Actors on thriving and surviving in the Hollywood awards season

The Hollywood awards season kicks into full gear this weekend with Sunday’s Golden Globes ceremony, and actors are pondering how to enjoy the onslaught of attention and survive the ups and downs.

Britain’s Carey Mulligan, a two-time Oscar nominee who is vying this year for a best actress Golden Globe for her role in Maestro, cuts to the chase: “Oh, just enjoy it and have fun, and don’t take it too seriously.”

Mulligan said she was delighted by what she called “a lovely sisterhood” of actresses nominated this year, including Margot Robbie, Emma Stone, Lily Gladstone and Greta Lee.

Oscar-winning Stone, nominated for a best actress Golden Globe for Poor Things, acknowledged the awards season was both “very nerve-racking and very exciting”.

At the Palm Springs Film Festival this week, Golden Globe nominees shared their mix of elation and disorientation, as well as the need to take care of one’s mind, body and spirit. The season runs until the Oscars on March 10 and includes several awards show stops and countless interviews.

“It is a lot of attention on the project, and that’s good, but at the same time I can understand how someone can get a little sideways with this runaway circus,” said Jeffrey Wright, nominated for best actor for American Fiction, adding: “I want our film to be seen.”

Colman Domingo, vying for his first Golden Globe for best actor in Rustin, said the advice he had received from actors who had been through the awards season was to focus on self-care.

“So don’t think about who is winning — don’t think about those things,” Domingo said. “Think about being present and enjoying the moment. And I think that is what I am doing.”

Danielle Brooks, also nominated for her first Golden Globe for best supporting actress in The Color Purple, said she was on “cloud nine”.

“I have done this stuff before, but as an ensemble, so to have this moment individually makes me want to cry because I am just like: ‘Yeah, it’s my time’,” said Brooks.

Irish actor Cillian Murphy, nominated for best actor for his lead role in historical drama Oppenheimer, said he was enjoying meeting actors and filmmakers he had admired for years.

“I am just getting to chat with them socially. You don’t get to do that often,” said Murphy.

Mark Ruffalo, nominated for best supporting actor for Poor Things, said he viewed the awards season in a new light now that he was a bit older.

“I am at that age now where there might not be many more of these, and I can appreciate it in a different way than I ever could before,” said Ruffalo, who is 56.