re gonna bring something home, because she likes to collect things in her room.” But motherhood is clearly the star’s most valuable award. “When I won the SAG award, I said ‘Mommy won an award last night,’ and she said ‘Well, that’s because you’re the best mom in the world.’” Even the occasionally jaded Oscar press corps couldn’t resist a major “Awwwwwww” in unison to that anecdote.
A History of Violence’s Best Supporting Actor nominee William Hurt admitted, despite three previous nominations, he’d never attended the annual luncheon before, due largely to his ambivalence about the competitive nature of the Academy Awards. But when his 1986 Best Actor Oscar for Kiss of the Spider Woman disappeared suspiciously last June during a move, he realized that it was significant to him.
“I don’t sport trophies in my home. I don’t want my children thinking of me that way, so I don’t put things out. I don’t keep things out that remind people about that,” Hurt explained. “But I was a little sad. Whenever I get robbed I’m sad for the person that robs me. Now I’m pissed off.”[PAGEBREAK]
Keira Knightley, a Best Actress nominee for Pride & Prejudice, said her mother was trying to make amends after suggesting that her daughter didn’t have a chance at winning a Golden Globe a few weeks ago. Now mom’s putting her money where her mouth is in an Oscar betting pool. “She felt very guilty about that,” she said. “She said that she’d put a ten-er on me, and apparently my odds are only 33 to one, though, so I think she’ll probably lose the ten-er, but it was very nice of her to offer.”
The actress had just gotten into Los Angeles from the Bahamas, where she’s shooting two Pirates of the Caribbean sequels, and her co-stars Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom have been teasing her non-stop since she got her nomination. “They’ve all been taking the piss out of me mercilessly from the day that it happened. Every single time I do a take, they go over and say ‘Is that an Oscar-nominated take?’”
Hollywood.com asked Crash’s Best Supporting Actor nominee Matt Dillon if the film had reinvigorated his career or just demonstrated a momentum he’d already kicked off behind the scenes. “Certainly I don’t think in making the film I anticipated that it would end up getting nominated or that it would end up being nominated for Best Picture,” he explained. “Has it invigorated my career? Yeah–I mean, I’m still moving forward with things that I was moving forward with before Crash. I’ve got a few projects, as a writer-director, developing things. I’ll always be doing that, but I think what something like this does, obviously, is present you with more opportunities. I’m looking forward to that.”
“I don’t feel like I’m absorbing the fact that I’m nominated,” admitted Amy Adams, Best Supporting Actress nominee for Junebug. “I don’t know if I let myself believe that I would actually get nominated. It’s such a category that’s so full of so much talent. I mean, there’s so many performances this year that I believe are stand-outs, so of course I wouldn’t put myself in that category and say I deserve to be there. So okay, it’ll sink in in a year, I think.”
Adams wore a beautiful taffeta plum gown with a revealing neckline to the luncheon, but like most of the female nominees she was noncommittal about what she’d wear down the red carpet on Oscar night. “I’m just sort of saying, ‘You know what, whatever I wear, it’s gonna be a special night,’ so I’m trying to be relaxed about it,” she said. “I didn’t realize how much focus was on the dress, but apparently it’s pretty important, so I guess I better pick well.”
After having already toted home a Best Actress trophy two years ago for Monster, North Country nominee Charlize Theron admitted to Hollywood.com that the second time around still came with just as much madness. “It’s crazy! It really is,” she exclaimed. “It’s insane because it’s insane the first time around, and honestly, my mom and I, we just talked about it, and never in a million years would I have ever believed if someone said, ‘In a two-year period you’re going to get nominated twice.’ It’s a little like somehow getting locked in a candy store and no one knows that I’m in there having a really good time.”
Best Actor nominee Terrence Howard revealed that he would not be performing the Oscar-nominated Original Song from his film Hustle & Flow at the ceremony, but he was definitely looking forward to the response to Three Six Mafia’s rendition from the notoriously stodgy members of the Academy. “I’d like to see that whole room sit there and listen to ‘It’s Hard Out Here For A Pimp,’” he laughed. “And if they know the words then we really have a problem!”
Howard was clearly the most visibly over-the-moon of the nominees. “I do know that there is less air up here, less oxygen and so I’m still kind of floating my way through it. I’m falling in love with life again. Will Smith told me something very beautiful: he said, ‘For the next month, each and every person that was nominated is a winner. Enjoy it. Enjoy it, because it might never come around again and you’ve got to love this moment.’”
“The Oscar is the dream,” he continued. “The Oscar is the fantasy that you’re afraid to believe in, but in a secret dark room you dream and wait for it. Sitting in that room will probably be the scariest day in my life because everyone is one-in-five. Everyone has a shot. Hey, if they call my name, what would happen then?” The corners of the actor’s eyes glistened at the thought. “This is the big one. This is definitely the big one.”
