>> it is that time of year again. the oscars are considered america's highest honor in film. this year's group has not disappointed. these movies range from stories about relationships, unlikely heroes, greed and desperation, to courage and inspiration.

from 1970's caper to searing historical drama, this lineup is filled with the highest level of auteurism. we look at eight films up for best picture, director, actor, and actress, screenplay, and cinematography. some contenders speak about their fellow artists. we begin with "12 years a slave," nominated for nine academy awards. it has already won bafta awards for best actor and best film. chiwetel ejiofor portrays solomon northrup, who wrote about a life of slavery. at the table was michael fassbender, who played a brutal plantation owner, and best director nominee steve mcqueen. >> at a certain point, i wanted

to make a movie about slavery. to me, there was a hole in the canon of cinema about the subject. reference was not there for me. i wanted to investigate that. i wanted to find out about that in a way which was not predicting, or putting my stance on it, but investigating. solomon northrup was a man who was living in the north, who was pulled into slavery. my wife said, why don't you look at true accounts of slavery? we both did some research, and she found this out, "12 years a slave." she said, i think i have got it.

it was a total understatement. every page was a revelation. >> i just read the script. it just moved me to tears by the end of it. i called him up and was like, i want to be part of this. having read it, i was like, i would like to play epps. i did not for one minute assume it was a shoe in. i just wanted to be part of it. it is a great story, an important story. >> that servant, which knew his lord's will -- which knew his lord's will. and prepared not himself -- prepared not himself -- neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.

>> the first time i read the pt this incredible story, this incredible narrative. i think we see solomon -- i saw the story of a man who goes through this experience. it was really later on, reading the book as well, the autobiography, that i realized it is a story about him, about this specific arson going through these moments. i think it was trying to get as close to him as possible that was the revelation about the story, about his own personality. the choices he made are unique to him after that journey. those are the reasons he was able to survive. it ended up with me feeling he

was a very special man. i think his book is a reflection of that as well. his attitude to the world, his attitude to himself. >> is there an evolution in his character while he is held? does he change? >> i think he starts off as a man who believes he is in a battle for his freedom. but he comes to realize that he is in a battle for his mind. that is the point of change for solomon. that is the point of understanding what the environment can do to him. and i think that is the sort of psychological difficulty. that is the psychological warfare, psychological drama in all of this. this has been such a remarkable experience, you know? one of the most amazing -- the most amazing experience i have had as an actor. and it just takes a bit of rest.

just enjoying opening the film and showing it to people. and i feel like there is still so much to say about it, that it is not a film you open and then get tired of the conversation about it. i think it does really still inform me. >> transformational character -- every actor's dream. the next nominees for best actor talked about the unique opportunity to take that on. leonardo dicaprio plays a real-life stockbroker in "the wolf of wall street." many say it is his most compelling performance. and in "nebraska," bruce dern has taken what he calls the role of a lifetime. he is woody grant, an aging maverick in a road trip across the northwest with his son. >> i knew i had waited a long time to get into position in my age group of guys for that kind of role could come my way and i would be considered, the last three or four. this time, they actually gave me the job. it is an alexander payne movie.

as far as i am concerned, he is six for six. secondly, he is basically the linchpin of the movie. the story follows him. but it is a teamwork movie. it is all of us together. that is behind the camera. he has 85 people on the crew, and 47 have worked every day on every movie he has ever made. so you have a family. >> alexander payne, you have said, helped you know your father. >> he gave to me the things i expected to get from a father. support -- i never got that at home. alexander gave me that. and he is a movie fan.

