On being dressed as Alex from A Clockwork Orange 'There is something off about Alex – and I knew I’d save time in hair and makeup with only one fake eyelash.'
Nominated for: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (best actress) Photograph: Alex Prager
On where he’s getting his hair-raising inspiration 'It’s Peter Lorre [the sinister villain from The Maltese Falcon] with a dose of [Seinfeld’s] Kramer.'
Nominated for: Moneyball (best actor) Photograph: Alex Prager
On dressing as Captain Bligh 'I liked his hat.' And: 'Bad guys don’t think they’re bad guys. In film, the best evil performances are when the actors remember that.'
Nominated for: The Descendants (best actor) Photograph: Alex Prager
On what she was thinking 'I was channelling loneliness. The idea of feeling invisible. And because of that it creates a burn in her to be noticed, as if by doing harm.'
Nominated for: The Help (best supporting actress) Photograph: Alex Prager
On walking in the shoes of Nurse Ratched 'I tried to channel all the parts of myself that are probably not pretty. That are not necessarily nice.'
Nominated for: The Help (best actress) Photograph: Alex Prager
On becoming Theda Bara, silent-movie star 'She was the first goth, and because of her the word ‘vamp’ came into the lexicon. A vamp is a bad woman. I’ve always been fascinated by that.'
Nominated for: Albert Nobbs (best actress) Photograph: Alex Prager
On being invisible 'I don’t know if he’s a villain, but I don’t trust the guy. He says he’s going to be somewhere, but never shows up. Even if he does he’s only kind of there.'
Not nominated (but should have been) for: The Ides of March or Drive Photograph: Alex Prager
