Hollywood’s brightest stars on what it feels like to be nominated for an Oscar

Published

2 years ago

March 8, 2023

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It’s the biggest night in showbiz, at the heart of which lies the greatest accolade for any actor – an Academy Award.

Their performances have been judged by Hollywood’s great and good, and their teams have been campaigning for months – but who gets the gong on the night is yet to be revealed.

So, with the stakes high, and stars out in force, Sky News caught up with a host of Oscar nominees, and asked them how it feels to be in with the chance of taking home an Oscar on Sunday night.

Michelle Yeoh: ‘It would be the ultimate’

The multiverse madness that is Everything Everywhere All At Once is not only leading the Oscar race with 11 nods, it’s also given Michelle Yeoh her first Academy nomination.

The Malaysian actress plays Evelyn Wang, an overworked laundrette owner transported into ever more baffling parallel worlds in the touching indie sci-fi directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert – collectively known as the Daniels.

Calling the script “a rare gem,” she told Sky News she was overjoyed “to be given a role that encompasses all the things that you want your audience to see and let them believe that you are capable of”.

By centring the story around a middle-aged Asian woman, Yeoh says the movie has opened up new conversations: “Hollywood is global. How can it not include a movie like this? I think at the end of the day, kudos to the Daniels who had the courage to write a story like this with hotdog fingers, you know, and rocks and confetti man, and things like that, where normally people would go like, ‘This is too insane’.

“But our world is chaotic and insane and unpredictable, and we have to learn to embrace whatever comes our way.”

And as for her feelings about potentially becoming an Oscar winner, she admits: “I don’t like that pressure, this is my first time so I don’t understand how intense it is, just getting the nominations was terrifying. What if?! Because it felt like a big part of the world was wanting it so badly.”

If she doesn’t win, Yeoh’s philosophical, explaining: “For Jamie [Lee Curtis, her co-star] and myself we love what we do, we are passionate about our work…

“Getting nominated or getting an award would be the ultimate but if you don’t you sort of resign to it and go ‘yeh, it’s alright, we’ll move on, we’ll find something’ as long as we can do what we love it’s ok.”

But if she does bag her first Oscar aged 60, a defiant Yeoh has this to say to anyone who may question the lateness of the recognition: “When someone says, ‘Oh they’re past their prime’, hell no, we’re going to show you what prime is.”

Colin Farrell: ‘The icing on the cake’

He’s been starring in movies for nearly a quarter of a century, but so far, he’s never been nominated for an Oscar.

But after winning a Golden Globe earlier this year, hopes are high that Irish star Colin Farrell could finally get his Academy Award for his role of slighted friend Padraic in The Banshees Of Inisherin.

The 46-year-old star, who will be bringing his teenage son to the ceremony, told Sky News ahead of the big night: “To do the film, to be off the west coast of Ireland with the cast we had, the crew that we had and reuniting with this fella [co-star Brendan Gleeson} and reuniting with Martin, I was happy.

“Then Venice happened, and we were all shocked at the response we got in Venice and then since then it’s just been like a snowball. So, it’s icing on a cake that we were more than happy to have ravished already.”

Brendan Fraser: ‘Frothy, happy and giddy’

One of the biggest stars of the 1990s, Canadian-American actor Brendan Fraser’s return to Hollywood after nearly 20 years out of the limelight has been nothing short of spectacular.

The 53-year-old’s comeback, thanks to the role of morbidly obese English teacher Charlie in Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale, has even inspired its own definition – the “Bren-aissance”.

Fraser told Sky News he hopes the character’s “journey of redemption” will go on to “change some hearts and minds about how we feel about these issues”.

He said he had no doubts about signing up for the film: “Darren Aronofsky is a world-class film maker who has a track record for bringing out very good and even transformative performances from the actors he chooses to work with.

“So, I didn’t have any doubts knowing how good he is at what he does, if anything I had enthusiasm and some hope and some humility and a little bit of creative intimidation, I will admit too.”

And as for the experience of being up for an Oscar, he said: “It’s new to me but we’re all frothy and happy and giddy and happy for this with fingers crossed and fondest hopes for success but who knows what the result is going to be?

“I’m confident and I think that we have a shot of making it to the finish line.”

Ke Huy Quan: ‘A wild ride’

On a comeback rollercoaster of his own, Ke Huy Quan, has worked through childhood fame thanks to Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom and The Goonies, followed by near-obscurity, and is now bouncing back into the spotlight with his critically acclaimed role in Everything Everywhere All At Once. It’s been quite the journey.

Quan plays Waymond Wang (and Alpha Waymond) in the parallel universe bonanza, which has surprised many with its numerous award show nominations and wins.

