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Tavis:Laura Linney is an accomplished actress who just joined a very exclusive club of people who've been nominated not once, but more than once for an Academy Award. Her first came for the movie 'You Can Count on Me.' Her latest is for the film 'Kinsey.' The terrific cast includes Liam Neeson and Oliver Platt. Here now, a scene from 'Kinsey.'

Alfred Kinsey: When I took your history, didn't you admit to having sexual feelings for other men?

Clara McMillen: Don't use that against me!

Kinsey: I'm sorry, but what keeps you from acting on your feelings? Convention.

McMillen: No! It's our marriage! It's our children!

Kinsey: Exactly. Social restraints.

McMillen: Did you ever stop to think that perhaps those restraints are there to keep people from hurting each other? I don't sleep with other men because I love you, and I don't want to hurt you.

Kinsey: But what if it didn't hurt me?

McMillen: Then I'd be hurt.

Tavis: Laura Linney, I'm not a voting member, but if I were, whoo! You were awfully good in this.

Laura Linney: Thank you very much.

Tavis: Awfully good, and of course you know I went to Indiana University, so I'm pulling for you 'cause of I.U. Go, Hoosiers.

Linney: Thank you.

Tavis: Dr. Wells in this movie I knew, and all that good stuff. We won't talk about that. I talked about that with Liam and Oliver Platt already.

Linney: Well, I've got to say, it really is remarkable that I.U., You know, has the Kinsey Institute under its auspices and that they encourage them and that they support them, and it's really a tribute to that university, I've got to say.

Tavis: I had a great time at Indiana. What's fascinating about it is, I think--and I was aware of the Kinsey Institute when I was a student there. You know, I didn't spend any time there, but I was certainly aware of it as a student, but having grown up in Indiana, when I think about it now, you think, "a sex institute in Indiana?"

Linney: I know--in the late forties.

Tavis: Ha ha ha! It really doesn't make any sense at all when you think about it, in the late forties no less.

Linney: In the late forties. I mean, it really--you know, at that university where the Kinsey Institute is, you know, the work of Alfred Kinsey and his associates really changed American culture. I mean, completely. What happened during those years was really remarkable.

Tavis: Now, I gotta say this. I hope this isn't sexist in any way. If it is, forgive me. But whoever did the make-up for 'Kinsey' should have been nominated 'cause you look awfully gorgeous today.

Linney: I agree. Ha ha ha!

Tavis: And let's just say, you know, you weren't so gorgeous in this film. I mean, you looked nice, but they did a great job aging you and--

Linney: They did a magnificent job aging me. Um, Mindy Hall was my make-up artist on that film, and she was, you know, remarkable. And the special effects team who did all the aging, and she hand-painted everything, and it was an awful lot of work. It was 4 hours in the morning, you know.

Tavis: Kind of like me when I show up for work here. I spent 4 hours earlier. Lot of work to do on this, you know.

Linney: But it was fun, and a lot of people have asked me, you know, did you get depressed wearing all that stuff? And, honestly, I really didn't, but at the end of the day when they'd take it all off, I'd sort of be like, "Wow, I don't look so bad." You know, so it was actually very good for my self-esteem in the long run. It was very nice.

Tavis: Unless I missed something, you're the only thing, the only person--person or thing--nominated out of the movie 'Kinsey.' A great movie, but you're the only nomination, so that's got to make you feel good. You stood out here.

Linney: Well, actually, it's--I feel a little conflicted about it. Um, I would give up my nomination in a heartbeat for Liam Neeson or for Bill Condon.

Tavis: Mm-hmm.

Linney: Um, having said that, I am very glad that a part of 'Kinsey' is being honored at the Oscars, and it happens to be me, but, um, you always feel conflicted because it's such a--you're so interdependent on everybody, and to select one person out of an ensemble of that caliber is really hard. So I'm--I'm gonna raise the 'Kinsey' banner high.

Tavis: Yeah, I'm about to say you will be there, though?

Linney: Of course I will be there, but I will, you know, have my invisible army close at hand.

Tavis: Now, as my grandmother would say if she were here, God rest her soul--Big Mama would say, "Laura Linney, this is some high cotton."

Linney: Ha ha ha!

Tavis: This is high cotton 'cause you been nominated not once, as I mentioned earlier, but twice you've been nominated now. Um, did you--I read somewhere--I thought I read somewhere, you slept through the first time you were nominated? You didn't even--you just slept right on through it.

Linney: Well, I was filming a movie in Pittsburgh.

Tavis: Mm-hmm.

Linney: And I had flown in the night before. I had some press to do, and I didn't have a television at the time. This was, I think, 2001 or 2000--I forget. Um, and I figured, well, if I'm nominated, the phone will ring, and then that'll be a great way to wake up in the morning, and if it doesn't ring, then I'll get a few extra hours' sleep and I'll go about my day.

