to the stage. >> thank you so much. >> reporter: you rarely think of the steps they had to take to get there, the journey. tonight for the first time this year's oscar nominees take you back to their beginnings. >> my mom couldn't afford even a happy meal. >> reporter: thefaced overwhelming obstacles. >> i thoughthtt was an enormous failure. >> reporter: stared down their fears. >> there was no retreat, this was the alamo. >> reporter: and discovered what matters most. >> i'm learning a ton every day i'm with him. for me that's the rush. >> reporter: join us tonight for a special edition of "20/20," joney to the oscars. welcome, everyone, to journey y the oscars. i'm robin roberts. tonight we're going to give you an insider's take on the most competitive categories. and we'll also discuss the controversy concerning the lack of diversity among this year nominees. that's later. but first, we have some stories to tell. when you think of sylvester stallone you think movie star, right?

rocky balboa. you might not think artist, painter and writer. but he's all threeeef those. sylvester stallone's big brere came about through the sheer power of his imagination when he hatched the idea that not only launched his career but began the 40-year saga that we still can't get enough of. let's start from the beginning. was there ever a time that you doubted yourself? >> yeah. you know, i thought when i lived basically in this flop house. it's $2626 week, very transient and you shared a floor with ten ople, you don't know anybody on the planet. litelly no one. >> reporter: i think i recall you saying your acting low point, "the godfather," and you said you couldn't even get in a -- >> oh, i couldn't even get cast as an italian. i'll never forget where there's a party scene and there's three hundred guests. they said, "no." i go, "what part of me didn't make it past the italian

he goes "eh, i don't know. you just don't fit in." that's telling you something. >> reporter: that's gotta play with your psyche a little bit. >> a little bit. >> reporter: i know! but it didn't and you decided to take matters into your own hands by writing "rocky." >> you know i've been coming in for six years and for six years you been sticking it to me. i wanna know how come. >> you want to know? >> i want to know now! >> okay, i'm going to tell you! because you have the talent to bebeme a good fighter and instead of that yoyobecame a leg-breaker. >> reporter: you were able to write "rocky" in three and a half days. the movie that went on to be best picture. you wrote in three and a half days. >> yes. yes. >> reporter: was it just flowing out of you? >> it was, i knew that this was going to be very flawed but if i could get to from the beginning to the end and with some semblance of a character. then, i'll repair the rest along the way. >> reporter: and you want to star in it! and you're told "no." you were even offered $250,000. >> 360. >> reporter: 360? you're a struggling actor.

you're getng offered all this money but you didn't take it. >> no. i just didn't understand how the rules of life were played at that point but this character i understood. >> reporter: to say that "rocky" touched nerve would be an understatement. in the 1980s, "rocky" epitomed america's attitude and self image and the character continued to evolve in the new millennium. appearing every few years to reflect america's changing hopes, fears and dreams. until finally it appeared that the journey was at an end. the last "rocky" movie before "creed," the final scene, was it your way of saying good-bye to the character? good-bye to that. >> yeah, good-bye to everything. good-bye to the best chapters of my life at least professional life, it really was.

out of oakland and i go, "what?" >> reporter: ryan coogler. >> ryan coogler. >> reporter: when director ryan coogler first m m with stallone, he was untested as a feature filmmaker. but he had an intensely personal idea for reviving the rocky franchise. coogler's father had fallen gravely ill a few years earlier. with ryan by his side there was only one thing the elder coogler wanted to watch. >> the father is a very soulful, powerful man. and now he's being reduced to the shell of his former self. but, oddly, he watches "rocky" again and again and again. his sowho loves his father sitting right beside him and he's watching his father disintegrate before his very eyes. the traumatic impact was so imprinted on this young man that he never got over it. so he comes to me and goes, "hey, look at this great idea. 're going to, you know, revive rocky." i go, , ow?" and when he told me the story i said, "this is insane, wrong.

