5 New Melissa Leo Quotes: Hailee Steinfeld 'Pimping,' Helena Bonham Carter 'Shoving Me'
Oscar frontrunner Melissa Leo says stardom is "oddly fascinating, a little uncomfortable, and tremendous fun." "Sounds like a push-up bra," says interviewer Thelma Adams.
In Thursday's exclusive Marie Claire Q&A, Adams gets some striking quotes from Leo, who's just as scrappy as her character in The Fighter, only more glamorous.
On her fellow Fighter cast member -- and so far less successful supporting actress friend and rival -- Amy Adams: "The night of the SAGs, I told her that I don't know if I could do it if underneath the bright smile I sensed jealousy."
On the girl most likely to take the Oscar from Leo: "Hailee Steinfeld I met in an airport doing her pimping, er, I mean promoting in some town, with her mother ... She is the real deal, very dear and grounded."
On Helena Bonham Carter: "At the [Oscar] luncheon [Feb. 7] I got to finally meet Helena Bonham Carter. She wouldn't take my compliments. She was shoving me toward the Oscar statue, and I was trying to do-si-do her closer."
On her glamour ads: "I don't think I did a bad. I'm deeply sorry if I offended. That's ignorance on my part. I operate from instinct, and my instinct guided me in the choice to do this."
On how weird campaigning is: "I don't know much about this Oscar thing, I mean it. I'm not even a girl that got dressed up and went to the prom or even dated a lot."
Covering The Race
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Scott Feinberg
Lead Awards Blogger & Analyst
Scott, whose THR coverage appears both in print and online, is one of the film industry's most experienced and trusted awards analysts, and possesses one of the strongest track records at forecasting the Oscars. His best showings came in 2006 (when he called 21 of 24 winners) and 2004 (when he called 20 of 24 winners); he was also the only pundit to project long-shot best picture nominations for The Reader (2008), The Blind Side (2009) and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011). An alumnus of Brandeis University, he previously ran "The Feinberg Files" blog for the Los Angeles Times. He is now a voting member of both the Broadcast Film Critics Association and the Broadcast Television Journalists Association, and is writing a book about film history for young people for which he has interviewed more than 350 high-profile Hollywood figures.
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Gregg Kilday
Film Editor
Gregg contributes awards news, features online, and "The Race" column in print.
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Tim Appelo
Film Reporter
Tim contributes awards news and features, both in print and online.