he sees a lot of movies i have been in. or is something in there he felt he could use to surprise the folks. i do not think people would anticipate the performance that i do in this movie. i do not think there is a movie i have done where you can say, he is obviously woody. because i am always the quick guy, the guy that drives it, the guy that does this and that and motivates a movie to one way or the other. it is the last thing i do. i do not care what you think. >> you did not win anything. it is a scam. stop this. >> i am running out of time. >> you do not even have a suitcase. >> i am not staying here. >> i cannot let you go. >> he told me the first day, go out on the edge. stay there every day, like you like to do. we have got your back. he is sitting right here, not over at a monitor. and he is watching the movie for the first time. >> what do you think all of this attention will do?

you even think about that? you simply enjoy the experience and all the recognition that has come from you having the role of a lifetime? >> when i got the job at 77, 76, i realized it was an at-bat. >> i tell the story -- i had not seen it in a theater, gilbert grape. it was on television. there was a documentary. i had not recognized anyone. i did not know you. i sat and watched the entire picture. >> i read this book and i could not believe that this man, had this lifestyle and still survive. >> did you not all talk to him during the making of the film in some way? >> quite incessantly. he was incredibly candid and honest with me about what human through.

a lot of times, we would talk about sections in the book. he would say, it was 10 times worse, and i will tell you why. i think from marty's perspective, he wanted a little distance, but i needed to speak to him constantly just to get the nuances and the detail of what these scenes were like. >> you just tried to bribe a federal officer. >> technically, i did not bribe anybody. according to the u.s. criminal code, there needs to be an exact dollar figure for the exchange of services. that would not hold up in a court of law. but i want to tell you this, the same gentleman that told me that you tried to get your brokers license also told me you were a straight arrow. you ran a security check on me. when you say on a boat fit for a bond villain, you want to play the part. >> there was incredible freedom in the process.

once you set up characters whose one and only concern is their own indulgence, a script was set up that way. it is almost like this drug-infused ride that we go on, where people are incredibly motivated by greed, and we do not really see the wake of their destruction. very consciously, we did not cut away to the ramifications of their actions. we did not cut away to the people on the other end of the line to see how they were affecting the guy that just lost his mortgage. it was this hypnotic voyage forward, constantly consuming

everything in our path. when you set up that kind of attitude on set, it is every actor's dream. >> when you go through this, making this movie, what was the hardest thing? >> the preproduction process, in a lot of ways. i think that constantly reaffirming to ourselves the type of movie we wanted to do, the fact we wanted to take a lot of chances, and really questioning how an audience would react to all of this stuff. there was a lot of different sequences where a character could have gone another direction. you have to keep questioning yourself. >> two of hollywood's most talented actresses came to the table -- sandra bullock and cate blanchett. in "gravity," sandra bullock is dr. ryan stone, a brilliant astronaut adrift in orbit. and cate blanchett stars in woody allen's "blue jasmine." she is a new york socialite whose life is turned upside down. tell me about jasmine. >> there is a broken flower. [laughter]

she is a very combustible cocktail of rage and guilt. one of the most epic fantasists, i think, put into creation, on the part of woody allen. >> and actors delight. >> confused and complicated. she is broken and endowed with an incredible sense of -- romanticizes herself. >> she is married. her husband turns out to be not only having affairs, but a fraud. the empire collapses, and she flees to san francisco with her sister, not of the same parents. what does she find in her sister? >> i think she finds reality, which she finds incredibly difficult to deal with. there is a long tradition, i think, in american drama, if you think about eugene o'neill, of creating women in particular who

walked that terrifying border between fantasy and reality, and choose to retreat into the fantasy because the reality is too brutal. i want to go back to school. i want to get my degree and become, you know, something substantial. not just a mindless job. forced to take a job selling shoes on madison avenue. so humiliating. you have to have the ability in film to switch on absolutely, and switch off absolutely. >> but you always have to keep in context where you are supposed to be in that narrative. >> that is where -- say, for example, working on "blue jasmine," the script is impeccably structured. i had to do a lot of preplanning. obviously, she has a cocktail of xanax and alcohol. when she was on it. when she was off it. strangely, a lot of that -- a lot of that charting, for me,

comes in the costume and wardrobe fitting. you have to work out -- it sounds very shallow. where you are wearing what, where, and that angers me. >> the more you know the more difficult it gets? >> i think the more you know the more difficult it gets. when you are perceived to have arrived at a certain place, i think it is harder and harder to keep taking those risks. >> because you are playing against yourself? >> i think there is a sense that you -- when you walk through the door, if you walk through the door playing queen elizabeth, that is the way people expect you to keep walking. and so it is harder for you to say, i am not interested in doing that.

