An honor to be nominated? Peter O'Toole says, No.

Yes, the trailer is awful but, trust me, The Stunt Man — released on Blu-ray tomorrow — is worth a look. See it mainly to relish one of Peter O’Toole’s finest and funniest performances. Dave Itzkoff at the NYTimes talks to O’Toole about the movie got an earful about the Oscars.

Q. You were, of course, nominated for an Academy Award for this performance. Did you think you might win that year?
A. We knew. I always ring the bookies immediately in Las Vegas. I’m the son of a racetrack bookie, and I’ve never known an odds-on favorite, in my 50 years, of not winning. If it’s a horse, it’s at least got a chance of falling down. And not once in 50 years have I ever been a favorite.

Q. They always say it’s an honor just to be nominated.
A. No, it’s not. It’s a bore. I’m fed up. [laughs] Second prize is no prize, thank you very much indeed.

Q. But you’ve got your honorary Oscar.
A. Yeah. Honorary. Yeah. I don’t want to be honorary anything. I don’t mind earning something.

Q. You don’t feel you earned it for your body of work? Isn’t it the Academy’s way of saying, we should have given you one already?
A. Yeah, and they’ll say it again the following year. Come on, it’s a joke. It’s the biggest joke. Eight times? It’s impossible.

Of course, nowadays the honorary Oscar is such an honor it’s not even worth 7 minutes of the broadcast. Because it’s more important to hear all the damned song nominees.