Just got off the phone with Oscar nominee Tim Hetherington, co-director of RESTREPO who confessed to not sleeping much last night. He relayed that someone recently asked his co-director, Sebastian Junger, whether getting nominated for an Oscar was foremost in his mind when he was shooting in Afghanistan and Junger replied, "Well, actually the foremost thing in my head was not to get killed."
Hetherington said that the big question in the film getting or not getting the nomination was whether the film would continue to have an active life for another couple of months - and he expressed hope that the film might be able to play a part in the discussion over the US' Afghanistan policy.
"We wanted to make a film that didn't divide people along partisan lines. We knew if we'd made a politcized film, it wouldn't have had the reaction it had. Sebastian and I care deeply about what's happening in Afghanistan and we wanted to reach as many people as possible. (It's important to remember that) we are at war. This film is about something that's happening right now, in the present."
Meanwhile, EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP Director Banksy, who now can add Academy Award nominee to his CV, just issued a statement through his publicist:
"This is a big surprise. I don't agree with the concept of award ceremonies, but I'm prepared to make an exception for the ones I'm nominated for. The last time there was a naked man covered in gold paint in my house, it was me."
In December we did interviews with Banksy and with Hetherington & Junger. We'll add more nominee reactions to this space as they come in.
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