Four days before the Academy Awards, Hollywood.com asked someone who should know if he had any advice for the current crop of Oscar nominees as they head into final steps towards the big night.
Two-time Oscar winner Tom Hanks didn’t hesitate to answer: “Eat healthy, get some exercise, get some good sleep–and pay no attention to the print media.”
Fortunately for us, the Academy’s A-list didn’t pay any attention to Tom’s last bit of advice. Since the nominations were announced in January, Hollywood.com drycleaned the tux and hit every red carpet, star-studded soiree and celebrity celebration we could, taking every step on the road to Oscars with the 2007 elite. The result? We talked to a whopping 20 Academy Awards nominees, and as far as we’re concerned, they’re ALL winners.
Javier Bardem, Best Supporting Actor Nominee, No Country For Old Men
On his nomination validating his family’s acting legacy:
“It’s a way to celebrate or to honor my roots. I come from a long family of people who have been actors. My parents and my grandparents were actors in a time where actors were not allowed to be buried on sacred land because they were considered homosexuals and prostitutes. So it’s been a long way to come here and I guess it’s not about me, but what I’m carrying on my back, thank God. That’s their effort, their trust, their sacrifice, their knowledge of what the real meaning of what all of this is which is trying to bring to the others the story or stories and people that are worth being watched and listened to.”[PAGEBREAK]
Ruby Dee, Best Supporting Actress Nominee, American Gangster
On receiving her first nomination at age 83:
“It is quite a treat, and I must say that especially after my young life. I gave up being a part of the whole scene so it’s a marvelous time to be a part of what I consider a whole growing entertainment scene. One thing that’s been so surprising that I was not aware of was how many people knew me. That’s one thing. It’s been people that are prominent in the business and fellow actors that I knew of, but I hadn’t really reckoned with the fact that I was known as much as it seems to be the case.”[PAGEBREAK]
Tommy Lee Jones, Best Actor Nominee, In the Valley of Elah
On not initially warming to the character he was nominated for playing:
“I didn’t like the character very much. He is blindly patriotic and he’s quite ethnocentric and those are two qualities that I don’t appreciate in people, but Paul Haggis, the writer and the director, kept pulling for his humanity and of course I always responded to that and so you come up with an interesting interpretation of the character. He’s not a knight in shining armor and he’s not a horned villain.”[PAGEBREAK]
Cate Blanchett, Best Actress Nominee, Elizabeth: The Golden Age; Best Supporting Actress Nominee, I’m Not There
On how her two characters, Queen Elizabeth I and Bob Dylan, might have gotten on:
“I think she’d probably want to have him in the court. She loved conversation and loved people who were free thinkers and he was definitely that. He was a poet and she was somebody…it’s the very fact that his lyrics are studied in high school in America – or they should be if they’re not – and she was such a lover of language, and language really flourished and thrived in the Elizabethan era. So they probably would’ve gotten on quite well, I would imagine.”[PAGEBREAK]
George Clooney, Best Actor Nominee, Michael Clayton
On giving advice on weathering the Oscar experience to newbie nominees:
“I can’t give Ellen Page advice. She’s too smart. I’d have to find some really dumb actor to give advice to. That’s what I’d have to do. I can’t give advice to anybody. There’s a great thing about getting famous a little bit older because then you’ve sort of done all the dumb mistakes along the way. So I certainly am not going to give anyone advice.”[PAGEBREAK]
Julie Christie, Best Actress Nominee, Away From Her
On not being fazed by her latest turn in the Oscar limelight:
“Being here is just a job I’ve got to do and I’m doing it because I want more people to see this moving film. I haven’t mellowed or succumbed to the allure of Hollywood and I’m not going to do a big number for the Oscars if they take place and I go. Absolutely no designer dress.”[PAGEBREAK]
Casey Affleck, Best Supporting Actor Nominee, The Assassination of Jesse James
On whether he had an inkling that his two performances would lead him down this path:
“[Jesse James] had a really good script and they had other really talented people involved, so when I was doing it I felt confident because I knew in the case of Andrew Dominik and Brad Pitt and Roger Deakins that they were going to make something great. In the case of my brother and John Toll and Morgan Freeman, I knew that they were going to make something really great. [For Gone Baby Gone] I had complete faith in my brother even though it was his first movie. I know that he’s extremely intelligent and thoughtful guy with good tastes. So I wasn’t surprised when the movie worked out well.”[PAGEBREAK]
