The Actors
BEST PERFORMANCE IN A LEADING ROLE
Richard Jenkins, The Visitor
Jenkins went directly from shooting the drama The Visitor, in which he plays a professor who finds an illegal immigrant couple living in his apartment, to the Will Ferrell/John C. Reilly comedy Step Brothers, in which he played Reilly's dad. "They're pretty much the same movie," he says with a laugh.
"It was pretty amazing to go from one to the other so abruptly. The Visitor was just an extraordinary experience for me, and one I never thought I'd have in film. I was on an unbelievable high coming off that, and I guess I was a little nervous (heading into a comedy). But they put me at ease."
-- Jim Slotek
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
"Nixon was a very affecting person to play," Langella says.
"Usually, characters leave me relatively quickly, but Nixon stayed with me a lot. The depth of this man's pain, and the depth of his desire for greatness is what came to me more than anything else. The continual suspicion and paranoia he lived with kind of stayed with me. I used to look at taxi drivers and say, 'Whaddya want outta me?'
" In that sense he was always in my head. Still is ... I talk to Nixon every day and he talks back."
-- Jim Slotek
Sean Penn, Milk
Says Milk co-star James Franco of Pitt: "He was actually a pretty good kisser. Basically, we just did the scene and that was it. It was an incredible experience.
"I've known Sean for a while and, for actors of my generation, he's simply the best. But, beyond that fact, Sean has always been someone I can call for advice. He's the kind of guy where, if someone is in trouble, he will be there and help you work it out.
"He brought so much energy to this part. You couldn't help but bring the same enthusiasm."
-- Kevin Williamson
Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Says Kathleen Kennedy, producer of Benjamin Button: "That's the key with most actors, working with a director who they trust. If you're going to step out of what you've done before, you want to be working with a director you have confidence and trust in.
"That's what Brad has with (director David Fincher) ... (Special effects are) tough for an actor. They're not just in a scene doing what they're doing, but they're going to be involved in a lot of technology. But he was ready to do it because of his relationship with Fincher."
-- Kevin Williamson
Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler
Mickey Rourke went from A-list status in the 1980s to no-list within a decade. A few years ago he began to revive his career, and The Wrestler is a personal and professional triumph.
"I was on the bench for 13 years, and after like, 10 years go by, all you have is hope," says Rourke about putting his life back together. "And you start thinking, 'Man, is it really f------ over, like everybody says it is?' I thought I could change in a year.
"I didn't realize it would take 10 years of working on it consistently."
-- Liz Braun
BEST PERFORMANCE IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Josh Brolin, Milk
"For me, it was about working with good people, that was always the goal. Nerds who love telling stories, I love it. That's what got me into (acting).
"It wasn't my dad being an actor .... (Growing up in the industry) kept me away from it, because I would see you make money, then you didn't make money, then you did and you have a nice house -- and then you're living in someone's guest house. I didn't want that. There was no security in it."
-- Kevin Williamson
Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder
In the hilarious satire Tropic Thunder, Robert Downey Jr., a 43-year-old white American, plays a self-absorbed Australian actor who changes his skin colour to portray an African-American soldier in a Vietnam war movie that turns deadly for real.
Confused? Downey keeps it all straight. But he never took his character for a test run in public, not like Dustin Hoffman before shooting Tootsie. "I'm not an idiot ... I don't think ... lately!" Downey says with a laugh about his risky adventure. This is his second Oscar nom.
-- Bruce Kirkland
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
"I saw my friend Brian O'Byrne play Father Flynn (on Broadway). And then I saw my friend Chris McGarry play him. So I'm happy to be one of a long line of Father Flynns," Hoffman says of his role.
As to the guilt or innocence of the priest accused in the movie of improper conduct with a boy, Hoffman says he and playwright/director John Patrick Shanley "talked about the history of Father Flynn, but what we said to each other, I will never talk about. If anyone knew what I thought, it would be so not a good thing."
-- Jim Slotek
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
When he and I talked at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival, the late Heath Ledger had come off months of "nesting" with then-girlfriend Michelle Williams and daughter Matilda and was prepping for Todd Haynes' I'm Not There and The Dark Knight.
"(Director Chris Nolan and I) have definitely got a plan, and it's definitely going to stump people," Ledger told me. "It'll be along the lines of how The Joker was meant to be in the comics -- darker and sinister. Jack Nicholson's Joker conformed to Tim Burton's style. It was brilliant, but that's why we're not going to touch it.
"I am so excited. It's going to require a performance, and it'll be a real dance."
-- Jim Slotek
Michael Shannon, Revolutionary Road
It falls to Michael Shannon to represent Revolutionary Road, a superb film overlooked by the Academy this year.
Shannon, 34, plays a psych patient, and is the truth-teller of the film. He said of the nomination, "I'm a huge fan of the book and it was such an honour to be in the movie at all. This just makes it even sweeter."
If you saw Bug or World Trade Center, then you know Shannon is a shameless scene stealer -- even opposite Road co-stars Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio.
