Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Oscar Nominations Out of the Bag; Flu Spreads, Deaths Mount; Outrage Over Possible "Executive Order"

Aired January 10, 2013 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome back, everybody. I'm Soledad O'Brien. I'm joined this morning by HLN's "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" anchor, A.J. Hammer.

Welcome back. You're watching our special Oscars edition of STARTING POINT. We're going to join "CNN NEWSROOM" in just a couple of minutes.

A.J. HAMMER, HLN'S SHOWBIZ TONIGHT: But first now that we know what is nominated for this year's Academy Awards with the announcement coming just a few minutes ago, we want to go right out to Nischelle Turner. She's live at the Samuel Golden Theater in Beverly Hills.

So, Nischelle, run through all the big awards for us.

NISCHELLE TURNER, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT CORRESPONDENT: OK. We will do that. Definitely. You know, the Academy has kind of the leeway to nominate anything from five to 10 movies for best picture this year. They nominated nine movies and we saw those, first of all, "Amour", "Argo", "Beast of the Southern Wild", "Django Unchained", "Les Miserables", "Life o Pi", "Lincoln", "Silver Linings Playbook", and "Zero Dark Thirty."

It was a really good year for movies and the Academy gave a nod to a lot of great films. Also the Best Actor category, a strong category, but a big snub it seems in this category. The nominees are Bradley Cooper for "Silver Linings Playbook," Daniel Day Lewis for "Lincoln," Hugh Jackman for "Les Miserables," Joaquin Phoenix for "The Master," and Denzel Washington for "Flight." No John Hawkes for "The Sessions" that a lot of people thought he would get a nomination.

In the actress category, this seems to be shaping up, maybe a two- woman race. Jessica Chastain for "Zero Dark Thirty." Jennifer Lawrence for "Silver Linings Playbook," Emmanuelle Riva for "Amor" was nominated this morning. Quvenzhane Wallis, who everyone is getting a big smile when they say her name, for piece of this southern wild, 9 years old, she is. And Naomi Watts for "The Impossible." And if you saw that movie, such a great performance by Naomi Watts.

We also have the supporting category. And this again for the men, a very strong category. This year the nominees for Best Supporting Actor are Alan Arkin for "Argo," Robert De Niro for "Silver Linings Playbook." We've also got Philipp Seymour Hoffman for "The Master." Tommy Lee Jones for "Lincoln" and Christoph Waltz in "Django Unchained." Some people thought maybe Leonardo DiCaprio would get a nomination in this category or maybe Samuel L. Jackson would get a nomination in this category but neither of those men did.

For Best Supporting Actress, we've got Amy Adams for "The Masters," Sally Field for "Lincoln" who was just masterful in that movie. Anne Hathaway for "Les Miserables" Helen Hunt, for "The Sessions," and Jackie Weaver for "Silver Linings Playbook.

And we just heard Scott Fainburg say that it' been 31 years since a movie has been dominated in every major category and that happened this year for "Silver Linings Playbook, guys." this could be the year of this small movie that I have to say was one of my favorites.

O'BRIEN: And yours and many others as well. All right. Nischelle, thanks so much.

I want to get right to Jackie Weaver from "Silver Linings Playbook." She's on the phone, she was just nominated as Best Supporting Actress for "Silver Linings Playbook." And she plays Dolores Solitano, Bradley Cooper's mom, Robert De Niro's wife, and she's with us.

So, congratulations. Wake up, how did you find out?

JACKIE WEAVER, "DOLORES SOLITANO": I was watching the television. I couldn't sleep. I'm so excited. I'm here in L.A. I only got her from Australia yesterday. Because I'm going to make a movie in Texas. But I did not believe that this was going to happen. I didn't think I had a chance. I'm so thrilled. It is such a beautiful film. And David Russell is wonderful. And of course we all were such a great team. I love -- I love Bradley and Jen, and Bob. They're all -- we had a great time.