Marion Cotillard, Best Actress Nominee, La Vie en Rose
On being invited to Hollywood’s biggest celebration:
“I’ve met a lot of amazing actors and actresses and directors since I’ve been here. I’m very, very happy to, again, share honors with Amy Ryan, with George Clooney – that’s crazy. It’s like, ‘Yeah, yeah, French girl. It’s real.'”[PAGEBREAK]
Daniel Day-Lewis, Best Actor Nominee, There Will Be Blood
On preferring to be private in the midst of great accolades:
“Of course it makes you feel sheepish to be in the company of such fine actors and the other fine performances this year, not just the nominees, but those who weren’t recognized as well. So it’s been a mighty year for me… It’s finding a balance so that you don’t feel that you are somehow eviscerating the experience of making the film for yourself, and indeed if people haven’t seen it yet. I always somehow feel myself when I’m going to see a film that I prefer to know less about it and not more. We’re all force fed so much information about films now. But it is the responsibility and I don’t shy away from it entirely. I just try to find a balance. I’d prefer for people to just see it for themselves. It’s pointless to talk about a film because nothing you say is going to make it better than it was or worse than it was or to make someone like it that didn’t like it or stop somebody from liking it. So it seems kind of self-defeating in a way, to just keep talking about it.”[PAGEBREAK]
Amy Ryan, Best Supporting Actress Nominee, Gone Baby Gone
On the exhausting, exhilarating trip from casting to nominations:
“When I got the script for the audition, I read the first two scenes and I was like, “Great.” Then I saw that she kept coming back and I thought, “There’s no chance in hell that I’m going to get this part. It’s too good. It’s too good.” I thought that there would be a long list of ladies that it would go to. I know that movies get sold because of people with more note and recognition. So I didn’t really even think that there was a chance of getting it, but I knew from reading it that it was rare and juicy… [Now] I’m having a really good laugh and living on Airborne [laughs]. It’s so hard. Even if there are days that are harder than others I remind myself constantly that these are good problems to have.”[PAGEBREAK]
Tony Gilroy, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay Nominee, Michael Clayton
On the long and unexpected trek toward Oscar gold:
“It’s been almost eight years to the day since I first went in and pitched this. So the whole thing has been a huge struggle along the way and it’s also been so many triumphant things that have happened. So many miraculous things had to happen when a movie works out. So I was happy last May when we finally had the picture done. I was like, ‘Wow. I really like my movie.’ That was the first thing. We went to Venice and on the road with it, and I would’ve quit anywhere along the way with what’s happened. I’ve been so happy with the reception. So everything that’s happened from the completion of the movie to now has sort of been a big bump for me, all the way down the line. Very happy surprises, all of them.”[PAGEBREAK]
Laura Linney, Best Actress Nominee, The Savages
On her third trip to the Oscars:
“To be nominated now for the third time, it’s a very different time in my life than it was for the first or the second one and you associate the nominations with that period of time. So the first time that I was nominated was just electrically exciting. I’m looking at Ellen Page now and sort of having some sense of what she must be going through right now and the sort of disbelief at being included…This nomination was a big surprise. It’s a movie that I’m very proud of and I think the joy of the nominations deepen a little bit as you’re fortunate enough to have them come your way.”[PAGEBREAK]
Brad Bird, Best Animated Feature and Best Original Screenplay Nominee, Ratatouille
On the increasing acceptance of animated films in other mainstream Oscar categories:
“All I can tell you is that every year people start to see it as just another way to do a film and not as a separate, whole enterprise…I think that people are gradually seeing it as filmmaking. You still deal with the same elements. It’s still the language of film, but it’s just how you get it onto film that’s a little different. So I’m encouraged. I think that people are gradually seeing that directing is directing and writing is writing and if you like the movie and are moved by it, either to laugh or cry or whatever, that it should be at least considered along with everything else.”[PAGEBREAK]
Ellen Page, Best Actress Nominee, Juno
On her reaction to the plaudits that have come her way:
