>> reporter: when you think of the oscars, you think of the steps down the red carpet and up 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: they faced overwhelming obstacles. >> and i thought it was an enormous failure. >> reporter: sred 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," journey to the oscars. welcome, everyone, to "journey to the oscars." i'm robin roberts. tonight we're going to give you an insider's take on the most

and we'll also discuss the controversy concerning the lack of diversity among this year's nominees. that's later. but first, we have some stories to tell. when you think of sylvester stallone you think movie ar, right? yeah, action hero and of course, rocky balboa. you might not think artist, painter and writer. but he's all three of those. sylvester stallone's big break 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 y this flop house. it's $26 a week, very transient, and you shared a floor with ten people, you don't know anybody on the planet. literally no o o. >> reporter: i think i recall you saying your acting low point, "the godfather," and you said you couldn't even get in a --

as an italian. i'll never forget where there's a party scene and there's 300 guests. they saiai "no." i go, "what part of me didn't make it past the italian identification aspec" 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 become a good fighter and instead of that you became a leg-breaker. >> reporter: you were able to write "rocky" in three and a half days. the movie that went on to be bebe 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

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'rere struggling actor. you can't make ends meet. you're getting offered all this money but you didn't take it. >> no. i just didn't understand how the rules of life were played d that point but this character i understood. reporter: to say that "rocky" touched a nerve would be an understatement. in the 1980s, "rocky" epitomized america's attitudedand self image and the character continued to evolve in the new millennium. reappearing every few yes 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

your way of saying`good-bye to the e aracter? 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. then along comes this young guy out of oakland and i go, "what?" >> reporter: ryan coogler. >> ryan coogler. >> reporter: when director ryan coogler first met 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 yes 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 son who 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

"hey, look at this great idea. we're going to, you kn, revive rocky." i go, "how?" and when he told me the story i said, "this is insane, wrong. you're a young kid, you haven' done anything yet, but i 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, now, either this guy here is just trying my patience or he reminds me of a guy i used to know. >> reporter:r: 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. >> now, if you really dug down deepnd you ask a real "rocky" fan why he likes the movies, it's usually because they watch it with somebody that they love. what's so great about thems it's so personal to people. people just associate it with

>> he writes me e e 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. >> wt do you mean don't think about this? when are you starting treatment? >> i'm not doing no chemotherapy. 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 one more day with my wife," i'd do it. everything i got is moved 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 coward." you know, that's kind of a harsh word. she goes "no, no. you're basically a coward. it goes against every undeclared artistic rule."

that's the commitment of the artist. that's his duty to pursue the unknown. to go someplace where he's literally at odds with himself. >> 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. >nd 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 am wisdom, i am experience. >> reporter: what do you remember from the oscars 40 years ago? >> i remember driving up to the 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 driv was like "eh, don't worry about it. you can borrow mine." i said, "no, no, no, no." so i take it and i put my collar out which at that time was disco fever and i go in.

like, "howow this is blasphemous." and i'm like, "what's gog on? is it my cologne?" i had no idea. and it was just t ain, naivete, i didn't think we were gonna win. we were up against extraordinany works of cinematic filmmaking, i mean, on every level. >> films nominated for the academy award this year are "all the president's men," "network," "rocky," "taxi driver," and 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 an i went, "oh, no. no tie. 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 the world, i love you.

"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're all rockys in a sense. we all have this strugglto try to realize our dream. which is trying to be appreciated in our own lifetime, say, you know what? i'm not the fastest, i'm not the prettiest, i'm not the tallest, but i just like to take a shot at it. one time andndhen i'll know. >> you taught me how to fight again, and i'm going to go home and i'm going to 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 halfwayayown. i really -- i'm really paying attention. likehis, right now, i'm photographing this in my mind. this is a really special moment in my life because therere not that many moments left. you know, they are really getting very special. so, thank you. >> reporter: thank you. >> i'm going to hang this one on the wall. >> reporter: thank you for sharing this moment with us. thank you. coming up, matt damon, ridley scott, bryan cranston,

anup next, hollywood's asasar as how 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 acti. 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 nudge." >> i was always sortrtf shy but i always loved acting. i was naive enough to think that's just what you did when you grew up. >> i didn't get into theatre school at that point. i questioned that i might go in another direction, but then i dared to believe that i would at least give it a few more years to try. >> reporter: in the intensely powerful film "room," a young

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 stky 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 experience for her character in "room," a young mother fiercely protecting her child. >> what i forgot up until recently was waking up in the middle of the night with me and my sister, my mom all in the same bed. heheing my mom like covering her

a sound for us to hear. it wasn't until i was prepping "room," where i realized that moment was the only crack. thinking, "my kids were asleep, i can release," because where else 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 yosee it from this perspective that you couldn't as a kid. we l led in a studio apartment with just a room and a bed that came out of the wall. and my mom couldn't afford even a happy meal. we ate top ramen. i had no toys, and i h 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 coolest period of time.

