Reactions to Nominations for 77th Oscars

Reactions to nominations for the 77th annual Academy Awards:

"I knew when I read the script that it was special. It was a rare find. It was the best experience I've had in my career to date. I'm so grateful." -- Best actress nominee Hilary Swank on her role as a boxer in "Million Dollar Baby."

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"It was the most amazing experience I've ever had working in a film and I've had really wonderful film experiences, luckily, so that's saying a lot." -- Natalie Portman on her "Closer" supporting actress nomination.

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"My liver is back." -- Documentary nominee Morgan Spurlock, who fell into ill health while eating McDonald's fast-food meals for a month while shooting the documentary "Super Size Me."

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"Leo was so prepared for this. He captured the essence of who the man was." -- "Aviator" producer Graham King on Leonardo DiCaprio's role as Howard Hughes.

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"It was the most challenging physical experience I have ever had. But the second I could I stopped taking those egg whites." -- Best actress nominee Hilary Swank on her role as a boxer in "Million Dollar Baby."

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"I ate 60 egg whites a day. I ate every hour and a half. I could only have 50 grams of carbs a day. They wanted me to put on 10 pounds of muscle and in three months. I put on 19 pounds of muscle." -- Hilary Swank on her regimen for "Million Dollar Baby."

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"The interaction of a prostitute and man, you see this really strange dynamic because the woman is so powerful. She has control over the whole situation." -- Supporting actress nominee Natalie Portman on her role as a gutsy stripper in "Closer."

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"It's not sentimentalized, it's not overdramatized. It's just -- done. That's what I go for. Let's not kill it with drama." -- Supporting actor nominee Morgan Freeman on his role in "Million Dollar Baby."

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"I'm in disbelief. It can't be happening to me." -- Best actress nominee Catalina Sandino Moreno for "Maria Full of Grace."

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"Every idea surfaces in four or five different places at the same time. Nobody ever has an idea where it only happens here. Somebody's inventing a car while they're doing it here, making a new airplane while they're doing it there." -- Morgan Freeman on 2004's glut of biographical films.

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"I think it's just honest, you know, and it's pure and it's a way of seeing Johnny portraying a character unlike other characters he's portrayed before." -- Richard Gladstein, producer of best-picture nominee "Finding Neverland," on the best-actor nomination for star Johnny Depp.

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"Mel made a very big decision not to take out any ads or do any advertising. Because of the lack of advertising I thought it was sort of a long shot, to be honest. The fact that it's gotten three nominations bodes very well for the academy and being able to sort of look at the work as professional work. I'm very happy for Mel." -- John Debney, nominated for original score in Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ."