Not everyone was lamenting the absence of Ridley Scott from the list of five Oscar nominations for Best Director.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY:After the Producers Guild snub ofRoom, were you at all prepared for this?
LENNY ABRAHAMSON:Not at all.
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This came down to some people who watched the film and really loved it and cared about it.
I had read all of the punditry, which I really believed.
I had dampened everybodys expectations here.
Id convinced everybody around me that, Hey, forget about me getting a nomination, for sure.
So to get four big nominations is amazing.
Were you watching the nominations live?
I watched it streaming online.
I was at home.
Everybody else was at the office in Dublin and there were a crew that had come from the news.
And I just couldnt take it.
I wanted to be at home, sitting quietly.
Its wonderful that not everything in life is so predictable.
Jacob Tremblay, your 9-year-old star ofRoom, was overlooked.
But do you think that by honoring you and Brie, the Academy also honored him?
Yeah, I would agree.
But everyone needs to know that none of this would be remotely possible unless Jake wasnt so prodigiously brilliant.
And so I salute him and I would have loved to have seen him nominated.
But theres just no way Id ever be talking to you if it wasnt for him.
Whats so impressive aboutRoomis the powerful way in which you handle extremely difficult material.
Considering that the novel is inspired somewhat by thegrotesque Josef Fritzl case, thats an accomplishment.
Thats what really got me as a reader and potential filmmaker.
I approached the book with trepidation.
And you managed to keep the childs point of view while also making a film about the mother.
What I think is great is that weve managed to achieve that balance in the film.
And you cant not see that.
Can you remember back, five years ago, when you wrotethat letter to Emma Donoghue?
Thats probably the most satisfying thing of all.
We started from zero.
For all of those things to go, its really, really, really satisfying.
