Morning glory for dazed Oscar nominees

Morning glory for dazed Oscar nominees

"I was in bed with my husband, Bill Macy, when the phone rang," said Felicity Huffman, who received an Oscar nomination Tuesday for her role as a preoperative transsexual in "Transamerica."

"He chuckled and said, 'Ha ha, don't answer it.' I said, 'I have to answer it!"'

Her first call was from her publicist, followed by Weinstein Co. co-founder Harvey Weinstein, whose nascent company partnered on the project with IFC Films.

"I screamed, and I was hopping around the bathroom talking to Harvey. It's like unalloyed steel. It's an Academy Award nomination -- there's no substitute. It's just the top. I've only had two dreams in my life -- to marry Bill Macy and to win an Academy Award, something I gave up on after I didn't work for two years straight. I feel pretty swell."

The nomination also is what thrilled her family the most.

"It's the first award that I actually don't have to explain to them," she said. "My mother said, 'Oh, glory be to God!' My sister made me remember when I was just happy to have a job, and my brother reminded me when I was just this sickly kid, and now I'm living in some parallel universe."

This may have been Steven Spielberg's 11th Oscar nomination and sixth directing nomination for "Munich" -- the thriller that wrestles with the thorny questions of how to respond to terrorism -- but the movie's five nominations still made him giddy.

"I didn't expect it, honestly," an elated Spielberg said. "I got a phone call at 10 to 6 (a.m.), and my wife picked it up and handed it to me, and I think I displayed the kind of happiness a 9-year-old shows. I was so happy my teeth started to itch."

Because "Munich" came under attack from certain circles before it even was released, it fought an uphill battle to garner awards recognition and to reach out to audiences.

"I think the biggest obstacle in our path were the armchair warriors who blogged badly about the film before even seeing it," Spielberg said. "The idea of the picture is a hot-button topic. But we lit a fire on purpose to get people talking."

Triple-threat George Clooney was one of the few honest enough to say that he was up early to watch the nomination announcements.

"I'd love to say that I was sound asleep and didn't notice them, but I woke up for them. Nobody does (admit it), but the truth is, I seriously doubt anyone actually slept through it," he said.

While happy for the nomination for best supporting actor for "Syriana," he was particularly happy for the many nominations his "Good Night, and Good Luck" received, including best screenplay and director nods for himself.

"I'm happy because you can put on the DVD box that ('Good Night') is nominated for six Academy Awards, and that's a pretty big thing for a seven-and-a-half-million-dollar, black-and-white film. It will help get it out there. And it also means that we'll get another crack to do more films like that."

Clooney was on a set shooting a commercial for a coffee maker -- "I'm doing a commercial for overseas to pay for my little black-and-white film," he laughed.

"I'm still over the moon, and I ain't coming down," said Terrence Howard, who capped off a magical year with a best actor nomination for his performance in "Hustle & Flow."

"I didn't think it would happen. You just gotta think of the talent in this category -- powerful pieces and powerful people. And three of them are real-life stories."

But after the news of his first Oscar nomination had sunk in, Howard realized that he would be competing against two comrades. "Philip Seymour Hoffman is my friend, and Joaquin Phoenix is my friend," he said. "It's going to be a battle of friends up there. And we're going to be happy no matter who wins. I'm hoping it's me."

Howard now finds himself in a comfortable position. "I don't mind being the underdog. I've always been the underdog," he said. "I'm so looking forward to how they respond to our howling."

For Rachel Weisz, "The Constant Gardener's" four Oscar nominations mean that "more people will see the movie," she said. "These themes are relevant today."

She hopes that people who respond to the African-set thriller will check out http://www.constantgardenertrust.com and donate money to their cause. The filmmakers have already gone back to the poor areas in Kenya where they shot the film and built two schools and a bridge. "The message of the film is that if you can help one person, that's better than not doing anything," she said.

It seems long ago and far away, but Amy Adams' best actress win at last year's Sundance Film Festival started the ball rolling for her first Oscar nomination as a pregnant Southern belle in "Junebug." "This year has flown by," she said. "Sundance was important for 'Junebug.' It brought attention to the film and got the film seen." Adams had hoped to get a good night's sleep but "popped up at 5 a.m. and watched TV," she said. "I was in shock. It'll probably be next year this time before I feel what I should be feeling."

Although Joaquin Phoenix has been down the Oscar-nominated road before, Tuesday's best actor mention for "Walk the Line" made him feel like a kid again.

"Waking up this early made me reminisce about being a kid, waking up early to beat traffic so my siblings and I could make it to auditions," said Phoenix, who also nabbed a supporting nomination for 2000's "Gladiator."

"In all those long car rides, I never thought about awards for acting -- I didn't know they existed. I was an actor because the work was rewarding. I never imagined that it would all lead to this moment."

In fact, being tapped for his Johnny Cash incarnation left Phoenix feeling a little speechless. "I don't possess the vocabulary to accurately express the sense of gratitude I feel for this great honor," he said. "It's made the entire journey more fulfilling than I ever expected."

Even with a Golden Globe nomination and a Screen Actors Guild win, Paul Giamatti was still shocked about his best supporting actor nomination for "Cinderella Man."

"It doesn't add up for me," he said. "I never put these things together. I figure it's just one lucky step as it goes along each step of the way. I don't usually tie them together."

Giamatti recently arrived in snowy Toronto for the filming of "Shoot 'Em Up." He doesn't know anybody there -- "If I was home, I'd be having a high old time, but I'm in Canada, man."

So how was he going to celebrate? "I have to go to a pistol range and fire some handguns off. That'll be a good energy release. I can get my ya-yas out doing that."

Matt Dillon felt a pang of bittersweetness about his nomination for best supporting actor for "Crash."

"I'm very excited about it, but at the same time, part of me wishes that some more of my fellow castmembers could have gotten nominated, too, cuz there certainly were worthy performances. I wouldn't say overlooked because it's not a competitive sport, but Terrence (Howard) was certainly worthy. Don (Cheadle), Thandie (Newton). Ryan (Phillippe) was terrific. Michael Pena, Sandra Bullock. I really feel that. So I'm proud to represent the cast. But we all did it together. It's the best ensemble I've worked with," said Dillon, who has worked in such movies as "Malcolm X," "Singles" and "The Outsiders."

"The Squid and the Whale" writer-director Noah Baumbach awoke at 8:50 a.m. to dreaded silence. "I looked at the clock and realized I wasn't being woken up by the phone, which indicated to me that maybe it wasn't great news. In every one of these I've read, the person always seems to be woken by the phone," Baumbach said.

But when he checked his cell phone, there were eight messages informing him that he had tapped his first Oscar nomination for "Squid's" original screenplay.

"Laura Linney was the first one. She was incoherent because she was yelling so loud. But it was great," he said.

Although Baumbach was disappointed that neither Linney nor co-star Jeff Daniels was nominated, he found comfort in the fact that the small-budget indie will be represented come March 5.

"What's been amazing is this film has hit every hurdle that we had to hit," he said. "A year ago, we were just coming out of Sundance. A year before that, we were making this movie in 23 days. It has all been gravy after we finished it. I feel like every little victory has been a victory for the whole movie."

And now that Baumbach has an Academy Award nomination of his own, he said he feels worthy of his one-time collaborator Wes Anderson. "Well, Wes is Academy nominated, too, so now I've matched him," joked Baumbach, who co-wrote with Anderson "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou." "Wes and I will definitely work together again."

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter