Animal Kingdom's Jacki Weaver on the Oscar Circuit, Campaign Couture and Going Hollywood

No, I love these stories! Like that time you met Garson Kanin. Let's hear more!

Oh, New York's always been in my heart. And to come here and get praised was something I never expected. A friend of mine is about to open on Broadway in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert -- Tony Sheldon. I was in that briefly; not the film but the stage show. He and I have known each other for 30 or so years, and suddenly he's going to be a big star on Broadway. And I just won this film award! So it's thrilling. It's lovely.

What is your itinerary for this visit?

I'm only in New York until... Wednesday. I'd love to stay a month. But I'm going to L.A. for the Los Angeles Film Critics Awards, and the Golden Globes and the Critics Choice Awards. And then there's the Australia Day Ball, and then I've got a lot of appointments; casting agents have contacted my agent in Australia, so I've got a lot of appointments with them. And also possibly with people to represent me in L.A. My dream would be to get a TV series or do a movie.

A TV series?

A TV series with someone like Alan Ball. Six Feet Under was my favorite.

Do you watch True Blood?

No. I'm not too into that vampire stuff. It bores me.

And all that sex! Yeesh.

Oh, that's the young people. Too much testosterone and estrogen.

We need to get Alan Ball to write a series around you.

Well, I've done plays with Rachel Griffiths.

OK, so we have the next part of the campaign: Team Jacki gets into development.

That sounds good.

Great. Beyond the meetings, are there any American peers you want to meet at these shows and events coming up?

The trouble is there are lots of people I admire, but because I'm intrinsically shy, when I meet someone I really admire, I become tongue-tied, and there's nothing much I can say except, "Hello, I think you're wonderful." End of conversation. Do you know what I mean?

Totally.

But there are a lot of people I think are fabulous. I've always been crazy about Paul Auster. I think he's amazing. I've always wanted to say hello to David Letterman. I love the Ephron sisters, but I did meet one of them last week in Sydney because her show's on there -- Delia and Nora Ephron. A friend of mine wrote Lorenzo's Oil with George Miller -- Nick Enright, who's now dead. But he was crazy about Susan Sarandon, and I'd love to meet her. And I'm crazy about Sean Penn. I'm crazy about the Coen Brothers -- I think they're geniuses. And you know that Quentin Tarantino said that Animal Kingdom was one of his three favorite films of the year? Isn't that fabulous? I'm so happy for David.

Have you seen any of the other films that are among this year's awards crop?

No, I haven't yet. I'm really looking forward to it. I've got an old-fashioned thing: I don't like to see movies except in a cinema. Maybe I've got a short attention span, but I hate the small screen. Watching it on the computer? Forget it. I think it's almost an insult the filmmaker unless you see it on the big screen. That's my personal feeling about it. I know you can do it. I know you probably have to do it. But for myself, I think I give better attention and absorption to a film when it's on the big screen.

What was the last one you saw that you really liked?

Oh, Toy Story 3. I think that's a brilliant piece of filmmaking. I usually want to see live actors, but gee that was good. The characterizations were beautiful. And it so carefully avoided sentimentality, but was still deeply, deeply moving. My husband, who's this really tough guy in his 50s, was sobbing. It's amazing.

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