Eddie Redmayne, Benedict Cumberbatch and More React to Oscar Nominations

Eddie Redmayne and Benedict Cumberbatch sent text messages to each other within minutes of the Oscars nominations on Thursday to share their disbelief after they were both shortlisted for a major honor.

The two will go up against each other for the prestigious Academy Award for Best Actor after Redmayne was nominated for playing scientist Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything and Cumberbatch was shortlisted for his role as World War II code-breaker Alan Turing in The Imitation Game.

Redmayne was asleep at his hotel in Los Angeles when the nominations were announced on Friday morning, but within minutes he was awoken by a knock on the door, a ringing phone and a flurry of text messages from his fellow Brit nominee.

He tells Sky News, “I’m feeling pretty good. It’s an amazing, amazing thing. It’s the crack of dawn here in Los Angeles and I was in the middle of a deep, dark sleep and suddenly there was a rap on the door and I stumbled to the door and it was my manager there and a team of people on the phone screaming, which was very exciting.

“I’m just trying to come to terms with it all. I’ve gone from 0 to 100 miles per hour in the space of about four minutes. It’s extraordinary… It’s sort of beyond dreams really… It’s really beyond anything I ever imagined. I’m thrilled.”

When asked if he had heard from Cumberbatch, he adds, “I just got a text message from him. We texted each other. There were a lot of exclamation marks used! I was so excited.”

Singer John Legend was also overjoyed with his Oscar nomination for Selma song “Glory” as it came on Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday.

The singer’s track with Common, which features in the acclaimed movie about America’s civil rights movement, received a Best Original Song nod when the 2015 Academy Award contenders were announced on Thursday.

Legend took to Twitter shortly after the news broke to express his joy that the nomination came on the day its subject, King, Jr., would have turned 86.

He writes, “So grateful for @TheAcademy Award nomination for Glory!!! On MLK’s birthday!!”

So grateful for @TheAcademy Award nomination for GLORY!!! On MLK's birthday!! @SelmaMovie @Common

— John Legend (@johnlegend) January 15, 2015

Selma is also nominated for Best Picture. The awards will be handed out at a ceremony in Los Angeles on February 22.

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