Oscar Reactions: What the Craft Nominees Are Saying

The Hollywood Reporter has spoken to several notable Oscar nominees in the crafts categories as they react to the news Thursday morning that they’re up for Academy Awards.

Their responses are below, with additional reactions here.

Roger Deakins, cinematography nominee for Unbroken: Deakins — who earned his 12th Oscar nomination for Unbroken — will be on set Thursday shooting Hail, Caesar! for the Coen brothers. “I celebrate by shooting films,” he said. “What moves me most is getting to work on these movies, and [the recognition] is the icing on the cake.” He added that it’s “fantastic” to be nominated alongside Mr. Turner cinematographer Dick Pope. “He’s one of my oldest friends in the business. We had a documentary company together years ago. To be nominated in the same year makes me happy.”

Emmanuel Lubezki, cinematography nominee for Birdman: “I am so honored to be nominated especially amongst all these great cinematographers. I am extremely happy for Birdman, which in a way was an experiment that thankfully turned out well. It’s so exciting to be recognized by our peers. I am especially lucky and grateful to work with Alejandro. We are up here in Canada shooting where it is very cold and all these nominations are warming us up!”

Robert Yeoman, cinematography nominee for The Grand Budapest Hotel: “Obviously a great thrill for me and I am so pleased that our film has received such recognition. Wes always puts together a wonderful team of collaborators and I am honored to be a part of it. Congratulations to my fellow cinematography nominees!”

Suzie Davies, production design nominee for Mr. Turner: “I am thrilled and delighted that we have received a nomination — it reflects on the whole Mr. Turner art department team who worked so hard and with such enthusiasm for the film. For a production designer, I didn’t think it could get much better than making a film about Turner with Mike Leigh — but the nomination has just done that!”

Maria Djurkovic, production design nominee for The Imitation Game: “I am thrilled and delighted by this tremendous honor. Filmmaking is such a collaboration and to have so many of my colleagues on this film also recognized is especially satisfying.”

Joe Letteri, visual effects nominee for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Said Weta’s senior VFX supervisor and a four-time Oscar winner: “Obviously I’m pretty happy about Apes. I was hoping The Hobbit [would also be recognized]; we are pretty proud of that work. … Apes is a powerful character piece; I love bringing in the emotions and make them an integral part of the story and I’m really happy its been recognized.” He added that he had already exchanged emails with Apes director Matt Reeves, producer Dylan Clark and others at Fox — and he’s looking forward to working on the third Apes film. “Matt has a story in hand, and I’m waiting for an opportunity to seeing what he has in mind. It’s exciting.”

See more Oscars 2015: The Complete Nominations List

Russell Earl, visual effects nominee for Captain America: The Winter Soldier: “It feels great. Everyone at [lead VFX house] Industrial Light & Magic worked really hard and I was happy to be a part of it,” ILM’s VFX supervisor said, adding that he enjoyed working with Dan Deleeuw (the film’s overall VFX supervisor) and directors Anthony and Joe Russo. “I’m going to ILM and will thank each and every person who worked on the movie. … I have to say, I was impressed by the (overall body of VFX) work this year, which made it a sweet thing. The work continues to get better an better. And everyone continues to push the boundaries.”

Paul Franklin, visual effects nominee for Interstellar: “Interstellar‘s nomination for best visual effects is a great honor for us and sets a wonderful seal of approval on the amazing work from all the artists in our visual effects, special effects and miniature effects teams. We couldn’t be more excited!”

Barney Pilling, film editing nominee for The Grand Budapest Hotel: “This is a very proud day for me and all the staff at The Grand Budapest Hotel. Working on this film gave me the opportunity to collaborate with so many people whose work I admire. The cast I have watched and respected for years, Bob Yeoman’s photography is superb, Alexandre Desplat — such a gifted composer — the design, costumes. … I could name every department as being among the finest purveyors of their craft. Wes orchestrated and directed all of these creative elements with such precision and vision that for me as the editor, working at the final stage of these efforts coming together, was really exhilarating. I’m delighted that the Academy has recognized the talent and hard work that went into realizing this wonderful film.”

Sandra Adair, film editing nominee for Boyhood: Adair arrived in Los Angeles yesterday and will celebrating with the Boyhood team tonight at the Critics’ Choice Awards. But first she had to call her airline. “I lost my suitcase so I have to find my dress. I think they found it,” she said. “It’s a good day, I’m not going to stress about anything. I can’t wait to see everyone and give them a giant hug.” She already exchanged text and email messages with director Richard Linklater, and was “so thrilled and honored. I’m extremely happy for Richard and our 400-plus people who worked on the film over such a long time.”

William Goldenberg, film editing nominee for The Imitation Game: “I’m thrilled and humbled that my work on The Imitation Game was recognized by the Academy this morning. We were all passionate about bringing Alan Turing’s story to the screen, and I’m honored to be part of the creative team.”

Mark Bridges, costume design nominee for Inherent Vice: He woke up to 17 messages from the producers as well as family and friends. Asked what it feels like to be nominated a second time (he’s a prior winner for The Artist), Bridges said: “The second time around it feels just as exciting; it will be a fun time. I look forward to the luncheon; that’s one of the most fun events, and no pressure. I’m looking forward to seeing the other [costume designer] nominees. It’s an honor to be in that group.”

Read more Oscar Noms: A Lot to Celebrate, Mourn and Ponder (Analysis)

Gregg Landakker, sound mixing nominee for Interstellar: “When you have the creative insight of Christopher Nolan and the many talents that our team brought to the table it was a stimulating collaboration that I was honored to work on.”

Gary Rizzo, sound mixing nominee for Interstellar: “I’m completely humbled. Being a part of Chris Nolan’s passion to push the envelope and bring the medium to new levels has been an epic experience.”

Jon Taylor and Frank Montano, sound mixing nominees for Unbroken: “We are very grateful to be nominated. It has been a once-in-lifetime experience to work on Unbroken. Angelina [Jolie] is such a gifted director. She brought together an amazing cast and an extremely creative post team to achieve her vision.”

Richard King, sound editing nominee for Interstellar: “I’m humbled and excited beyond belief, and thrilled the score and the sound mix was recognized as well.”

Read more Controversial ‘Interstellar’ Mix Earns Pair of Sound Nominations

Becky Sullivan and Andrew DeCristofaro, sound editing nominees for Unbroken: “We are so appreciative of the nomination. With Unbroken, we were blessed with a visionary director in Angelina and a talented team to collaborate with. We are so lucky to have had the chance to be involved in portraying the life of Louis Zamperini.”