Tavis: So this time, did you wake up, or did you sleep through this one, too?

Linney: I was filming in Vancouver. We had worked until 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. I knew the nominations would be out at 5:30 in the morning, so I thought, you know, if the phone rings, that's a good thing, and if not, I won't be so cranky at the end of the day.

Tavis: Yeah, and to my grandmother's point about high cotton, this is roiling me. I know I'm going straight to Hades for this, but this is a long way from that chicken audition, isn't it?

Linney: Ha ha ha! Yes, it is!

Tavis: I know I'm wrong for even raising the chicken audition.

Linney: No, it's OK. You know, you got to keep those experiences close at heart. You got to remember.

Tavis: Why don't we clue the audience in on the chicken audition?

Linney: The chicken audition. I've told this story a bunch, but there was--I was--when I first got out of Juilliard, I went on the rounds for commercial auditions, and, uh--ha ha ha--I had a very surreal afternoon where I, you know, trudged with my little bag down to the West Village somewhere, and a very unhappy casting director sort of mumbled 5 people's names and, "Please come into the room." So we all went into a room. We didn't know what--it was a mysterious audition. Mysterious. And there was me, there was an elderly gentleman, there was a man who was all dressed up in sort of his little outfit. He was a real commercial actor audition person. He was there with all his stuff. And there was an older woman and myself, and we all stood in a line and he said, "OK, it's a chicken. This is a commercial audition for a chicken sauce, and when I put on the music, I want you to dance around like a chicken."

Tavis: Ha ha ha!

Linney: And I just--and, you know, actors, you know, we're like trained animals. Someone tells us to do something, particularly when you're young and fresh out of school, you do it. So he put on the music, and we all started, you know, flapping our arms and--oh, it was just--it was--and my heart went out to this elderly man. Here was this sweet elderly man who was reduced to walking around like a chicken.

Tavis: I'm just trying to juxtapose Juilliard and jumpin' around like a chicken.

Linney: And chicken Ragu, yeah. A Ragu chicken sauce commercial is what it was. Yeah, that was it.

Tavis: I'm told...

Linney: It takes all kinds.

Tavis: Yeah. Somebody told me or I also read somewhere that you, speaking of Juilliard, almost didn't get out. That you at one point decided--you were thinking about--

Linney: You know, when you go through an intensive training program, particularly one like Juilliard is--it's 4 years, and it's very intensive, and I thank God every day that I got into that school and had the opportunity to learn from those teachers there. It is a remarkable thing to go through. It's not right for everybody, but it was certainly right for me. But I did hit a period in my third year there where I--It was like I had been, um, absorbing so much from these people, 12 hours a day for 3 years straight, and stuff just wasn't working. I felt like I couldn't walk and talk at the same time, and I was dreadful. I was absolutely dreadful. We were doing a production of 'Heartbreak House by Shaw, and I had the lead, the ingénue, and I was God-awful bad, and I knew it. And I was on stage, and I was having flop sweats, and I, for the first time in my life--I grew up in the theater--for the first time in my life, I didn't want to be there.

Tavis: Sounds like stage fright to me.

Linney: It was. It was profound stage fright, and I couldn't concentrate, and I wanted to go home. I can remember being all dressed up and going on stage and just not being there, a place where I've always felt comfortable, where I've always felt fulfilled. To all of a sudden feel foreign there was really frightening. And, God bless him, there was a master teacher there named John Stix, who passed away this year, and he, God bless him, when he heard that I was seriously thinking about pursuing other things and leaving school, um, he pulled me aside and he took me to his office, which I didn't even know existed, the secret office, and he said, "So what's going on?" And I said, "You know, John, I just--I think everybody's been very, very nice to me, but I don't know if I can really do this 'cause I just don't think I'm good enough." And he really sat me down. He said, "Look, this is where you're supposed to fail. You're supposed to fail here. Failure is not a bad thing, and if you can work through it, on the other side of that will be something that will push you forward and be rewarding," and, God bless him, because he really did, um--I was in a state. I was in a panic.

Tavis: And here--here she now sits, not once, but twice an Academy Award-nominated actress. Laura, all the best to you.

Linney: Thank you.

Tavis: I'm watching on the big night to see what you're--you look nice tonight, but I assume you got your dress and stuff all picked out?

Linney: We're workin' on it.

Tavis: OK. Everybody says that. I've asked that question 10 times, and everybody's still workin' on it. I think they all know what it is. They're just not tellin' us. Anyway, nice to see you, and congratulations and all the best to you.

Linney: Thank you.

Tavis: That's our show for tonight. See you back here next time on PBS. Keep the faith.