Nominees speak out

Nominees for the 73rd Academy Awards to be held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles speak to BBC News Online.

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Director: Steven Soderbergh (Erin Brockovich and Traffic)

Director Steven Soderbergh

"It just seemed like the time to make a film about this subject.

"If you could graft it somehow with the dramatic thriller genre, people might be interested in talking about it, and it seems that they are."

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Actress In A Leading Role: Joan Allen (The Contender)

Actress Joan Allen at the Directors Guild of America Awards

"There is a uniqueness to the character, there's a strength that was very important, which is a little not the norm.

"I wanted to present a character who was believable as a politician and yet there is an idealised quality to the choices that she makes."

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Actor In A Leading Role: Javier Bardem (Before Night Falls)

Javier Bardem in Before Night Falls

"I feel amazed, I feel shocked, I feel like I am living in some kind of a dream.

"I just arrived here with my very first American movie, I'm not used to this.

"I'm coming from another planet called Europe."

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Actress In A Leading Role: Ellen Burstyn (Requiem for a Dream)

Burstyn puts on a harrowing performance

"I think it's a very intelligent film about an important issue which is not only addiction but escaping reality.

"I think that there is so much - pills, drugs, alcohol, cigarettes - all the various ways that we have of deadening ourselves."

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