He told Sky News the response to the film has been overwhelming: “When I decided to step back into acting, I was so nervous because I didn’t know what the audience would think – the last time they saw me up on the screen I was a little kid, and now I’m a middle-aged man.

“So, so to have them respond so positively has been incredible.”

And as for taking the role, he says it was a no-brainer: “When I read the script, I knew it was special. I loved it, it was a script I wanted to read for a long time, and we had the most fun making it, but we didn’t expect all of this.

“I mean, all these, you know award nominations and the audience embracing a movie the way they did is beyond anything we ever imagined.”

And he’s clearly loving every minute of awards season: “I’m enjoying it very much. I’m very grateful for everything that has happened since. And yeah, it’s been it’s been a wild ride.”

Michelle Williams: ‘Always doing something new’

It’s her fifth Academy nomination, but could it be her first win?

Michelle Williams, 42, plays Mitzi Fabelman, the mother to a fictional Steven Spielberg in the semi-autobiographical film The Fabelmans which tells the story of his early life.

She told Sky News the film relates to her own experience as a mother: “I think it’s an incredible balance to try and strike and I do think balance is the correct word as it is something that is constantly adjusting and that you’re always looking for your footing on, it really is a give and take.

“Sometimes I think when you’re really serving your work, it’s really hard to feel like you’re being a great mom, and when you’re being an incredible mom you know that your work is languishing, so you have to find a way to go back and forth between these two realities and get comfortable with that discomfort.”

Despite the constant juggle, she says the rewards are worth it – awards or no awards: “I do this for my own sense of satisfaction, purpose, self-esteem, I want to feel a certain way internally about my contribution to this job that I’ve been doing for 30 years that is the only thing I’ve ever done and it’s always about doing something new.”

Bill Nighy: ‘Absolutely marvellous’

The 73-year-old British star plays buttoned-up civil servant Mr Williams, who works joylessly in the county public works department, until a terminal diagnosis inspires him to make a change.

Living is The Kazuo Ishiguro-scripted remake of Akira Kurosawa’s 1952 film Ikiru – which quite literally reminds us to make the most of life.

Nighy told Sky News the reserved and stiff upper lip manner of the film was something he relished: “I’m fascinated by it, both from an acting point of view and because it’s fun. You know, to act in that kind of recklessly restrained manner and I’m interested in it as a thing.

“I think it probably is regrettable and psychiatrists would probably say it’s a deeply unhealthy way but there’s also something kind of heroic about it and it’s funny that you weren’t allowed to express anything really.”

Luckily, he says the response to the movie has been far from restrained: “I feel very, very, very good about it, as you can imagine. It’s been marvellous. People really respond to the movie and they’re inspired by it, which is what it was designed to do. So, it’s deeply, deeply gratifying.”

He even admits to enjoying all the attention – at least a little bit: “As much as I’m able to enjoy anything, I have a negative tendency which I have to really kind of combat. But no, seriously, yeah, it’s absolutely marvellous.”

And as for coping with awards season, he’s upbeat and positive: “I just try and do the day, really. I mean, I don’t sit around really thinking about awards. And it’s been a while since I’ve been mentioned in dispatches, but it’s all very cheerful and fun.”

Martin McDonagh: ‘Exciting and scary at the same time’

The man behind Irish tragicomedy Banshees Of Inisherin – a tale of male friendship gone sour – has been blown away by the positive response to the movie starring Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon and Barry Keogh – all of whom are up for Oscars too.

He told Sky News: “We thought we were just making a smallish film and we didn’t think it would ever have this kind of reaction. It’s been amazing.

“Yeah, it’s great to do it like with mates, you know, Colin and Brendan are all mates and Kerry and Barry too. So yeah, it’s been a dream, really.”

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The movie’s up for the biggest prize of the night – best picture – as well as best original screenplay, best score and best editing. And McDonagh’s up for best director too.

Despite four of his Banshee actors being up for gongs, he says he isn’t expecting to become the go-to director for actors looking for a nod: “I hope not, I don’t like working! But no, it’s been amazing. And fun too you know, they’re such a nice bunch and it was a joy to make the film with them and it’s a joy to be able to do this stuff with them too.”

And as for awards season, McDonagh will be using the silver-lining approach to cope with any feelings of disappointment should he not get the prize on the night.

He explains: “I’m bad at public speaking, so I kind of I’m half happy when we lose so I don’t have to go up there. But no, it’s better to be in the mix than not to be in the mix. So, it’s weirdly both exciting and scary at the same time.”

You can watch the Academy Awards on Sunday 12 March from 11pm exclusively on Sky News and Sky Showcase. Plus, get all the intel from our Oscars special Backstage podcast, available wherever you get your podcasts, from Monday morning.