O'BRIEN: Congratulations to --

WEAVER: I can't believe it. Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: It's -- it is amazing.

HAMMER: And your body clock has to be all messed up right around now.

(LAUGHTER)

Jackie, so you've seen the same material that we've been seeing in the run-up during award shows, all of the critics and everybody, all the experts, tell me who they think will be nominated. Shamefully your name has appeared on very few lists which has to make this all the more rewarding for you. It's such a terrific way to get a nomination.

WEAVER: That's right. That's right. I thought I didn't -- I honestly thought I didn't have a chance. Then I consoled myself with the fact that the "New York Times" said I was sensational. And I thought I can live with that. That's enough.

(LAUGHTER)

But to get this is so amazing. And of course it's my second one in three years. And I'm not a young woman. So I can't believe my luck.

O'BRIEN: It's wonderful. We're really excited for you. So who was the first person? You hear your name on the TV. You're now a nominee. Who's the first person you call?

WEAVER: I called my husband in Sydney, Australia. But I called him three times and I couldn't wake him up.

(LAUGHTER)

O'BRIEN: Maybe he'll get to see it on TV, too.

WEAVER: But then I got a call from my ex-husband, so I don't know what that means.

(LAUGHTER)

O'BRIEN: That's really exciting, and Nischelle just mentioned, right, nominated in every major category which is such a big victory already. Even before the actual award ceremony for a small movie. You know, in some ways.

WEAVER: Yes, yes. I'm so happy for David O. Russell. I think he is -- I know genius is an overused word but I've seen David O. Russell. He's (INAUDIBLE). He's an amazing director. And of course for me to work with that icon, Mr. De Niro, was like amazing. I'm so happy.

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: Do you work on your speech? Like are you already just drafting it out, the big major outline? I mean, hey, come on. Like honestly.

HAMMER: The pressure is on.

O'BRIEN: Yes. How did that work?

WEAVER: Well, I do know Tom Hanks (INAUDIBLE) that you don't get out a piece of paper because they know for a fact that millions of people turn the TV on to another channel as soon as you get out a piece of paper. So you've got to try and be as spontaneous as possible without reading it out and just trust yourself not to forget people.

It's kind of high pressure giving an acceptance speech and sometimes they can be really dull. I see it's important to make them interesting and lively.

SETH MACFARLANE, HOST, 85TH ANNUAL ACADEMY AWARDS: Jackie, you should thank your ex-husband.

(LAUGHTER)

HAMMER: Well, Jackie, congratulations. O'BRIEN: Yes. Great news.

HAMMER: How terrific for you.

O'BRIEN: Great news.

HAMMER: I know it's just good to be nominated. But we'll be pulling for you come Oscar night next month. Thanks for joining us this morning.

WEAVER: Thank you. Thank you.

O'BRIEN: We have Naomi Watts on the phone as well. She's joining us by phone.

Congratulations to you as well.

Do we have her?

HAMMER: Do we have Naomi?

O'BRIEN: I'm not sure we have a connection with Naomi Watts.

HAMMER: She's not --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dan?

HAMMER: And shall be back --

O'BRIEN: We are having some difficulties?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Naomi?

NAOMI WATTS, "THE IMPOSSIBLE": Yes.

HAMMER: Naomi, are you here?

WATTS: I'm here.

(CROSSTALK)

HAMMER: She's not here.

O'BRIEN: Yes. It looks like we're having some problems. We'll take a short break. We come back, we will fix our audiological --

WATTS: Hello?

HAMMER: There she is.

O'BRIEN: There we go.

Hey, Naomi.

HAMMER: You know, your phone gets all jammed up with everybody trying to call you when they hear the big news. O'BRIEN: People breaking in. Yes.

It's nice to have you with us.

WATTS: Hi.

HAMMER: Congratulations. Where are you right now and how did you find out that you have an Oscar nomination?