appreciate the thought." he goes, "okay, see you around." and he goes out and does a masterpiece, "fruitvale station," wins the cannes film festival. every studio wants him. what's he want to do? "creed." i went, either this guy here is just trying my patience or he reminds me of a guy i used to know. >> reporter: i was going to say that was you 40 years ago. >> yeah. it was. absolutely. then i realized this is not a movie for him, it's for his father. this is all about a love letter to his father. >> if you really dug down deep and you ask a real "rocky" fan why he likes the movies, it's usually because they're watch it with somebody that they love. what's so great about them is it's so personal to people. people just associate it with their family. >> he writes me the role of a lifetime and then he has michael b. jordan, who's also brilliant and i'm now pulled along, tugged out, by the present generation, a character that could be their grandfather. >> what do you mean don't think about this? when are you starting treatment? >> i'm not doing no

i'm not crazy at all. if i can take everything that was good and put it into a bowl or something and say, "hey, here, i would like to buy a day with my wife," i'd do it. everything i got is mod on and i'm here. >> i never wanted to do this movie. i thought sick rocky is so counterintuitive to what rocky really is designed for. i just laid there, i said, "can someone else be sick in the movie and not me?" because i've never done that. my wife goes, "you're a cowardrd you know, that's kind of a harsh word. she goes "no, no. you're basically a coward. it goes against everundeclared artistic rule." if you're afraid of something, that's the commitment of the artist. that's h h duty to pursue the unknown. to go someplace where he's

>> you all right there, old man? >> yeah. you know, if you look hard enough you can see your whole life from here. >> how's it look? >> not bad at all. >> once i just gave up and realized this movie belongs to michael b. jordan, who is the youth, he's the engine. you're the caboose. i am burgess meredith, i im wisdom. i am experience. >> reporter:r:hat do you rerember from the oscars 40 years ago? >> i rember driving up to e oscars and i had a rented tux and it wasn't fitting very well and the tie was a little loose and as i was adjusting it, it went "sprung" and it broke. and the driver was like "eh, don't worry about it. you can borrow mine." i said, "no, no, no, no." so i take it and put my collar out which at that time was disco fever and i go in. and people are looking at me like, "how? this is blasphemous." and d m like, "what's going on? is i imy cologne?" i had no idea. and it was just again, naivete, i didn't think we were gonna win.

works of cinematic filmmaking, i mean, on every level. >> films nominated for the academy award this year are "all the president's men," "network," "r"rky," "taxi driver," " d the winner is -- "rocky". >> reporter: what i remember most from the oscars, how wide-eyed you were. >> oh, yeah. >> reporter: first of all, you had to be dragged up there. you didn't want to go up. >> they brought me on stage and i went, "oh, no. here we go." >> i'd like to thank you for sharing your dream with us, and for giving a performance that has enriched all our lives. >> for all the rockys in the world, i love you. >> reporter: when you said, "this is for all the rockys." >> this is for all the rockys in the world. yeah. >> reporter: who do you think are all the rockys in the world?

we all have this struggle to try to realize our dream. which is trying to be appreciated in our own lifetime, say, know what? i'm not the fastest, i'm not the prettiest, i'm not the talst, but i just like to take a shot at it. one time and then i'll know. >> you taught me how to fight again, and i'm going to go home and fight this thing, but i want you to fight too. >> you know, even in my own life you realize that my ship has come and gone. my sunset is halfway down. i really -- i'm really paying attention. like this right now, i'm photographing this in my mind. this is a rerely special moment in my life because there's not that mananmoments left. you know, they are really getting very special. so thank you. >> reporter: thank you. >> i'm going to hai@i@ the wall. >> reporter: thank you for sharing this moment with us. coming up, matt damon, ridley scott, bryan cranston, our take on diversity and the oscars. and up next, hollywood's new

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tt2w rr)]@eo j# [zt 2w rr)]@e!!*n +z< tt2w rr)]@e4!j# ]lh tt2w rr)]@ex#*&`:zb< tt2w rr)]@et#j'`:nbx tt2w rr)]@et#j)`:e"< tt@ep#j*`:r9 tt2w rr)]@ep#j,`:3c@ r)]@el#*.`::jl tt2w rr)]@el#*0`:!\$ as far as s w i came from single mom who was a waitress, we were on food stamps to how am i here now? >> i was really seriously considering leaving acting. and my mom called and she said, "i will never speak to you again if you turn your back on this. it gave me that one little bit of a nudgege >> i was always sort of shy bubu i always lovededcting. i wawanaive enough to thinin that's'sust what you did whehe you grew up.