painfully shy. so the idea of me wanting to do something that's 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 inside her clicked. >> good morning. good morning, tv. good morning, sink. >> you're 5 now. you're 5 and you're old enough tonderstand what the world is. you have to understand. you have to understand.

you need 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 that he was in it for real. i understood that he wanted toto be respected and so i was always going to make him feel like a creative force. >> you saved me. >> are you better now? >> yeah, i'm starting to be. >> "room" was really 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 page. like it's a mom giving up her son. she thinks that he's going to be okay, but she's going to die. i alwaysssumed that it was about that. when we started doing it and i would reqember 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 of a 7-y-ar-old. that's me letting go of my inner child. and letting go of that girl and not knowing if i'm gonna get it 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.

for me now and it trips me out that this movie is the thing that's given me that experience. >> say bye-bye to room. >> it's saying good-bye to the 7-year-old that was in the studio apartnt, that was blissfully unaware and also so hopeful of what was gonna happen. it's saying good-bye to my old normal. ma has to commit to living in a bigger, more complicated world and that's what i have to do as well. >> you're going to love it. >> what? >> the world. coming up next, bryan cranston.

journey from mars to the oscars.tt2watv# -4 bt@qq> reporter: welcome back to a special 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 worth the wait.

>> reporter: hello. >> i didn't know you dine here. how are you? >> reporter: good to see you. >> good to see you too. >> reporter: congratulations. >> thank you. >> reporter: please sit. is is your hood. >> it is. i know. i lived right around t t corner. >> reporter: it has to be 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. >> repororr: he grew up here, in the los angeles suburb of canoga park. the town's blue-collar work ethic would inform his own. >> there was a duality to my

when i was raised in canoga park up until the age of 10, life seemed pretty normal. it was kd of a typical suburban life. my dad was an actor and he made his living getting a job here, getting a job there. sometimes doing fairly well and other times not so well. one year we had a pool put int our backyard. and i remember a year later or so my mother saying, "we can't swim this summer because we can't afford the chemicals to go in the pool.l. so that s interesting, that up and down life. >> reporter: do you remember that first time seeing him on the screen? >> yeah. >> the locusts are everywhere. >e was an army guy and he was up on top of a building saying, "no, theheector 7 looks fine here." >> they're moving into our location.

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 elementary school every day. >> so this is the auditorium. >> rorter: 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 about t ts tall and everythingngeems 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 departmeme 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

i mistakenly misaced one word, and that did this. >> reporter: and just one word. >> one word. >> reporter: bryan's rough moment on stage passed fairly quickly, but he faced deeper 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 becoming a police officer. but the pull of the stage was too strong. in junior 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

i had the first line. and i put my sides down on the floor ananbefore i could turn she's on to me, she's kissing me and i'm leaning back and kissing me and tongue and hands and she straddles my leg and kissing and kissing, and it's like, "oh, my god." so in a 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 dididt 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. >> reporter: during the '80snd '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

he wanted to be a star. that did not happen for him. did that break him? >> i think it did. i think that his ego was inflated to the point where he felt that was what was iuportant. 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, the science teacher turned meth kingpin, was one of the crowning achievements of modern television.

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. you're talking about walter white being played by the silly dad from 'malcolm in t 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 knocks. >eporter: from then on he's had his pick of projects. winning a 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."

>> all right, i will 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 someone's different culture, different ideals. anannot take someone's point of view that differs from ours as a threat to my own point of view but to be intrigued by it. >> whisper a movie you've written in secret. maybe i've heard of it. >> m mbe you have. >> reporter: at this point in your career, as opposed to early on, your 20s, getting the 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 andt some point on this wonderful thrill ride of a roller coaster that i'm on, it's going to pull

and that bar will lean 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, take it. have fun. coming up, matt damon, ridley scott, and our look a the oscars' diversity issue.

"20/20" continues. is that coffee? yea, it's nespresso. i want in. you'reeady. get ready to experience a cup above. is that coffee?

my grandmother who loved movies, knew that i was kind of a night owl and sneaked on to watch movies with her on the couch. i'm watching this movie and i see this incredible charismatic actor. i wanted to dodohat, what is he doing? what i was watching was "streetcar named desire." and that was marlon brando. that's where the acting bug started. >> reporter: at the academy awards we celebrate great stories.

center stage this year. none of this year's nominated actors and actresses are people of color. we're talking zero. so, tonight, as we focus othe 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: yearsefore jackie robinson, decades before martin luther king jr., hattie mcdaniel became the first african-american to win an oscar. >> my heart is too full. to tell you just how i fefe. may i say thank you, and god bless you. >> reporter: the o#cars 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 betweenen

black woman. i was kind of shocked by that. thank you so much. but the difference between my win and another roman is a much shorter time. >> and the oscar goes to -- halle berry. >> reporter: halle berry was the firsafrican-american to win best leading actress. >> this moment is for evevy 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, sev other actors of color won oscars. but now, for the second year in a row, not even a single

with a viral hashtag and several high-profile celebrities and directors choosing to skip the 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, you know, 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 ould be, you're going to have the same issue. >> if our industry is not open enough to be able to look at rselves and find the flaws then we're not very strong. >> reporter: perhaps this zero-nomination moment is necessary to begin creating 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

coming up on "journey to the oscars," you may think "the martian" put you through the emotional wringer. >> we knew we needed 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

itself. all of our legendary racing heritage. all of our pioneering four wheel drive experience.

