I know a lot of actors picture themselves winning Academy Awards. I really just wanted to do a Christmas movie because it's the kind of movie that I really love to watch. I'm a sucker for the holidays.
There's been a slow death in a way. On the positive side, there are films getting into the Academy Awards that wouldn't have, but on the negative side, financiers are now dominant and making all the decisions. I can't count the ways a director's vision is compromised.
For my second and third pictures, I won Academy Awards. Nothing worse could have happened to me.
I was one of the horses of the Louis B. Mayer stable, and I thought the films I was given after my Academy Awards were not worthy.
I certainly never pictured myself even attending the Academy Awards, much less winning at 56. I very, very happily settled into a theater career. I did more than that, but I let all of my agents and people go. I said, 'I don't want to be promoted in film anymore. I have enough to do in the theater, so I'm just going to carry on.'
I went to a couple Academy Awards parties and I was definitely like, 'Whoa, no one will talk to me.'
It's called 'Fight Valley,' and it's my first feature film. I just dove in and did the best I could. I don't think I'm gonna win any Academy Awards on this one. I had fun with it and hopefully will get more opportunities like that. It's about two sisters, one poor and one rich, and one goes into underground fighting.
On 'MADtv,' I discovered I could do Billy Crystal. 'Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 68th Annual Academy Awards!' Surprisingly, there's more call for that one than you'd think.
I'm a member of BAFTA, so I vote in all the films that come up for the Academy Awards.
Academy Awards don't really solve anything.
