“I didn’t think I had a chance,” laughed Jacki Weaver, Oscar-nominated this morning in the Best Supporting Actress category for playing Bradley Cooper’s mother in Silver Linings Playbook. The nod was as much of a surprise to awards pundits as it was to Weaver, who called Vulture this morning to share in the good news. “I’m so amazed! I wasn’t expecting it at all. I’m actually pacing around my apartment wondering what to do next!” Well, there is one big thing still on her to-do list: “I tried to call my husband in Sydney, Australia, but because it was one in the morning there, he was sound asleep. He still doesn’t know!”
Weaver says she hadn’t planned on watching the big announcement this morning — she only just got into Los Angeles last night after a long flight from her native Sydney — but sleep was hard to come by. “So I turned on the television, and there it was.” How did she react when she heard her name called? “I screamed out something that isn’t printable in a respectable magazine like New York.”
Weaver was particularly happy that her other Silver Linings co-stars were nominated: Jennifer Lawrence (“She’s a baby, and she’s so brilliant!”), Robert De Niro, and Bradley Cooper (“My money’s on him to win, actually”). All have been nominated before besides Cooper. “I think they all know to wear comfortable shoes because that red carpet takes a long time to walk down,” advised Weaver. “And if you do win, try to memorize your speech; don’t read it. That’s what Tom Hanks says.”
Weaver won her first Oscar nomination for 2010’s Animal Kingdom. “I was so dazed then!” she said. She’s determined to learn from that experience, which is why she has spent most of the morning e-mailing well-wishers. “In Australia, we have the expression ‘You’re like a stunned mullet.’ I got so behind in my e-mails the last time I was nominated, and I neglected replying to people for ages. This time, I thought I’d start off on the right foot and answer them straightaway.”
She paused and let out an excited squeal. “Oh! Doesn’t that sound smart, ‘the last time I was nominated’?”