WATTS: I'm in my bed, so --

(LAUGHTER)

I'm in Los Angeles, and I watched on the television. I thought I wouldn't watch, because I thought it would be too much torture if I didn't get nominated, but I couldn't sleep. And so I thought I'm not going to just lie here.

O'BRIEN: You sound very calm. You don't sound like you're freaking out. Are you freaking out on the inside? I mean how do --

WATTS: I am. I've already had my little, you know, personal freak out in private.

(LAUGHTER)

O'BRIEN: This movie --

WATTS: It's very exciting. And very -- I'm totally thrilled. I didn't sleep much at all last night. Not just because of my tension and nerves but also because my children, there were three different wake-ups last night, so it didn't help. So yes, and then I ended up saying I'm going turn on the TV. My publicist (INAUDIBLE) and I said, can you tell me which channel, and she did, and it was really, really great, because normally, with the W, you're always the last on the list but they mixed it up this year.

O'BRIEN: We're watching pictures from the film, and I covered this story. Of course the 2004 tsunami, and just to watch it, the re- enactment of it. It just -- it makes my heart stop, honestly, because I saw the devastation in Thailand specifically as well.

You have, I read, a tremendous fear of the water from childhood. Is that right?

WATTS: Yes. That's correct. My family immigrated from England to Australia, when I was 14 and we stopped in Bali and Indonesia along the way. And we would not (INAUDIBLE) and we didn't understand riptides and things like that. And we got caught in a riptide and just did the exact wrong thing and swam against it and got to the point of exhaustion. And -- yes, kind of got to the point of giving up. And suddenly there was sand beneath my mother's feet and she was able to pull me in. And it was -- it's very scary and left me with (INAUDIBLE) fear of the water (INAUDIBLE) those waves and (INAUDIBLE) sometimes. HAMMER: I think it's terrific that obviously this nomination and the other attention that the film is now getting in the awards season is going to bring a lot of eyeballs, too.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

HAMMER: A film "The Impossible" that a lot of people have yet to really know a whole lot about. So --

O'BRIEN: Yes. It's wonderful.

Congratulations. So you may now go back to sleep, although I guess your phone will be ringing off the hook.

WATTS: Yes. It's literally buzzing in my head.

(LAUGHTER)

O'BRIEN: Go answer all your well-wishers. Thanks for talking with us and congratulations again.

WATTS: Thank you.

HAMMER: Congratulations.

Well, shall we go to the man of the hour?

O'BRIEN: We shall. We should indeed. Seth MacFarlane, of course. He was really, really great as they were doing with sometimes it's very stiff, the naming of the nominations.

HAMMER: Yes.

O'BRIEN: It was funny. It was wonderful. With Emma Stone. Congratulations as well.

HAMMER: We need to say thank you, Seth.

O'BRIEN: Yes, exactly.

HAMMER: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Thank you so much.

HAMMER: It was such a cheerful way to start the day and a little different from -- completely different from how we see it in the past.

MACFARLANE: I'm just a working American. Punching in, punching out.

(LAUGHTER)

HAMMER: So we need to know, though. How much prep went into that for you this morning? Because as much as I'd like to believe you got up there and wing it, which you certainly could. You did take a little time in advance, didn't you, to sort of get an idea of what was going to happen? MACFARLANE: Yes. No, I mean not a whole lot. We don't really get the nominees until a few hours before so it's -- you know, there's not a whole lot of time. So it's kind of slapped together. We have -- we have a great team and we're able to pull together something fun.

O'BRIEN: You're also nominated. That's exciting, I mean, is it --

MACFARLANE: Yes, I know. It's insane. I don't know how that happened.

(LAUGHTER)

A horrible mistake has been made.

JAY THOMAS, "THE JAY THOMAS SHOW": Seth, it's Jay Thomas. Good morning and congratulations, Seth.

MACFARLANE: Hey, thanks.

THOMAS: Have you already written the episode of "Family Guy" watching you on the Oscars?

MACFARLANE: You don't think that would be a little self-aggrandizing?

