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The only thing that surprised me about 'Lincoln' is that most of the critics who reviewed the film seem not to have grasped what should have been apparent right from the start, which is that 'Lincoln' is at bottom a play with pictures, not a screenplay.

The reality is that we have all these awards and all these festivals that give out awards, so you sort of go, 'okay, well, people liked the film, and I think it's a good film, and it's up for an award - well, I guess it should win the award then.'

I'm not a great believer in awards-of course the fact that I've never won one has nothing to do with it at all!

The Emmy should be an ensemble award, too. I kept howling at everyone else's performances.

'Argo,' 'Lincoln,' and 'Zero Dark Thirty,' three films honored with Best Picture Oscar nominations, lionize their Washington-anchored protagonists as crafty, competent, and virtually incorruptible.

The Oscar is very beautiful, utterly mesmeric, but I don't feel any more important because I have won one. It doesn't mean I'm any better than anyone.

I remember when I first won the Academy Award and how much I loved it. I just wish there was an award around that you could really believe in again.

To be honest, I didn't even know what the Drama Desk Awards were until I was nominated.

I was one of the horses of the Louis B. Mayer stable, and I thought the films I was given after my Academy Awards were not worthy.

Winning the Oscar was like winning all the prizes in one single night that I never won as a kid.