and to keep pushing yourself into places that may not necessarily be well received, or necessarily even work. the silence. i could get used to it. >> she is fearless. that is the thing. she is fearless. and she told me from the get go that she would step out of her comfort zone. she really wanted to explore and go for it. it was really remarkable. i mean, the amount of preparation she did, and the discipline, and the precision. i never worked with an actor who is as precise as sandra. >> is this the hardest movie you have ever had to make? >> in the best way, yes. >> in the best way. the most challenging, but also most exciting. >> once i figured out i was fighting it, and i should be using everything that was a frustration, that limited me -- all of those things that frustrated me, were things that, once i figured out, where a benefit. that is the same thing happening

to the character in space -- the loss of control, loneliness, isolation. instead of fighting it, it became a friend rather than a problem. >> what is the transformation? >> she is allowing her brain and her skills and what she is good at to propel her through life. everything is rhythmic, perfunctory. nothing has meaning if she can avoid it. what kind of person is she at that point, when she has to decide to fight for her life? is she going to be someone who says, i am going to take this opportunity and let go and let myself die? or is she going to let whatever comes, come, but accept that it might be worth fighting for?

it is interesting to see when a person gets what they wish. you can make that choice and let go of life and not fight for it anymore. we are all going to die. everybody knows that. but i am going to die today. it is funny to know. but the thing is, i am still scared. i am really scared. >> suppose you are disciplined enough. would you have liked to have become a dancer? >> absolutely. i would never have made it. i am not disciplined enough. but the love of dance, my parents' musical background, timing and rhythm, being musically motivated -- once that clicked for me when we were shooting, i started marking out counts and times. i could not stop it. i could figure out how to carry out the scene rhythmically like a dance routine. >> have you been somewhere similar to that in your own life? >> knock on wood that i should

never experience what she has to experience. but we all get knocked about. it comes back to the metaphor of letting go, and it is easier said than done. going back in and saying, i am going to have an experience that scares me. >> i cannot see you anymore. do it now. >> i am trying! if it scares me for the right reason, which is creatively, it is good. if i say, i am going to be around energy that falls into the life too short category, you do not say yes. i did not see this as the life too short category. i saw this as a way to get over a lot of fears that i had, and i did. and it was the sweetest, sweetest time i have had in a long time. i will never have this experience again. i know that. nor am i looking for it. but i want to fight for something that is different and

challenging, and asks the most of me. and i thought i did that before, but i realized i never took this to this degree. it taught me a lot about myself i did not know existed. the person who went into this was not the person who came out the other end. >> films are defined by the vision of a director. the next four nominees offer unique perspective on life. david o. russell's "american hustle" is of con artists involved with political corruption. it has received 10 nominations. alexander payne's film is a triumph of life and the importance of relationships. martin scorsese returns with his black comedy, "the wolf of wall street."

this is a vicious romp through the greed and excesses of the financial world. this is his ninth career nomination. and alfonso cuaron's "gravity" is a 3-d space thriller about courage and the will to live. >> before we started talking about space, we defined the scenarios. that is when this image of an astronaut drifting into the void. >> how long did it take you to make it? >> total, 4.5 years. >> how much of that was getting the money and the actors? >> we had to develop the whole technology and stuff for 2.5 years.