Entertainment

Erin Brockovich: ‘My chiropractor saw mud on my stiletto – I said, I’ve been collecting dead frogs’

Published

35 mins ago

April 12, 2025

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Erin Brockovich: 'My chiropractor saw mud on my stiletto - I said, I've been collecting dead frogs'

Erin Brockovich says a chance conversation about a muddy stiletto with her chiropractor led to the making of the award-winning film about her life.

The climate activist, who was played by Julia Roberts in the movie, told Sky News: “My girlfriend, who was a chiropractor, was giving me a chiropractic adjustment and asked me why I had mud on my stilettos.

“I said, ‘Oh, I’ve been collecting dead frogs’. She goes, ‘What is wrong with you?’ So, I started telling her what I was doing.”

Then just a junior paralegal, Brockovich was in fact pulling together evidence that would see her emerge victorious from one of the largest cases of water contamination in US history in Hinkley, California.

Her hard work would see her win a record settlement from Pacific Gas & Electric Company – $333m (£254m) – but that was all still to come.

Little did Brockovich know, but her tale of a muddy stiletto would get back to actor Danny DeVito and his Jersey Films producing partner Michael Schamburg, and through them to the film’s director Steven Soderbergh.

Brockovich says Soderbergh was “wowed” by what he heard.

She says he realised her image “was something that Hollywood might be drawn to that I was never thinking of – the short skirt, the attitude, the big bust, the stilettos, the backcombed hair. Somehow, it came together.”

‘I was always going to be misunderstood’

Released in 2000, the powerful story of one woman’s fight for justice made Brockovich a household name, and the film won actress Julia Roberts an Oscar.

Now, 25 years on, Brockovich says she believes her legal victory was helped in part by an unlikely ally – her learning difficulty.

Brockovich says: “Had I not been dyslexic, I might have missed Hinkley.”

Recently named a global ambassador for charity Made By Dyslexia, she’s been aware of her learning differences since childhood and still struggles today.

She says “moments of low self-esteem” still “creep back in”, and she long ago accepted “I was always going to be misunderstood”.

But for Brockovich, recognising her dyslexic strengths while working in Hinkley proved a pivotal moment: “My observations are wickedly keen. I feel like a human radar some days… Things you might not see as a pattern, I recognise. There are things that intuitively, I absolutely know.

“It will take me some time in my visual patterns of what I’m seeing, how to organise that. And it was in Hinkley that that moment happened for me because it was so omnipresent [and] in my face. Everything that should have been normal was not.”

‘A huge perfect storm’

Brockovich paints a bleak picture of what she saw in the small town: “The trees were secreting poison, the cows were covered in tumours, the chickens had wry neck [a neurological condition that causes the head to tilt abnormally], the people were sick and unbeknown to them, I knew they were all having the exact same health patterns. To the green water, to the two-headed frog, all of that was just I was like on fire, like electricity going, ‘Oh my gosh, what’s going on out here?'”

She describes it as “a huge, perfect storm that came together for me in Hinkley”.

But a side effect of the movie – overnight global fame – wasn’t always easy to deal with.

Brockovich calls it “scary,” admitting, “when the film first came out the night of the premiere, I was literally shaking so bad, I was so overwhelmed, that Universal Studios said, ‘If we can’t get you to calm down, I think we need to take you home’. It was a lot”.

Brockovich says she kept grounded by staying focused on her work, her family and her three children.

With Hollywood not always renowned for its faithful adherence to fact, Brockovich says the film didn’t whitewash the facts.

“I think they really did a good job at pointing out our environmental issues. Hollywood can do that, they can tell a good story. And I’m glad it was not about fluff and glamour. I’m glad it was about a subject that oftentimes we don’t want to talk about. Water pollution, environmental damage. People being poisoned.”

‘Defend ourselves against environmental assaults’

While environmental awareness is now part of the daily conversation in a way it wasn’t a quarter of a century ago, the battle to protect the climate is far from over.

Just last month, Donald Trump laid out plans to slash over 30 climate and environmental regulations as part of an ongoing effort to boost US industries from coal to manufacturing and ramp up oil and minerals production.

In response, Brockovich says, “We’re not going to stop it, but we can defend against these environmental assaults.

“We can do better with infrastructure. We can do better on a lot of policy-making. I think there’s a moment here. We have to do that because the old coming into the new isn’t working.

“I’ve recognised the patterns for 30-plus years, we just keep doing the same thing over and over and over and over again, expecting a different result.

“For me, sometimes it’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, just get your ego out of the way’. We have to accept that this might be something greater than us, but we can certainly defend ourselves and protect ourselves and prepare ourselves better so we can get through that storm.”