THOMAS: Well, I do. And I think you are self-aggrandizing deep down.

MACFARLANE: OK. You win. You win. Yes, I am.

THOMAS: All right. And will you have a 30-piece orchestra behind you at the Oscars?

MACFARLANE: I have a 30-piece orchestra behind me right now.

THOMAS: I know you do. I know.

(LAUGHTER)

MACFARLANE: They're just -- they're just off camera.

THOMAS: OK. Good.

BRADLEY JACOBS, US WEEKLY: Hey, Seth, it's Bradley from "US Weekly." We wanted to know if you had run that joke by Harvey Weinstein before you dissed him in front of the entire (INAUDIBLE).

MACFARLANE: "US Weekly." I was getting you guys mixed up with "The New York Times." But you're two different publications, right? "US Weekly" and "New York Times" are two different --

(LAUGHTER)

No, you know, I -- we didn't run it by Harvey Weinstein. We just figured let's just throw everything at the wall and see who gets mad.

(LAUGHTER) O'BRIEN: Seth MacFarlane -- wait, are there any no's that they've given you. Is there like a don't do this, don't do that? I mean how are you prepping for it right now?

MACFARLANE: I mean, there have not been too many outright no's. We're all -- we're all on the same page as far as what kind of line we want to walk. So it's a common sense thing. So it's not like we're going in there and, you know, pitching really, really hard core FOX type jokes for the Oscars. We're trying to work a line.

O'BRIEN: All right. Well, congratulations to you. We're looking forward -- that was so much more interesting than any announcement before.

HAMMER: Yes --

O'BRIEN: I cannot wait to watch the Oscars.

HAMMER: If the show itself doesn't work out, Seth, will you at least come back and host the nominations procedure every year for us?

MACFARLANE: Sure, sure. You know what, yes, yes, I'll do that. As a matter of fact, I'll do that and that alone.

HAMMER: Great seeing you, Seth. And congratulations on your nominations.

MACFARLANE: All right.

HAMMER: We'll see you next month at the Oscars.

O'BRIEN: We've got Roman --

MACFARLANE: Right. Thanks you guys.

O'BRIEN: You bet. You bet.

Roman Coppola is joining us by phone. He wrote the screenplay for "Moonrise Kingdom" along with Wes Anderson, right?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

O'BRIEN: So he's joining us by phone.

Hey, congratulations to you.

ROMAN COPPOLA, "MOONRISE KINGDOM": Hey -- thank you so much. It's thrilling to hear this news today.

O'BRIEN: Yes. Tell me how you got the news?

COPPOLA: You know, I was driving in the car with my family. And I was -- I turned the radio up and they kept going to other news breaks. And a close friend texted me and my mom started whooping and cheering in the car, and kind of barking in her silly way, and my dad was very happy and a nice celebration. HAMMER: Well, for me, my favorite, shall we say, quirky movie of the past year, I am happy as we always are for films that don't get a lot of attention to know now that "Moonrise Kingdom" will get its due. I think it's terrific, Roman, that this film is finally getting -- hopefully gets some traction and who knows, possibly, walk away with some gold come next month.

COPPOLA: That's wonderful. I hope -- yes, this encourages more people to check it out and we're very proud of it.

O'BRIEN: Congratulations. It's wonderful new. We want to also thank our panel as well for being with us this morning as we heard some shockers, I think, in terms of the snub. Kathryn Bigelow, quite a big snub there, I think, when you consider all the time that was spent talking about the fact that she would be on the Best Director list.

THOMAS: Do you think she wants to waterboard the committee?

HAMMER: Perhaps.

THOMAS: Yes.

HAMMER: The Ben Affleck snub, though, I think that --

(CROSSTALK)

This is something that literally, since the movie was about to be released, everybody was talking about Ben not only as an actor and a possible Best Actor nominee, but also as Best Director. To see it not get either of those is really surprising. But in the Best Picture category, we'll have to see what happens.