The Oscar Nominees: Our First Impressions Pt. 1

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Monday The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences held its annual luncheon for the Oscar nominees at The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills. Approximately 120 nominees were on hand, including Fifteen of the twenty nominees in the acting categories.

LAist was invited into the interview room where nominees such as Richard Jenkins, Robert Downey Jr., Mickey Rourke, and Kate Winslet took questions from the press.

The interview room was exactly like the presidential press conference sketches you see on Saturday Night Live. It was the first chance the press had to interview many of the stars. Unfortunately, most questions were slightly misguided or outright softballs.

Every reporter had their favorite question, except for the lady who seemed to start talking first and make up the question as she went along. In the end, we didn't join in the shouting match because it wasn't the right place for "What's your favorite late-night eats in LA?" or our favorite, "Beatles vs. Stones?"

Let's have a look at the nominees who participated, their answers, jokes, and soft mushy spots.

Richard Jenkins, The Visitor

The first player up to bat, Jenkins immediately won us over by standing at the podium and saying, "This is my first time teaching this class..." He had amazing comic timing and delivery and had us in stitches.

Jenkins plays a little bit of drums, he's very grateful to be nominated, is attached to his white socks, and his next project will be Cabin in the Woods. We love him. I am already a big fan because he will always be the Six Feet Under dad to me.

Was this one of your aspirations?
By aspiration, do you mean breathing?"

Who do you most want to meet today?
You. I came here to meet you.

Will you carry a good luck charm with you?
Yeah, my wife.

Kate Winslet, The Reader

Kate Winslet not only turned in two Oscar-worthy performances last year, she carries herself with grace and is charming and thoughtful under pressure. I was dying to ask her opinion ofthe Simpson's takeoff of Heavenly Creatures, But there was just no getting a question in. The press went into a feeding frenzy over her.

Winslet would happily work with Leo DiCaprio again, is most honored to have been nominated this time around, and appreciates Meryl Streep for inspiring young actors. Kate Winslet was one of the few actors who was willing to take a stand on the strike. Although she admitted she is not involved with the US SAG, her father was a struggling actor who survived on voiceover work and she hopes there is not a strike because of those struggling actors.

How badly do you want to win this Oscar?

That's a really difficult question to answer, isn't it? (Laughs) Thanks for putting me on the spot! You know, I think at some point in my life I would actually love that to happen to me but you know I have been here so many times and lost so many times that quite honestly I have a pretty good losing face now. I have kind of perfected that strange zen blank calm that you have to have when they don't call out your name...

How hard was it to leave the character of Hannah behind?

Are you trying to make me cry?

I win the lottery if I do

You are seeing the paper-thin vulnerability. It was very hard to leave her behind...what happened for me coming out the other side...come October I was talking about her, and answering questions about her, and I hadn't really processed it...I had been pushed by myself into places I had never been before. I genuinely thought, I don't know if I have the stuff to do this...and also there was nothing on the page that I, me, Kate, could identify with...and that is quite scary as an actor...I had no anchors at all.

Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon

Frank Langella was serious and thoughtful with a dry wit and a slight curmudgeonliness. He was the only actor to insist that they quiet the people talking loudly in the next room.

As a child in the 40s he loved Clark Gable and Gary Cooper, is from New Jersey, and hopes if Nixon saw the performance he might see something of his inner soul. Nixon's grand-daughter thanked Langella for making her grandfather into a person for her.

Having been in the stage production, was there anything in particular you wanted to work on with Ron Howard bringing Frost/Nixon to the screen?

Well Ron was adamant that we break the pattern of the stage performances and I was too...that we find a way to be less ummm... (aside) someone quiet them in that room, will you? (back to the press) I want to be a director. (Laughs) [on the stage you have to have a certain rhythm and time limit]...on the first day Ron disabused me of that, he said take as much time as you want, don't worry about that...and what he did was free me of the cobwebs of my stage performance...and I actually think the film is better for that reason...we went deeper, darker, much more moment to moment...

Many actors say that you can't judge the characters...yet here's somebody who you have to judge by history..did you have to wipe your mind clean of that?

You have to love him. You have to love every character you play, if he is a disgraced president, or a child molester or a major serial killer. I suppose love is the wrong word. You have to be so deep inside that character, that whatever it is those people we look at and think are heinous, whatever that person is feeling -- misunderstood, misguided, my mother was mean to me so that's why I kill. Everybody has a rationalization for what they do. But if you as an actor want the audience to see, "Look i am commenting on my evil" then you are lost. You have to be inside the worst of a person, if in fact he is doing something evil

Robert Downey, Jr., Tropic Thunder

Robert Downey Jr. looked a little rumpled and tired. The bright lights bothered him and he seems to have mixed feelings about the press. But in the end we are an audience, and the performer in him came out and worked hard to entertain us.

He was ready for some serious banter and may have been disappointed we were not challenging enough. He called out a reporter for being online while she was talking to him, responding that he would post his answer online. He finally asked if they could turn up the lights and water-board him. When they called last question, though, he was genuinely disappointed.

Congratulations. Could you ever have expected this for this particular performance?

Well, (Dramatic swooning gesture) it's shocking. The funny thing is, I was playing an Oscar-crazed weirdo whose every motivation was somehow geared towards accolades, so I thought it was kind of ironic. Kind of? What isn't ironic when you think about me standing up here tonight. (German accent) Next interr-o-ga-tor?

In the last couple of years your life and your career have been really turbulent. Has there been anyone in particular you have leaned on for support?

What was that question, Oprah? (pause)
Yes, yes there was. (pause)
I'm sorry, you seem like a nice enough guy but I am largely here for my own entertainment.

Who made your tie?
David August. Second most important question?

Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Taraji Henson was bubbly and gestured excitedly as she spoke. She is one of the countless people who move out to Hollywood every year to become stars and is one of the few who actually did it.

How have your family and friends reacted?

They are just so proud. I remember when I said I was gonna move out here with my son who was like one year old at the time and I had no money, fresh outta college, with stars and dreams in my eyes, and I wanted to move to California. Some thought I was crazy. My mother's like, "You're gonna starve!" But they're all really proud because I had a dream, and in my opinion if you're not dreaming you're not living...

Is there anyone you're looking forward to meeting?

You know what? I met Meryl Streep -- I'm OK.

The Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2008 will be presented on Sunday, February 22, 2009, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®