| "It is one of the hardest roles to play, not just a living person but one who is part of our everyday lives in Britain. … I hope that my performance has conveyed a sense of Elizabeth the woman as well as the queen." — Helen Mirren, in a statement on her best-actress bid for "The Queen."
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"I’m in frighteningly good company. It is very nice of the queen to allow me in for a minute." — Judi Dench, best-actress nominee for "Notes on a Scandal," with a nod to Helen Mirren, in a statement from London.
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"Without a doubt, receiving this nomination will stand out as one of the highlights of my career." — Eddie Murphy, supporting-actor nominee for "Dreamgirls."
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"I am going to be screaming and whooping all day long. I really thought I wasn’t going to get a nomination. I am really going to try to enjoy this moment. I’m speechless." — Kate Winslet, best-actress nominee for "Little Children."
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"Any time someone says you have an opportunity to work with Martin Scorsese you jump at the chance." — Mark Wahlberg, supporting-actor nominee for "The Departed."
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"On a professional level, what’s really wonderful about it is to be part of a film that dealt with these difficult and painful and contentious events." — Paul Greengrass, best-director nominee for "United 93," speaking on BBC television.
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"The biggest effect it’s having on little kids is they all want to go to tap-dancing lessons." — George Miller (news, bio, voting record), director of animated feature nominee "Happy Feet."
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"If each one of them got nominated on their own, that would be great, but the fact that they all did … that’s just too much for one little girl this early in the morning." — Salma Hayek, nominations announcer, on a slew of bids for Hispanics, including friends Penelope Cruz ("Volver") and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu ("Babel").
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"If you get put in a list with those guys you’ve done pretty well." — Stephen Frears, director of "The Queen," talking to BBC television about fellow best-director nominees Clint Eastwood ("Letters From Iwo Jima") and Martin Scorsese ("The Departed").
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"I think the Academy responded to the movie on an emotional level." — Jon Kilik, a producer of best-picture nominee "Babel."
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"I am now going out to buy a new dress." — Susanne Bier, director of Denmark’s foreign-language nominee "After the Wedding," talking to Copenhagen’s TV2 News.
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"It’s sort of like asking who your favorite child is. We’re thrilled for both the films, the filmmakers." — Jonathan Sehring, president of IFC Entertainment, which distributed two foreign-language nominees, "After the Wedding" and "Days of Glory."
AP
No one I want to hear from has commented yet! I think that Ryan Gosling is going to be this year’s Oscar sweetheart, so I can’t waitg to hear from him! I can’t wait for Jennifer Hudson’s remarks and Eddie Murphy’s was not pompous at all about it. Talking about pompous, hopefully Sascha Baron Cohen will respond as himself and not Borat. What a schmuck!
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The remains of the "Godfather of Soul," James Brown, were moved to a crypt last week until his final resting place is determined, amid a dispute between relatives for his estate, a funeral home owner said. After his demise on Christmas, December 25, Brown’s body was kept for 20 days in his Beech Island, South Carolina home in a temperature-controlled room in the gold-and-bronze casket used during his funeral services. The remains "were moved on last Thursday" to a temporary crypt in an undisclosed location, until Brown’s relatives decide on a final resting place, said Charlie Reid, owner of CA Reid funeral home in Augusta, Georgia, which has been in charge of the remains since late December. Reid said he did not know how long it would take for the family to reach an agreement on Brown’s final destination, but explained "they’re trying to finish this other stuff left … so it shouldn’t be that long." He said the above-ground crypt was a much more appropriate place to keep the remains until the dispute is settled down. "Oh yes, I would say so," said Reid. Asked where the remains were taken, Reid refused to comment. "That’s private information," he said. Relatives of Brown had been entangled in a legal dispute, as his former partner Tomi Rae Hynie and their five-year-old son were excluded from his will, signed more than a year before he married Hynie and 10 months before James Brown Jr. was born. His other six children are to divide up his personal possessions, clothing, jewelry and cars as expressed in the will, which was registered in court the same day Brown’s remains where moved to the new location.