-- Liz Braun
The Actresses
BEST PERFORMANCE IN A LEADING ROLE
Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
"I never thought of myself as the girl from The Princess Diaries," Hathaway says. "I did this to be an actress. But my work didn't always prove that.
"I'm just amazed every day that (director Jonathan Demme) saw something in my previous work, because nobody else had. I knew I wanted to do quote-unquote 'serious acting.' I just didn't know if I'd be given the opportunity ... There was no point in me telling people, 'I'm not the girl from The Princess Diaries.' It was going to take a performance like (my Rachel Getting Married character) Kym to prove it."
-- Kevin Williamson
Angelina Jolie, Changeling
Clint Eastwood thought Angelina Jolie's face fit the period of his 1920s film Changeling, a dramatic thriller. He got more than a pretty flapper-era face.
Jolie crafted an exceptional performance as a humble single mom forced to fight Los Angeles City Hall when her son goes missing. At age 33, Jon Voight's daughter has her second Oscar nom, this time playing real-life Christine Collins.
"Christine reminded me of my mom, and it was a way for me to revisit my mother after her passing and spend time with her," Jolie says.
-- Bruce Kirkland
Melissa Leo, Frozen River
At 48, Melissa Leo is a veteran American actress known for her character work, not leading lady opportunities. So Frozen River, the harrowing yet inspirational drama that produced Leo's first Oscar nom, is already a complete, joyous experience.
"I don't expect to win," she says, adding that the nomination is enough: "It is thrilling and so grand an honour. I just feel this light shining. It is really quite something for a gal who loves to act."
Leo portrays an upstate New Yorker smuggling aliens from Canada through a Mohawk reservation.
-- Bruce Kirkland
Meryl Streep, Doubt
On being Queen of the Oscars, Streep says, "The rehearsal process is a wonderful clearing house for all that. You check your medals at the door, and you just go in and the whole job is to be as honest as you can to this person that you're inhabiting -- in their heart and convictions and needs and dilemma and all those things. It's a kind of wonderful place to be.
"It's only when I get out and about in the marketing end of movie making that I get those laurels thrown at my feet."
-- Jim Slotek
Kate Winslet, The Reader
"I actually felt like I died a little bit," a tearful Winslet says of a scene where her character is tried for war crimes.
"It was incredibly hard, and (producer) Anthony Minghella died when we were in the middle of shooting the trial. And I swear to God, I looked at (director) Stephen (Daldry) and said, 'How the hell are we gonna get through this day?' I just got through in some kind of a trance. To convey these emotions and literally find nothing there inside me, I couldn't ...
"Hanna is nothing like me. I could use nothing of my own life experiences whatsoever in playing this part."
-- Jim Slotek
BEST PERFORMANCE IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Amy Adams, Doubt
"I loved playing a nun," Adams says. "If you've seen my body of work, any chance I can get to be pregnant or unglamourous or whatever, I'll take. I loved having only one outfit, and I love that it's not a body-conscious role. I especially loved the bonnet, because you can only see in front of you. It was a great tool on set for focus. It created a very nice little view of the world." On meeting "Sister Peggy," the real-life inspiration for Doubt's Sister James: "What I liked about meeting her was her sense of fun. She's kind of plucky, and I didn't expect that."
-- Jim Slotek
Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Woody Allen knew exactly what he wanted and when he had it while shooting this film in Spain. But Spanish star Penelope Cruz, who harbours profound insecurities despite her two Oscar noms, wanted repeated takes.
"Every single time!" she says. "I drove him crazy with that! The last day, I think he ran out of patience." Allen simply disappeared from the set after getting the take he wanted. The filmmaker was right: Cruz is fiery, passionate and perfect as the hot-tempered Latin lover in his comedy.
-- Bruce Kirkland
Viola Davis, Doubt
On having basically one critical scene, the least screentime of any Oscar candidate, Davis says, "I wrote 50 pages of backstory for my character, then I forgot most of it because I was nervous working with Meryl Streep. But you have to create a backstory because the scene doesn't just start when you walk into it. The scene started when you came out of your mother's womb."
As for Streep, Davis says, "You're already starstruck, your behind is so tight, can you imagine if she were the kind of actor that gave you notes? Between scenes she's actually relaxed, knitting, talking on the phone, eating."
-- Jim Slotek
Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Taraji Henson almost didn't audition for this movie, because she was holding a garage sale at home the same day.
For her performance as Queenie, the woman who raises Benjamin Button, Henson, 38, gets an Oscar nomination and the satisfaction of knowing she's the best thing in the movie. As usual.
The Washington native says the key to her work is that she's an uninhibited person. "It can be quite spiritual, what we do as artists. I just give it my all, and pray the audience receives it," she says.
-- Liz Braun
Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler
Marisa Tomei won a supporting-actress Oscar for her role in My Cousin Vinny. This year's nod for The Wrestler, in which she plays an exotic dancer, is her third in the category.
For this role, Tomei says she used her experience playing Salome on Broadway (with Al Pacino): "I was used to doing that Dance of the Seven Veils. I thought a lot about women, dance, sexuality and the ancient roots of that, and where they tied together with creativity and sexuality. When this character dances, that's her creativity."
-- Liz Braun