then, we shot. then, it was pretty much three years of putting everything together again. the cinematographer, i sent him the script. i said this is a small, intimate film. we can do it in one year. some visual effects. but when trying the conventional rigs, it was clear it was not going to work. we needed to find a way of making network. and one of the principles that we discovered was trying to move the actor as little as possible. trying to move the universal around as much as possible. we had this idea of experimenting with led lights.

the lie can travel the image. we combined that with robots. >> i cannot. the board is still initializing. >> i am not going to ask you again. >> one second. >> not one second. shut it down. that is in order. >> i am sorry. i am done. >> the writer -- we always say that we have composed a screenplay in harmonies. sandra came to give the melody. it is true literally in the sense that there was -- in the script that sandra lead, it was every scene you see in the film. but the way of taking the character, that was still open to interpretation. and sandra was so adamant to make sure that every single bit was going to work for the theme of the film. >> what is the theme of the

film? >> the theme of adversity, of loneliness, the journeys of adversity and rebirth. we tend to fall very easily in our comfort zone. even if we are going through hard times, we are a victim of our own inertias. life has a way to put you in your place. sometimes, if you are too much in your comfort zone, sometimes life in general since you adversity. because it is what you need to shake you a little bit. >> becoming a legend. >> your best friend says, you made a film with martin scorsese. what did you learn? >> you cannot compare him to anybody else. he is my favorite artist of any medium, you know? he is my favorite artist of all time. you do not understand. it is my actual hero, creatively. i think the most impressive

thing about him, you will encounter problems on set. a scene will not be working, either visually or the acting, or the writing. whatever it is. what martin scorsese can do faster and more efficiently than anyone i have ever seen is fix a problem as easy as it is for me to go like that. you know? as simple as, the glass is turned the wrong way. that is how he fixes a massive problem with many moving parts. >> i was fascinated by the possibility of a person who has the talent of persuasion. >> a superb salesman. >> can sell anything. and when that occurs, and when he or she is able to move ahead, there is no restraint. the thing is, in terms of the

confidence man -- a confidence man takes her confidence. you give him your trust, and he betrays you. and the confidence man is always charming. it could be in business. it could be in love. >> some people will say, most movies are an hour and a half, and you have a three-hour movie. you simply say, this is what i need to tell the story i was born to tell, with this story? not a minute less, not a minute more. >> i tried to cut it as much as possible. when the dust settled, this is where we were. thelma schoonmaker and i. >> your editor. >> since "raging bull," 1980. we worked day and night.

we worked day and night on the picture. to take the risks of creating this world of adventure, and slowing it. long dialogue scenes. you would think it would stop the flow. we had the best time, thelma and i, in that way. >> you know you had great performances. you could bring that in, have the music play. >> even if we are in trouble, we know the trouble is there. we will work it out together with a thousand people around us and the clock ticking. >> can you take a good performance and make it into a great performance in the editing room? >> you can. >> i do not think i have ever been in a house this big before. >> i did not want to make any

apologies. to even create a kind of -- >> you just want to capture the opportunity. >> put you in the mindset. it might be more out of frustration in the way things are now than anything else. >> he never had a moment where you said, i have to find a way to make him likable? >> $26,000 for one dinner? >> this can be explained. there were clients. >> you have to deliver certain things the way the hollywood marketplace has to sell. i do not believe i am made for that, you know? they need a certain kind of

product, which is fine. i cannot do it. it was what it was. that is gone. we move on and take advantage of what is new. the new technology, the new marketplace. the new marketplace makes films that are bigger blockbusters. some of them are good. or is a place for that. it is important for the young people to know there are other kinds of cinema. we have to fight for the space to make those pictures, whether it is wes anderson films or coen brothers, or alexander payne. >> is this the best time of your life? >> it is a great time, amazing. 71 years. >> and you love it with the same intensity that you had. ♪