school. i questioned that i might go in another direction, but then i dared to believe that i would at leve it a few more years to try. >> reporter: in the intensely powerful film "room," a young mother is held captive with her 5-year-old son in a garden shed. it's the only world her son has ever known. the mother is played by a remarkable young actress named brie larson, whose career has been forever changed with this performance. >> the world is so big. it's so big you wouldn't even believe it and the room is just one stinky part of it. >> room is not stinky. i don't believe in your stinky world. >> reporter: as a young girl, brie moved to los angeles with her newly single mother and they shared a cramped studio apartment. brie would draw upon her mom's

protecting her child. my sister, my mom all in the same bed. hearing my mom like covering her mouth like sobbing trying to not make a sound for us to hear. it wasn't until i was prepping "room," where i realized that moment was the oy crack. inking, "my kids were asleep, i can n lease," because wherer elel was she gonna go? my mom was struggling while being in a very small space with two children and being sure to not put any of it on us. you realize how hard she tried and you see it from this perspective that you couldn't as a kid. we lived in a studio apartment with just a room and a bed that came out of the wall. and my mom couldn't afford even

we ate top ramen. i had no toys, and i had like two shirts, and like a pair of jeans and that was it. but i had my mom all to myself and i remember it being the e coolest periododf time. i was really, really shy. painfully shy. so the idea of me wanting to do something extremely extroverted seemed bizarre and unnatural. being an actor hasn't been easy. you're given mostly "no"s. there's like these sayings like just keep on going, it's just around the corner and it just felt like this is the longest block, ever. this is like 20 years walking on one block waiting for that corner to turn. >> reporter: while successful as a supporting player in both tv and film, brie was still searching for that role that would show her true talents. and then she read the screenplay for a small, independent film called "room" and something

>> good morning. good morning, tv. good morning, sink. >> you're 5 now. you're 5 and you're old enough to understand what the world is. you have to understand. you have to understand. we can't keep living like this. you have to help me. >> reporter: the character allowed her to create an homage to her own mother and to connect more deeply with her co-star. >> this is a mothering role. i had to really create this sense of companionship with this boy. how could you not want to just give everything you have to that brilliant little kid? he's the best and i felt so much responsibility. i knew from being an actor the same age jake was and how badly i really wanted to be respected and i wanted to do a good job. and i saw that in jake right away. i knew he was in it for real.

be respected and so i was going to make him feel like a creative force. >> you saved me. >> are you better now? >> yeah, i'm starting to be. >> "room" was replly making it all about him like making it about his experience and it allowed me to really feel ma in a deeper way. we were doing the escape sequence, i always saw it as like what's on the pagag like it's mom giving up her son. she thinks that he's going to be okay, but she's going to die. i always assumed that it was gonna be about that. when we started doing it and i would remember just holding on to jacob and that rug and i felt this gut-wrenching feeling of not wanting it to go and i realized that was me letting go a 7-year-old. that's me letting go of my inner child.

back. >> reporter: brie's breakthrough resulted in the most powerful performance of her career and gave her closure with the little girl she used to be. >> it's such a powerful metaphor for me now and it trips me out that this movie is the thing that's gen me that experience. >> say bye-bye to room. 7-year-old t tt was in the studio apartmentntthat was blissfully unaware and also so hopeful of w wt was gonna happen. it's sing good-bye to my old normal. ma has to commit to living in a bigger, more complicated world well. >> you're going to love it. >> what?

