Oscar Nominees Spill Their Thrill

Judi Dench is thankful that Helen Mirren had but one qualifying Oscar performance to submit to the Academy. Meryl Streep is surprised she made it another year in Hollywood without getting blacklisted. And Will Smith, well, just point him in the direction of the party.

While the countdown to the 79th Annual Academy Awards is officially on, the start of dirty campaigning may have to wait a day or two—the latest crop of nominees are too busy heaping effusive praise on their fellow competitors and thanking their castmates, families and, of course, the Academy. (Check out our Oscar nomination photo gallery.)

Kicking off the lovefest, albeit with requisite British restraint, was Dench, a Best Actress nominee for her role in Notes on a Scandal.

"I'm very pleased," she said. "I'm in frighteningly good company. It is very nice of 'the queen' to allow me in for a minute."

The Queen, aka Mirren, who already this year has been gilded in a manner becoming awards-show royalty, took time out from her jubilation—she was working a Sudoku puzzle when she heard the news—to thank the titular royal who, it's been reported, got something of a kick out of Mirren's portrayal.

"Whilst her presence is with us from her image on the letters that come through our door and on the money we spend, we know so little of the woman behind the image. I hope that my performance has conveyed a sense of Elizabeth the woman as well as the queen."

Of course, not everyone went quite so highbrow in their revelry.

Streep, now a 14-time nominee thanks to her Devil Wears Prada Best Actress nod, opted not to thank a certain Vogue editrix or titular clothing designer, instead expressing her thrill of how "extraordinary" it is that "anyone in the actor's branch is even speaking to me, never mind nominating me yet again."

Kate Winslet, whose Best Actress nod for her role in Little Children is the fifth of her career, said that her celebration included a phone call from hubby Sam Mendes and "some serious fist pumping, pounding the ceiling of the car."

"This isn't supposed to happen to a girl who grew up in a tiny town," Winslet continued. "I was told the only way I'd have a career as an actress would be if I could settle for playing fat girls."

There is that, too.

Jennifer Hudson, who gained a reported 20 pounds to play scorned Dreamgirl Effie White took her nomination as "proof that faith is powerful."

"I feel like I have reached the impossible," she said. And that's in addition to proving Simon Cowell wrong.

Hudson's costar in Dreamgirls, a "humbled" Eddie Murphy, also picked up his first nod as Best Supporting Actor, calling it "one of the highlights of my career." Fellow nominee Alan Arkin, for his role in Little Miss Sunshine, said he'd remember the career high by the congratulatory calls from "old friends." We're just not sure how literal the 72-year-old was being.

Arkin's costar, 10-year-old Abigail Breslin said she "gave out a little scream" after her mother woke her up and informed her of her honor. Peter O'Toole, who was nominated as Best Actor for his work in Venus but has never before won a performing Oscar, punctuated his feelings with a similar reaction: "Yoicks!"

For other pinnacle-achieving actors, simply working on their nominated films was reward enough—though they may want to hold off on announcing that too fervently to Academy voters.

Ryan Gosling, a surprise Best Actor nominee for his role in Half Nelson, said, "It's extremely encouraging to see a small film recognized at this level...I am truly grateful."

Mark Wahlberg, nominated as Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Departed, said that "any time someone says you have an opportunity to work with Martin Scorsese, you jump at the chance."

Of course, the famously formerly troubled star also took time out to thank the Boston Police, saying he was happy to do them proud "after all the torture I have put them through."

Leonardo DiCaprio, who earned a Best Actor nod for Blood Diamond but not The Departed, still took his opportunity to praise the perpetually shut-out Best Director nominee Scorsese, saying his frequent collaborator was "so deserving of this recognition...He's been overlooked too long."

The Queen's Stephen Frears seemed to agree. Of his Best Director-contending brethren, including Scorsese and Clint Eastwood, he told the BBC that "if you get put in a list with those guys, you've done pretty well."

Even Al Gore, whose An Inconvenient Truth was nominated for Best Documentary Feature, got in on the group love, thanking the Academy for recognizing that "movies really can make a difference."

Of course, there is such a thing as too much confidence.

Rachid Bouchareb, whose Days of Glory is up for Best Foreign-Language Film, immediately began his appeal to the voters and told Variety that he's reserved a prize spot for the trophy in his home.

"I can promise the members of the Academy that we will take very good care of it and clean it once a week."

Will Smith, who scored his second Best Actor nomination, this time for The Pursuit of Happyness, made no such pleas, but wished Bouchareb luck all the same.

"Congratulations to all of the nominees," he said. "It is a great honor to be considered among this caliber of performers. No competition, all celebration. Let the parties begin."