What they’re saying

Ben Kingsley, nominated for best actor, drama, for “House of Sand and Fog”

The nomination means a lot, “because I love the film and I think Vadim [director Vadim Perelman] fought like a tiger to get this film made. ... The completely obsessive nature by which he got the impossible on the screen and to bring a true, great, glorious, useful American tragedy to the screen.”

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Anthony Minghella, director, “Cold Mountain”

Minghella was promoting the film in Sydney, Australia. It was 3 a.m. and the director was preparing to leave for a short vacation at 6 a.m.

“I try really hard not to obsess about these things. I obsess so much about the film.... You make it with as much love as you can and then hope that you can find an audience,” he said. “What [the nomination] will do is hopefully encourage people to come see the picture when it is released.”

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Sofia Coppola, director, “Lost in Translation”

Coppola was awakened by her producer, Ross Katz, with the news. She then called her father, Francis, waking him up.

By 8 a.m., she was sitting down to a celebration breakfast of fried eggs, English muffins and tea with friends in L.A.

“It’s so exciting,” said Coppola, who had returned from Paris the night before. “When we were making it I never would have believed that we would have been included in all of this stuff. For me it was kind of a personal project I wanted to make, but I didn’t know if anyone could relate to it. I was really surprised when people come up to me and say, ‘Yeah, I had an experience like that.’ You don’t know if you are just being indulgent. It’s exciting that people were relating to it at all.”

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Diane Keaton, actress, comedy, “Something’s Gotta Give”

“I was only too happy to be awoken at 5:30 in the morning. It was heavenly. I really feel like Nancy Meyers and Jack Nicholson and Amy Pascal gave me this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. For me, it’s particularly sweet to come now in my life when I expect nothing. This is the greatest. What do I have to say except ‘Wow.’ ”

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Jack Black, actor, comedy, “School of Rock”

“I love that I’m up there with all those other people. It doesn’t look like it’s a list of just comedy actors but just hard-core actors. It makes me feel pretty hard-core.”

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Billy Bob Thornton, actor, comedy, “Bad Santa”

Thornton was in Phoenix after playing in a concert with his band along with Alice Cooper and REO Speedwagon. He was “drilling” into his hotel pillow when he got the call.

“I am real proud of it,” he said. “It’s one of the most fun things I’ve ever done. I’m always surprised with these. In fact, I’m surprised when I get another job.”

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Jamie Lee Curtis, actress, comedy, “Freaky Friday”

“Let me just say, sobriety pays off. There’s such a deep exploration that occurs when you make that significant a life shift, and the result of a lot of hard work is being open and able to accept things happening. This is just a byproduct of that. [She said she’s been sober five years.]

“It felt like somehow it was predetermined that I would end up being able to do this. It couldn’t have been more tailor-made for me. I am the most immature adult I know .... I am caught between being an adult and a teenager. I float very freely between those two points.”

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Clint Eastwood, director, “Mystic River”

“Violence without consequence to conscience and soul -- it doesn’t appeal to me as much as the result of violence. How it can linger with somebody for a lifetime.”

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Richard Curtis, screenwriter, “Love Actually”

“I was actually delighted. Very surprised, indeed. I didn’t have any expectations at all.

“My mind hasn’t been on the game. We had a child 10 days ago, and I’ve been thinking of breastfeeding and the benign advantages of cabbage leaves more than Hollywood. If you put cabbage leaves on engorged breasts, it takes the heat out of them, so I have a girlfriend who has vegetable tendrils coming out of her bra at the moment.”

Although their baby “hasn’t got a name yet, he’s called Dobby after Harry Potter, because he looked exactly like him when he was born.”