When we ran into Tilda Swinton on Tuesday evening at the premiere of a short film, Here, that she helped to conceive for the Luxury Collection Hotels & Resorts, she claimed be relieved not to have received an Oscar nomination for her performance in We Need to Talk About Kevin that morning. In fact, Swinton seemed to have forgotten all about it. We asked if she’d gotten up early to listen to the nominations. “No, I didn’t. I didn’t listen. What do you listen to, the television?†the actress said. But she positively squealed when we showed her fellow snub-ee Patton Oswalt’s delightfully funny Twitter response about a purported party for Oscar casualties. “Oh, how fun! Is he there now?†she said. We explained that it was merely his Twitter feed. “But is it real? We should go! Where is he?†she asked, grabbing for her keys and heading for the door. Actually, we explained, he was kidding. “Oh, he’s making jokes. What a shame. I think we should do it for real. How faaabulous!†she said. When she read the tweet, “Serkis & Tilda are singing ‘Is There Life on Mars?’†Swinton said, “That’s a dare! That’s an excellent dare. Okay, Patton, you’re on. Let’s get Andy and let’s go for it!â€
When we asked her a bit more seriously about how she heard she’d been overlooked by the Academy, Swinton explained, “I got an e-mail in the middle of the day from one of my agents saying, ‘You have a free February,’†and then whispered, “and I have to say I was very, very happy.†Why so happy? “I mean, it’s a win-win situation. I have a lovely home, and I’m looking forward to going there … and, uh, good luck to everybody and all who sail with them.â€