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we had to do a sex scene and i was really nervous about it 'cause i've never done one. it's a terribly uncomfortable thing and she pulled me outside and was like, "oh, this is the worst." i go, "have you ever done one of these before?" and she e id, "only one with george clooney." didn't help. >> reporter: welcome back tospecial edition of "20/20." let's continue now with an actor whose journey to his first nomination has taken him decades. bryan cranston. but he'd be the first one to tell you it has been more than rth the wait. >> hello. >> reporter: hello. >> i didn't know you dine here. how are you? >> reporter: good to see you. >> good see you too. >> reporter: congratulations. >> thank you. >> reporter: please sit. this is your hood. >> it is.

i lived right around the corner. humbling to come back here. you're back here as oscar-nominated bryan cranston. >> that life is as about as far away from the boy who was raised in this area as you can get. i was not raised with the idea that you could achieve that. >> reporter: he grew up p re, in the los angeles suburb of canoga park. the town's blue e llar work ethic would inform his own. >> there was a duality to my childhood. when i was raised in canoga park up to the age of 10, life seemed pretty normal. it was kind of a typical suburban life.

getting a job there. sometimes doing fairly well and other times not so well. one year we had a pool put into our backyard. and i remember a year later or so my mother saying, "we c c't swim this summer because we can't afford the chemicals to go in the pool." so that was interesting, that up and down life. >> reporter: do you remember that first time seeing him on the screen? >> yeah. >> the locusts are everywhere. >> he was an armrmguy and he was "no, the sector 7 looks fine here." >> they're moving into our location. >> and then behind him we see this large grasshopper coming up behind him. and then we just here -- we would go, "oh! there goes dad, he just died." >> reporter: bryan walked to his

>> so this is the auditorium. >> reporter: and it was here he decided to walk in his father's footsteps. his first performance would be a memorable one, but painfully so. so you are this tall and everything seems really big and you are supposed to say -- >> president lincoln will finish writing the gettysburg address when he returns to the white house. and instead i said, "president lincoln will finish writing the gettysburg address when he returns from the white front." which was this department store, this chain of department stores all throughout southern california. and everybody cracked up. everybody was laughing. and i thought it was an enormous failure. but later on i realized the power. i mistakenly misplaced one word, and that did this. >> reporter: and just one word. >> one word. >> reporter: bryan's rough moment on stage passed fairly

stresses at home, where his parents struggled to keep their family together. >> around 10, 11, my father and mother came to an impasse and split up. unfortunately, my father left the family and i didn't see him from the time i was 12 to the time i was 22. >> reporter: bryan initially considered b boming a police officer. but the pullllf the stage was too strong. inunior college he enrolled in an acting class. >> the first line i read says, "teenage boy and girl are making out on a park bench." oh, my god. i look at the girl, she's really cute. we were called up and i sat on a bench and she sat on a bench and she sat on the bench. i had the first line. and i put my sides down on the floor and before i could turn she's on to me, she's kissing me and i'm leaning back and kissing

straddles my leg and kissing and kissing, and it's like, "oh, my god." so ia break i come up to her and i'm going to ask her out and she looked at me like i was a lost puppy. >> reporter: you d dn't realize she was acting? >> i completely believed her. the power that she exuded at that time as a person, as an actor, was immense. and it just blew me back. by the age of 25, i never looked back. >> repepter: during the '80s0snd '90s, bryan was the ultimate journeyman, appearing in dozens of television shows and commercials. but unlike his father he considered himself blessed simply to be a working actor. your father wanted to be successful. wanted to be a star. that did not happen for him. did that break him? >> i think it did.

inflated to the point where he felt that was what was important. as long as you find something that you enjoy doing and love to do, then it doesn't really matter where that takes you because you're in love. >> mr. white? >> yes. >> you understood what i just said to you. >> yes. lung cancer. inoperable. >> walter white is the reason i was able to become dalton trumbo. >> surprise! >> reporter: bryan's portrayal of walter white, thehecience teacher turned meth kingpin, was one of the crowning achievements of modern television. but brian never would have been cast without the advocacy of the show's creator. >> vince gilligan was my champion because the network and studio, they were like, "well, wait a minute.

