Oscar nominee Carey Mulligan says actors who claim to stay above the race for awards are “100 percent lying.”

Mulligan is up for a best actress at this year’s Academy Awards, nominated for her performance as Felicia Montealegre in Bradley Cooper’s Maestro. The nomination “is just the coolest thing. Because it’s from your peers. It’s wicked.”

Those who claim the recognition doesn’t matter are lying.

She added that she’s especially “gutted” for Barbie director Greta Gerwig, who was not nominated for best director at this year’s Oscars.

My Oscar Book:

Mulligan also appeared in this year’s Saltburn, from writer-director Emerald Fennell, which did not earn any Oscar nominations.

Saltburn: Impact

“I went to the Saltburn premiere in L.A., and I sat with Em, and there were 1,700 people having the greatest f***ing experience, so I don’t know,” she said. “I think the main takeaway is just how incredibly it was picked up.

Initially, people didn’t know how to respond and then suddenly it took over the internet and now it’s become this enormous phenomenon where you can buy candles called Jacob Elordi’s Bathwater.”

Saltburn was Mulligan’s second film with Fennell, after earning an Oscar nomination for her performance in 2020’s Promising Young Woman.

Fennell earned  the best original screenplay for the same film.