>> alexander, when he first saw it on the paper, he knew it should be black and white. he knows he is going to shoot landscape and texture of faces. in black and white, the texture of those faces in there -- look at the history of movies. look at the women from the 1930's and 1940's, and those

magnificent faces are just incredible. that is black and white. >> talk a bit about the origins of this film and what you felt when you are making it. >> when i was making it, and when i watched the film -- for me, it is more about a man preparing to die and to go over the hill, and lie under a tree, with a son offering to help him, to take him there. i found it very much informed by death. fixing to die, and the son wishing to have one more chance to know his unknowable father, and asked the questions. it is quite dreamlike. as you are on your way out of this planet, you wave goodbye to public acclaim, to forces that oppose you, and to the love you never had. >> do you look for movie ideas? >> you have to be open, and

something strikes you. you have to pay attention to that. in the other people will pay attention to that too. i tried to have that same approach during the entire process of making a film. the approach that hitchcock is said to have had, he had the entire film completely constructed in his brain, and the act of making a film is mainly executing that plan. i do not -- i cannot work that way at all. the screenplay is merely a suggestion of the possible film. beginning with casting and location scouting, i just have to be open to what it could be. >> you are a student of films. >> i like movies.

i do. >> he specifically made this black and white. >> our great film heritage is black and white. it is only for commercial reasons that it left our cinema. it never left fine art photography. we except it is beautiful. nowadays, recording visual information digitally and presenting it in hd and so many k, things look so vivid and so real. i do not think we necessarily want that from the cinema. you want art in general and cinema. from what i think about, transform the image. give us the recognized in a new way, in a beautiful way. the beautiful color images we see, to me, are not half as beautiful as technicolor in the 1940's that transform things. i think black and white is a great way to do that. we do not want verisimilitude in everything. >> why is filmmaking exciting

for you? >> we love life, stories, gossip. obviously, the thrill that narrative art gives us, to live vicariously through the lives of others, the experiences and stories of others. there is something to beautiful and unique about making a film, which is 150, 200 artists working together toward a common goal. there is nothing like that in the world currently. rather than being the creator of a film, i feel like i am directing the creativity of others. fomenting and conducting their creativity. for example, the guys who put the lights never meet the violinists who play the score, who never meet the colorist who is doing the final imagery. but i get to meet them all, and

i am enriched by it, and i am in awe of their skills. >> the definition of director. he is directing you to this place. and allows you to feel you are the one walking through the door first. and making sure you are going to push yourself beyond places you never thought you could go. you watch every actor in every scene. there is no simple scene. you cannot lay back on your laurels and get back on a couple of takes. everything is life or death. let us find the cinematic magic. he never settles. >> i am looking for amazing characters. actors that show their humanity. i am going to make a story about them, and the people and emotions. >> it is not the nuts and bolts. it is these people and their relationships. >> what they are living. >> whatever connection it has to the truth, there it is. but the reality of their lives -- >> that is emotionally true. the christian bale character, it comes from deep down. you tell a story about people.

lives and loves that were amazing cinema. each story begins with someone who has been shattered or laid low, in a terrible predicament. i love watching people pick themselves back up. what they live for, the music they love. >> it brings them together in this film. you are looking for actors. are you writing after you select your actors, or before? >> this movie, i was in christian bale's backyard. i was at jeremy renner's house, deniro's house. it is mars me to create something. you need a tapestry that can make a story that propels and shows all these characters. you live in the story of the mythology, like people sitting around a campfire. you go into a theater, which is

a temple of storytelling, or you watch it at home, and you leave what is in your head out the door. you get lost in this world. i want it to be moving so compulsively and emotionally that it is over before you know it. and you are moved, and you have to go back and think about it, you cannot ignore it. you look at the world. look a bit through the movie's eyes. it frames life a little bit. art can do that. >> every great actor can be enhanced by a wing man. the next two best supporting actor nominees are remarkable examples. jonah hill plays a carnal, ambitious character in "the wolf of wall street." and bradley cooper goes full throttle as an fbi agent in "american hustle." >> i think we fell in love with him. he gets caught up in this world.