white being played by the e lly dad from 'malcolm in thehe middle?'" and vince, to his great credit and my benefit, said, "he's an actor. this is what he does, you know, he can do this." >> a guy opens his door and gets shot, you think that of me? no. i am the one who kcks. >> reporter: from then on he's had his pick of projojts. winnina tony for his performance as president lyndon johnson in "all the way." and now, although bryan never sought it, he has arrived at the place his father always coveted. he is an oscar-nominated movie star for his performance as blacklisted screenwriter "dalton trumbo." >> trumbo, we can't afford you. >> all right, i wiwi write you a movie for $1,200. >> and you don't want your name on it. >> no. you don't want my name on it. >> we should be able to embrace

different ideals. and not take someone's point of view that differs from ours as a threat to my own point of view but to be intrigigd by it. >> whisper a movie you've written in secret. maybe i've heard of it. >> maybe you have. >> reporter: at this point in your career, as oppopod to early , your 20s, getting g e recognition, what does that mean to you now? >> i think that it came to me at the right time. i think i'm mature enough to be able to accept this life and at some point on this wonderful thrill ride of a roller coaster that i'm on, it's going to pull into the station again, stop, and that bar will l an up, and i'll be asked to step out and i think i'll do it gladly. it's like, okay. and i'll look at the next person and, have a great ride, go on,

have fun. coming up, matt damon, ridley scott, and our look at the oscars' diversity issue. when this special edition of "20/20" continues. anything but simple. so finally, i had an important conversation with my dermatologist about humira. he explained that humira works inside my body to target and help block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to my symptoms. in clinical trials, most adults saw 75% skin clearance. and the majority were clear or almost clear in just 4 months. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b,

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my grandmother who loved movies, knew that i was kind of watch movies with her on the couch. i'm watching this movie and i see this incredible charismatic actor. i wanted to do that, what is he doing? what i was watching was "streetctc named desire." and that was marlon brando. that the acting bug started. >> reporter: at the academy awards we celebrate great stories. but there's another story taking center stage this year. none of this year's nominated

of color. we're talking zero. so tonight as we focus on the remarkable journeys of our nominees we also take a look at the journey of the oscars themselves. >> to me it seems more than just a plaque of gold. it opens the doors of this room, and enables us to embrace the whole of america. >> reporter: years before jackie robinson, decades before martin luluer king jr., hattie e daniel becamemehe first african-american to win an oscar. >> my heart is too full. may i say thank you, and go bless you. >> reporter: the oscars seemed to be on the cutting edge of racial equality. but over the next 50 years, only three more actors of color won oscars. until whoopi goldberg's win for "ghost." >> i had heard people talk about how long it had been between hattie mcdaniel and another black woman.

thank you so much. but the difference between my win and another woman is a much shorter time. >> and the oscar goes to -- halle berry. >> reporte halle berry was the first african-american to win best leading actress. this moment is for every nameless, faceless woman of color that now has a chance because this door tonight has been opened. >> reporter: after that moment, especially with denzel washington winning best actor that same night, many people believed that real racial equality had finally arrived at the oscars. between that moment and this one, seven other actors of color won oscars. but now, for the second year in a row, not even a single nominee. with a viral hashtag and several high-profile celebrities and

event, people are taking a deeper look not just at the oscars, but at hollywood. >> when i host the academy awards, the same thing happened, people said, "well, we got to boycott it because there's no folks of color." you can fill the academy with all black folks, all asian, latino and stuff and if you don't put folks in the movies that are the caliber that they should be, you're going to have the same issue. >> if our industry is not open enough to be able to look at ourselves and find the flaws then we're not very strong. >> reporter: perhaps this zero-nominion moment is necessary to begin c cating real and lasting change. immediately after the nominations were announced, the academy did adopt a series of changes to the voting and membership process. we will see how effective those changes prove to be. coming up on "journey to the oscars," you may think

the emotional wringer. >> we knew we a moment where mark's armor cracks. >> thanks for coming back for me. >> we're on it. >> reporter: but matt damon's collaboration with producer and director ridley scott is an emotional story in and of itself. we stop arthriris pain, so you don't have to stop. because you believe in go. onward. today's the day. carpe diem. tylenol 8hr arthritis pain has two layers of pain relief. the first is fast. the second lasts all day. we give you your day back. what you do with it is up to you. tylenol . [anthony] last year, i didn't go to h&r block. but this year, i can go to block and pay half, what i paid my other guy. so follow us, we're going to h&r block.