You can listen to Brockovich speaking about her dyslexia with Made By Dyslexia founder Kate Griggs on the first episode of the new season of the podcast Lessons In Dyslexic Thinking, wherever you get your podcasts.

Entertainment

Menendez brothers’ resentencing hearing can go ahead next week, says judge

Published

35 mins ago

April 12, 2025

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Menendez brothers' resentencing hearing can go ahead next week, says judge

The Menendez brothers’ bid for freedom through resentencing can continue with the hearing scheduled for Thursday, a judge has ruled.

Lyle, 57, and Erik, 54, received life sentences without the possibility of parole after being convicted of murdering their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, at their Beverly Hills home in 1989.

Lyle was 21 at the time, Erik was 18.

Last year, Los Angeles district attorney George Gascon asked a judge to change the brothers’ sentence from life without the possibility of parole to 50 years to life. That would make them immediately eligible for parole because they committed the crime when they were younger than 26.

But Mr Gascon’s successor Nathan Hochman submitted a motion last month to withdraw the resentencing request, saying the brothers must fully acknowledge lies they told about the murder of their parents before he would support their release from prison.

Separately, Governor Gavin Newsom, who has the power to commute their sentences, has asked the parole board to consider whether the brothers would represent a public safety risk if released.

In light of Mr Hochman’s opposition, Los Angeles County Superior Court judge Michael Jesic ruled on Friday that the court can move forward with the hearing.

“Everything you argued today is absolutely fair game for the resentencing hearing next Thursday,” he said.

From prison, the brothers watched through a video link and could be seen in court seated next to each other in blue.

Speaking after the hearing, the brothers’ lawyer said: “Today is a good day. Justice won over politics.”

Prosecutors accused the brothers of killing their parents for a multimillion-dollar inheritance, although their defence team argued they acted out of self-defence after years of sexual abuse by their father.

The brothers have maintained their parents abused them since they were first charged with the murders.

A Netflix drama series and subsequent documentary about the brothers thrust them back into the spotlight last year, and led to renewed calls for their release – including from some members of their family.

Entertainment

Ex-Abercrombie & Fitch chief executive Mike Jeffries ‘unfit to stand trial due to dementia’, prosecutors and defence team say

Published

9 hours ago

April 11, 2025

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Ex-Abercrombie & Fitch chief executive Mike Jeffries 'unfit to stand trial due to dementia', prosecutors and defence team say

Abercrombie & Fitch’s former chief executive is not fit to stand trial on sex trafficking charges as he is suffering from dementia, both prosecutors and his lawyers have said.

Mike Jeffries has Alzheimer’s disease, Lewy body dementia and the “residual effects of a traumatic brain injury”, his defence attorneys wrote in a letter filed at a federal court in Central Islip, New York.

The 80-year-old needs around-the-clock care, they added, citing evaluations by medical professionals.

Prosecutors and defence lawyers are calling for Jeffries to be placed in the custody of the federal bureau of prisons for up to four months. They say he should be admitted to hospital to have treatment that could allow his criminal case to proceed.

The business tycoon, who led fashion retailer A&F from 1992 to 2014, pleaded not guilty to federal sex trafficking and interstate prostitution charges in October, and was released on a $10m (£7.65m) bond.

A total of 15 men allege they were induced by “force, fraud and coercion” to engage in drug-fuelled sex parties.

Prosecutors have accused Jeffries, his partner Matthew Smith, and the couple’s alleged “recruiter” James Jacobson, of luring men to parties in New York City, the Hamptons and other locations, by dangling the prospect of modelling for A&F advertisements.

Smith and Jacobson have also pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.

‘Progressive and incurable’

In their latest letter on Jeffries’ health, his defence lawyers said at least four medical professionals had concluded his cognitive issues are “progressive and incurable”, and that he will not “regain his competency and cannot be restored to competency in the future”.

These issues “significantly impair” his ability to understand the charges against him, they wrote.

“The progressive nature of his neurocognitive disorder ensures continued decline over time, further diminishing his already limited functional capacity,” said Dr Alexander Bardey, a forensic psychiatrist, and Dr Cheryl Paradis, a forensic psychologist, following evaluations made in December.

“It is, therefore, our professional opinion, within a reasonable degree of psychological and psychiatric certainty, that Mr Jeffries is not competent to proceed in the current case and cannot be restored to competency in the future.”

Jeffries left A&F in 2014 after leading the company for more than two decades, taking the retailer from a hunting and outdoor goods store founded in 1892 to a fixture of early 2000s fashion.

His lawyers did not immediately respond to requests by the Associated Press news agency for comment. The US attorney’s office for the eastern district of New York declined to comment.