he does not have the tools to deal with the high ambitions of the feds, which is to glorify the fbi and takedown white-collar crime. it gets the better of him. you watch this man go from innocence to wisdom by the end of the movie, which is an inverse reflection of christian's character, the opposite. he is a perpetual child, 15 years old, wants to be a man. he comes across people who seem larger-than-life. >> how do you think this works, stupid? >> if you could not call him stupid, you work for him now, so be nice. >> tell me about what happens to richie and what he was going through as he was falling in love? >> he did not see that coming. you see that happen when you are 15 years old and want to hang out with the older kids. as he gets there, it is overwhelming. what he thinks he can handle, he cannot.

one of those moments, he starts telling amy adams, i love you. and she kisses him back. she gives him what he wants. she tells them something real for the first time in the movie. she is from albuquerque, new mexico. >> stop it. you are british. i checked her records. >> i falsified my records back to birth. i falsified them. i am from albuquerque, new mexico. i am not edith. there is no edith. >> you are freaking me out. this is the moment in the film where she has to make a turn. is she conning him or not? is it real?

is she developing feelings, or is it part of the hustle? everything that happened in the bathroom is not real? now, i am scared. >> is this the best time in your life? >> yes. >> you get to do the kinds of things you have been trained to do, things you love, and work with people you love. >> i know that i feel very happy, that i am comfortable in this place. that is a really calming feeling, to be able to enter into these situations with this wonderful feeling, as opposed to feeling something else. but i truly do not know. i just try not to fear it is going to go away like that. i just want to enjoy it. >> jonah hill. the great jonah hill. >> probably the best i have worked with. it is amazing when you can have a certain thought process for

what you think a scene is going to be, and somebody cares everything apart in front of you, and you have to ride with it. >> leonardo dicaprio's character and my character start this company that starts with penny stocks and gets working-class people and drains their bank accounts. my character is probably the closest thing to an animal ever. ever portrayed on screen. no impulse control. no moral decision-making. just someone completely heartless. >> how did you prepare for him? >> i met with leonardo dicaprio before i was supposed to meet with martin scorsese. i was very adamant that i knew people like this in society, you know? i had seen them exist. and really was saddened by the fact that they do not care about

anything besides things. you know? all they care about is more and more, filling some hold that is never going to be filled, and not caring what you have to do to get those things, you know? i basically -- i just said to him, i have to play this character. and it was the most interesting process, because it was about -- i am usually not asking the director, especially when favorite film maker of all time, saying, i have to play this character. any actor who would say that to martin scorsese, you know? is that your car? you make a lot of money? >> i do alright for myself. >> i am trying to get a nice car. we live in the same building. how much money do you make?

>> i don't know. $70,000 last month? i am serious. >> i am serious. >> i told you. $70,000. technically, $72,000. >> you made 72 grand in one month? >> yes. >> i tell you what. you show me a pay stub for $72,000, i quit my job right now and work for you. >> that is his intro into the film. that film clip is the first time you see him in the film, imposing over jordan. asking really inappropriate questions like, how much money do you make? is that your car? why do you have so much money? i do not understand. tell me why you have more money than i do? it is like a kid putting together, why is your lollipop bigger than my lollipop? how do i get the bigger -- you know what i mean?

>> screenwriting and cinematography are two pillars of filmmaking. they demand huge talent and imagination. here are four notable nominees. steve coogan, the british comedian, who found an incredible story in "philomena," directed by stephen frears. cowriter steve coogan has a best adapted screenplay nomination. also up our richard linklater, ethan hawke, and julie delpy, the winning team behind the trilogy about the evolution of an american-parisian couple over two decades. then, there is woody allen, nominated for penning "blue jasmine." cate blanchett said a few words about his artful writing.