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tt2watv# -4 bt@qq> i love that you're asking me that because my wife has brought this up many times. >> i think the toilet is a wonderful place to practice just about anything. i'm a big fan of that as a rehearsal room space. >> i never ever practiced an oscar speech. >> i have in the past, i've written them. this year i'not going to prepare anything to really be

that moment. i think that would be a pretty courageous thing to try and do. >> to memorize anything, i just stand in the shower and scream. >> reporter: matt damon is nominated this y yr for best acr. and sir ridley scott produced and directed this year's best picture nominee "the martian." they had never worked together before this film. but when they finally did, it was out of this world. >> everyone's had a crack at playing the guitar, but when jimi hendrix played the guitar, you knew it was jimi hendrixix right? and when rley scott is being completely simple and completely honest, you know it's ridley scott's frame. >> there's an innocence to matt. i think that's what makes him fresh. >> reporter: we all expected the amazing visuals.

sequences. but none of us expected "the martian" to become hollywood's perfect storm of 2015. a $600 million-grossing blockbuster that struck an emotional chord around the world. >> i got it. >> reporter: the story of "the martian" is surprisingly an intensely personal story, one that could only have been told at this moment by these two men -- ridley scott and matt damon. >> when i first read the script, i thought this is a challenge because you're by yourself. all of that risk is kind of mitigated by a master standing next to you the entire time, you know. had it not been ridley i wouldn't have done the movie. >> i storyboard d erything. and by doing it, you're literally shooting the film on paper in your head first. i've got to sit down, by myself, and think it through quietly, a bit like a writer.

what gets to me? >> reporter: for nearly 40 years ridley scott has followed the same daily ritual of sitting down in his study and drawing the pictures that came into his head. the resulting storyboards have become the launching pads for me of the most memorable worlds in cinema history. from the depths of outer space in "alien" -- to the arenas of ancient rome in "gladiator" -- to the american west of "thelma and louise." >> actors are one excuse for not being good in a movie is that we don't know what movie we're in. what ridley does is he absolutely arms you with all of this information. so you not only know what movie you're in, you know what lens size you're on, you know what shot he's cutting from and what shot he's cutting to. all of that makes your job much, much easier. >> reporter: ridley's method springs from hisraining as a painter at london's royal

his first film marked the beginning of his lifelong creative partnership with his brother tony scott. that's tony on the bike. >> tony was his best friend. they were very, very, very, very close. there was a profound bond between them. my dad was, in some ways, tony's protector and guide. >> reporter: tony would become a director and producer as well. together, they created scott free, one of the most successful production companies in hollywood. >> i knew that i wanted blood in that company. i knew tony had it in him, and he flew eventually. >> reporter:ley and tony scott produced a staggering 157 films and television shows, ranging from "top gun" and "crimson tide" to "blackhawk down" and "american gangster." but in 2012, the unimaginable happened. with their company at the height of its powers, tony scott took

tony's death was the darkest momentf ridley's life. but in the darkness he worked his way toward the light. >> i always learned if you sit at a problem long enough, there's always a solution. you've just got to keep going at it. >> reporter: he turned to the process that had been his creative bedrock. he sat down in his study and drew the pictures that came into his head. he could have told the story of instead he drew a man much like himself. inspired by the bestselling book a man facing the abyss who somehow, step by step, f fnd a way to s svive. >> at some point, everything's going to go south on you. everything's going to go south. and you're gonna say, "this is it. this is how i end."

