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Matthew Goode on A Single Man’s Oscar Shot: ‘It Doesn’t Seem to Be Getting a Push From the Weinsteins Too Much’

At last night’s New York premiere for romantic comedy Leap Year, in which he stars with Amy Adams, we asked the hilariously candid Matthew Goode about the Oscar chances of his other current movie, Tom Ford’s A Single Man. “Nominations wise, I think Colin will get one, and I think that Julianne will for Best Supporting,” he told us. “And I suspect that the screenplay will for Best Adapted. And the cinematography is amazing, and the editing.” As for Best Picture, though? “I think it stands alone, but it doesn’t seem to be getting a push from the Weinsteins too much.”

And how does he feel about Moore taking his spot on the poster for Single Man, in which he stars as Colin Firth’s dead lover? “That was always a bit weird, isn’t it? That’s obviously a kind of push towards, ‘America won’t come and see this if they don’t want to see a gay movie.’ We shot the film during Prop 8, with all that was going down in California — big irony. It’s disappointing. But, hey, if you recruit money and you’re gonna make money out of it, far be it from me to get in the way. I’m sure they’ve done their figures and they know they’re going to make X, Y, Z more if they do that. I think it’s a bit wicked, but I don’t have millions of dollars pumped into it, so I think that’s what you have to do.”

Goode doesn’t find the film’s romance very racy, anyway. “[Tom Ford] wanted it to be sort of a banal scene [on the beach], a remembrance of the everyday,” Goode said. “And also I think he was trying to show, like, look: Heterosexual relationships and gay relationships are the same fucking deal. Which I really loved. Though I did kind of look at the script first and think, ‘Shit, I die on page one.’”

So did Goode, after starring in Single Man and as Watchmen’s swishy villain, Adrian Veidt, last year, have difficulty adjusting to his role as a heterosexual in Leap Year? He did not: “I don’t really go, ‘Now I must do my heterosexual thing!’” he told us. “It was like, [director] Anand [Tucker] asked me to do it, and I was like, ‘Shit. I’m not sure about this.’ But he was like, ‘I don’t make romantic comedies. I’m giving myself over to the idea of making a good one.’ And I’m like, ‘Okay, well I’ll come along for the ride.’”

View more from the premiere in our Party Lines slideshow.

Matthew Goode on A Single Man’s Oscar Shot: ‘It Doesn’t Seem to Be Getting a Push From the Weinsteins Too Much’