and the great roger deakins. his cinematography in "prisoners" has earned him his 11th nomination. the director and actor spoke about his masterpiece. >> i was deeply influenced by roger deakins. it was like going back to film school, an opportunity to work with a master. he is a kind of genius. >> as an actor and someone who loves film, being in his frame is an extraordinary lesson. he is obviously telling a story, as most great cinematographers are. to see the work that roger deakins does, to reflect -- i know there is an old lighting term. what he does is mind-blowing. he makes you a better actor. >> like bergman, he is a brilliant dramatist. incredible filmmaker. unique and special and rare.

it is all in the text. he will tell you when it is not working. he does not necessarily point you in the right direction. given that this is the guy who made "bananas," which way is this going to fall? this is absurd and hilarious. that he can be so serious. he walks the line between the absurd and the painful. >> can i ask you a question? if we are meeting for the first time on a train, would you find me attractive? >> of course. >> the main character of the movie, in a lot of ways, is time. you make a movie that spans 18 years. you watch people's relationship to romantic love. what it feels like in your early 20's to connect with a woman for the first time. as you are 30, it starts to get a little more complicated and a little more interesting. by the time you are in the middle of the road, it is

actually a lot of things at one time. our goal was -- a little goal is to try to make a deeply romantic movie that did not have one line in it. >> i worked with other people, written with other people. there are some people, you really connect. it is very interesting how we kind of -- i know that sounds crazy, because writers, actors, directors have big egos. all we actually put our ego aside when we work together. it is all about the work. >> we cocreated the movie. to perform it is such a unique opportunity. the dna, so the movie grows, and we are part of it. >> for us to even get to write a line -- we do not get into even writing a word until we have figured out -- we would hate to be doing another film.

even this film, i do not think we would have gone into it, if we did not feel we had something to say that would add. >> we do not want to be writing the same thing, is the key. >> you are a very skilled manipulator. >> they spend 80-plus minutes getting to know each other again. it is about a rekindling of what was between them. and that ends with them probably determining, even though their lives are much more complex -- you feel like they really are soulmates. >> i was going to ask you, martin, if it would be possible not to use my real name when you write the story. how about you call me nancy? >> i came across the story in "the guardian" newspaper. the title was, "the catholic church sold my child."

it was written by martin sixsmith. it moved me to tears. >> what was the biggest challenge? >> the advantage -- studio films like, it is a comedy, a drama. they are all delineated. life involves a bit of tragedy and a bit of comedy. i thought they were very comfortable bedfellows and would coexist well together. that was vital. this is a good thing. it will be different, because there are equal parts pathos and laughter. >> one of them was a drug addict. one of them was obese. i watched this documentary. a lot of them are huge. what if that happened to him? because of the size of the

portions. >> because comedy requires so many kinds of skills, it might be harder to make the transition to film if you are not a comedian. >> comics can overthink things. that is why they are good, sometimes. a pause there. you get a better laugh. if you just deliver the line quietly, you get a big laugh. sometimes, you have to forget about that and do what does not come naturally to a lot of performers and actors. it is something you have to acquire. >> what an interesting book. i finished mine. >> it is rather dull. it is about local horsetrading. >> mine is about horses! >> i wanted to make the story something which was, although it was a tragedy that happened in her life, with her son, i wanted people to leave the cinema optimistic, in a hopeful frame of mind. for me, it was her grace and fortitude, stoicism. it was quite inspiring. >> we wish all the nominees the best of luck on sunday.

it is a great honor just to be nominated. even better to win. we love the movies and will be watching. it is a night in which film honors its craft. for all of us here this evening, thanks for joining us. we will see you next time. ♪

>> welcome to the late edition of "bloomberg west" where we cover the movie conveys that shape our world. we are focused on the future of business. apple had an annual shareholder meeting tuesday. investors reelected the board of investors. tim cook promised new gadgets but did not reveal anything new. apple face down carl icahn he wanted an increase in buybacks. the company is sitting on nearly $160 billion in cash.