or you can get to work. >> the methodology of what he is doing and how he does it is exactly as my father would do it. if my dad were stranded on mars, he would work it out. >> you just begin. you do the math. you solve one problem, then you solve the next one. and then the next. and if you solve enough problems, you get to come home. >> "the martian"'s got tony in it. the way matt's character blows himself up. tony was the most accident-prone person. he was always like, drive his motorcycle through the back of the garage. that's tony. >> reporter: sir ridley scott infused the set of "the martian" with his brother's buoyant spirit. he attractct "a"-listers and oscar nominees to fill out his cast and oversaw every detail of the massive production. and for matt damon, whose

nearly the entire movie alone, ridley was with him every step of the way. >> in the preproduction, we went through the script starting on page one and just went through every single moment. >> he and i talked technically, studying emotion of human, saying, "this is funny, tears here, maybe." >> we knew we needed a moment where mark's armor cracks. >> about two minutes. how you doing down there? >> i'm good. i'm anxious to get up to you. thanks for coming back for me. >> the other actors had already wrapped, they'd gone home. so it was just ridley anani in budapest shooting that scene and as we started to do the scene, ridley did something kind of tricky. he put the sound of the other actors inside my helmet. it just struck me that it was the first time i'd heard anybody's voice in, you know, almost two years. >> captain. >> go. >> command.

>> recovery. >> go. >> secondary recovery. >> go. >> pilot. >> go. >> i just went. but it happened because of ridley. and it surprised me. i don't think it surprised ridley. >> and he said, "i just lost it. was that too much?" and i said, "no. it was perfect, dude." but that's him. that's him. >> there's a thing that happens at the end of "the martian" where he's sitting in the park and he looks down in between his feet and he sees that little through the cracks, that's all my dad. he sees beauty in everything. >> this little green stalk growowg out of gravel. that could be ririey scott. nothing is gonna stop thatatuy. he's gonna m me a lot more vies. i'm just hoping i'm in them. oscars," a surprising take on this year's oscar races.

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>> reporter: welcome back to a special edition of "20/20." we promised you an insider's look at the races and we're gonna deliver. krista smith is the "vanity fair" west coast editor. it's wide open. >> this year it is just anybody's guess. >> reporter: how about best picture? what do you see for that? >> well, i think this has been the most exciting race that the oscars has had for best picture in a very long t te. >> it could he been you, me, any of us. >> now "spotlight," it's a classic american story about journalism done right and it has a lot of heart. then all of a sudden, "the big short," loaded with movie stars. it takes on something that's so contemporary.

it feels important. you've got leonardo dicaprio in the lead and audiences are loving it. those are the films that i think it's gonna boil down to, one of those three. >> reporter: you bring up leo. it's his time? >> i feel the momentum is in his favor. this is his sixth nomination. but thth being the oscars i i would never say that there is anything like a sure thing. you've got michael fassbender, who's amazing in "steve jobs." eddie redmayne, he won last year. it's a great group of actors. >> reporter: let's talk about the women. >> what's really exciting to see is a whole new generation of young actresses coming up. i mean, saoirse ronan's fantastic. shshwas nominated as a t tnager for "atonement" seven years earlier. i think no one could argue that brie larson is hollywood's "it" girl of the moment. it could be interesting to see if one of these young girls becomes a household name. >> reporter: all right, krista, thank you for your insight. and we'll be watching sunday to see if you're right.

hosts the 88th academy awards. i'm robin roberts, and i'll see you on the red carpet. good night. >> the worst role i ever played? >> i did "mirror mirror two" and "mirror mirror three." >> i played a loon, yes, the bird. >> i died in the first one and then came back as another character in the second one because they liked me that much.the 20 and 30s. the planner shows a quiet evening ahead. the temperature will be 30 at 2 am, 28 at 6 am and 42 at 10 am, all with clear skies. i'll be back in a few minutes with a look at a record high tomorrow! it's time for local news that matters! "we were able to getit through the senana this year," says senator

lawmakers weigh in on a new bill that couldldive iowans with a terminal illnesses a last chancnc "they're a pretty neat fish." endangered for the past few decades... siouxland anglers can now real in a new catch. and, this year's local film festival... sparks interest across the world. "we had our first film submission from new zealand." tim: good evening and thank you for joining us tonight im tim seaman jenna: and im jenna rehnstrom a new bill passed by the iowa senate is giving some iowa families new hope. tim: the bill called... the right to try, gives terminally ill patients the opportunity to try non-fda approved medical alternatives. abab's jess plue has more on what this legislation would mean. jess: that's right tim and jenna...imagine being told by your doctor that you have a shorted timeline to