this is the all-new gle coupe. a mercedes-benz suv with the heart and soul of a racecar. oh, my god, i have not been asked that question. >> i love that you're asking me that because my wife has brought this up many times. >> hmm. >> i think the toilet is a wonderful place to practice just about anything.

rehearsal room space. >> i never ever practiced an oscar speech. >> i have in the past, i've written them. this year i'm not going to prepare anything to really be able to speak from my heart in 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 year for best actor. 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 hendrix, right? and when ridley scott is being completely simple and completely honest, you know it's ridley scott's frame. >> there's an innocence to matt.

fresh. >> reporter: we all expected the amazing visuals. we expected the great action 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 migated 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 everything. and by doing it, you're literally shooting the film on

i've got to sit down, by myself, and think it through quietly, a bit like a writer. what touches me? 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 some 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

shot he's cutting to. all of that makes your job much, much easier. >> reporter: ridley's method springs from his training as a painter at london's royal college of art. 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 tononhad it in him, and he flew eventually. >> reporter: ridley and tony scott produced a staggering 157 films and television shows, ranging from "top gun" and "crimson tide" to "blackhawk down" and

but in 2012, the unimaginable happened. with their company at the height of its powers, tony scott took his own life at the age of 68. tony's death was the darkest moment of 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 alwaysys solution. you've just got to keep going at it. process that had been his creative bedrock. he sat down in his study and drdr the pictures that came into his head. he could have told the story of an alien or a gladiator. but instead finding his inspiration for the screen play of "the martian."

somehow, step by step, found a way to survive. >> at some point, everything's going to go south on you. everything's going to go south. and you're gonna say, "this is itit this is how i end." now you can either accept that, or you can get to rk. >> the methodology of what he is doing and how he does it is exactly as my father would do it. if my dad were strandedeon mars, he would work it out. >> youust 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

he attracted "a"-listers and oscar nominees t/ fill out his cast and oversaw every detail of the massive production. and for matt damon, whose character was forced to spend 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 and i in budapest shooting that scene a a 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,

>> captain. >> go. >> command. >> go. >> 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 id, "i just lost it. was that too much?" and i said, "no. that 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 d looks down 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 growing out of gravel. that could be ridley scott. nothing is gonna stop that guy. he's gonna make a lot more movies. i'm just hoping i'm in them. coming up on "journey to the oscars," a aurprising take on

"20/20" continues.tt2w>rxlm `:o j# r#@ tt2w>rxlm `:!!*n "#( tt2w>rxlm `:4!j# t5\ tt2w>rxlm `:x#*&`:s;( tt2w>rxlm `:t#j'`:g;l tt2w>rxlm `:t#j)`:l[( tt2w>rxlm `:p#j*`:[@4 tt2w>rxlm `:p#j,`:::t tt2w>rxlm `:l#*.`:33x tt2w>rxlm `:l#*0`:(%0 tt2watu# s4 bt@qop< tt2watu# s4 "a@q_\x tt2watu# s4 bm@qtwt tt4watu# s4 " dztq 0 t tt4watu# s4 " entq @$4 tt4watu# s4 " gzt& y#l tt4watu# s4 " hnt& i- tt4watu# s4 " iztq #dx tt4watu# s4 " jntq 148 tt4watu# s4 " lzt& )yd tt0waqp.`*^!t& ::8 tt0waqp.`*""tq h]t tt0waqp.`*g"t& u1tt0waqp.`*$'4,@uz_@ tt0waqp.`*x't.@ui7l tt0waqp.`*t&t2@u!\, tt0waqp.`*h't5@u.r, tt0waqp.`*d&t9@uvo@ tt0waqp.`*8'4u0 tt0w!ti"hz% ueh-=7@ tt0w!ti"hz% 7hh-!54 >> 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

in a very long time. >> it could have been you, me, it could havebeen 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. >> i love my job. >> you hate your job. >> it takes on something that's so contemporary. you have "the revenant," it feels epic. 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 this being the oscars 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.

young actresses coming up. i mean, saoirse ronan's fantastic. she was nominated as a teenager 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. be sure to watch as chris rock 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

because they liked me that much. >> get to the boat. >> it's a time bomb. >> the road to gold leads to the ultimate movie prize is down to the wire as hollywood heavyweights clamber to the finish. you will you're from the hottest newcomererto the tried-and-true veterans. stars devault their red carpet secrets. and discuss everything from lack of diversity to difficulties o o location. and the very latest in home entertainment. of course, the tight race for best picture. a road to gold, i hear at the movies. >> star power adds up to a