“I feel really grateful for the acknowledgments. It’s an honor and to be in the company that I have a lot of respect for and have seen throughout this season is really great. It’s really nice to come together for all of this. It’s kind of crazy when your life is in a place where you see Daniel Day Lewis every other day. What’s going on when that happens? It’s really wonderful.”[PAGEBREAK]
Viggo Mortensen, Best Actor Nominee, Eastern Promises
On the unpredictable alchemy involved with making a movie:
“You get lucky and accidents happen, and you have to know what to do with what comes your way. I agree with Sydney Lumet who insists on making the worst possible preparation for accidents to happen and they will happen. If you are somewhat aware you might catch a couple of them. The kind of directors that I like to work with the most are directors like [David] Cronenberg who are always on the look out. They’re meticulous and prepared, but on the day they’ll just see what happens. If something odd happens another director might say cut, but they say roll and let things happen. There’s a magic involved. I think that making movies, in a way, when you go to the set and wardrobe and props and you get prepared, the lights are lit and the table is set. There’s a ceremonial aspect to it. To me it’s almost like a religious thing. It doesn’t necessarily replace going to church or temple or the mosque or whatever you do, in terms of religions if you’re religious, but there is a religious aspect to it, a ritualistic aspect to it that I really like. I’m very superstitious about a lot of things. You have to enter the room a right way. You have to approach the job in the right way, honorably, prepared and then what happens, happens.”[PAGEBREAK]
Tilda Swinton, Best Supporting Actress Nominee, Michael Clayton
On playing a character who may or may not be considered a villain:
“We’re all very complicated and the allure is that Tony Gilroy writes such a fantastic script that’s so complicated and real. It just feels like it’s complex enough…I didn’t particularly relate to her, but I think she’s a mess. I think that’s what people can relate to. She was a victim. They’re all victims in that film. Javier Bardem – now he’s a proper villain.”[PAGEBREAK]
Michael Moore, Best Documentary Nominee, Sicko
On a possible return to the Oscar stage after his last controversial experience:
“I’m only ever going to be able to come back on the stage at the Kodak Theater if it’s the will of the people. It won’t happen by design, with all due respect, to those that are putting on the show. Look, as you know as Steve Martin said after I gave my last Oscar speech, teamsters were loading me into the trunk of my car. Times have changed. Things have changed. People are – I’m very honored that The Academy has nominated three anti-war films for the documentary award. The thing that I was booed off the stage for is now being honored this year. So that personally makes me feel very, very good. So I hope that all goes well and that I end up being myself essentially.”[PAGEBREAK]
Hal Holbrook, Best Supporting Actor Nominee, Into the Wild
On being nominated at age 83:
“It’s really hard to talk about. It’s private. It’s a tremendous thrill, a great thrill and especially at this age of your life. This is something that you maybe dream about a few times if you’re an actor going through year after year of a career, but you don’t really expect it to happen to you, and it’s just a lucky break that Sean Penn put me in this role…You just have to get lucky with a shot like this and have an impact on the screen in order to even be considered for a nomination for an Academy Award. It’s a thrill, a tremendous thrill. I can’t describe it. Of course it’s an nomination for an award that outstrips any other in show business.
[PAGEBREAK]
Julian Schnabel, Best Director Nominee, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
On whether he was prepared for all of the Oscar hoopla:
“What did Henry David Thoreau say or was it Ralph Waldo Emerson? ‘If I had more time, it would’ve been shorter.’ I think that if I had more time to prepare I could probably more succinct about everything I’ve said. But I’d say that I’m pretty prepared because it wasn’t a thing where we’ve talking about…it’s no big deal. It’s very nice that everyone is interested. I think there’s a lot of people that are honored, and a lot of people who are not. I think this is an excellent group of people and I’m very proud to be included with everyone of these guys for different reasons.”[PAGEBREAK]
Jason Reitman, Best Director Nominee, Juno
On his gut reaction to experiencing the entire Oscar ride:
“Hold on one second. Holy shit. Yeah, yeah. I might never be here again. Give me one second. You’re not going to use what I say anyway. So, just hold on. Whew. Okay, now. This is amazing.”
