"Of course," Egoyan laughs, "as soon as I lost, I was immediately forgotten again. But that's okay. I'll always be thankful that the industry chose to recognize me with those two nominations."

Egoyan's experience shooting Felicia's Journey, released last fall, was unique in that it is the only film he has shot outside of Canada. The filmmaker originally planned to relocate the story to Canada, as he did with The Sweet Hereafter (originally set in New York), but decided to keep it in Ireland due to the insistence of the book's author, William Trevor.

"In the end, I realized that the crux of Felicia's Journey is rooted in the Irish culture," Egoyan admits of the tale about a pregnant woman searching for her lover who falls under the sway of a morally conflicted serial killer. "There were many small elements of the story that contributed to the decision as well, such as the fact that abortion really is still illegal in Ireland."

Felicia's Journey also differed from Egoyan's other endeavors in that it was handled by Mel Gibson's Icon Productions, and thus was the first Atom Egoyan film to have a firm Hollywood connection. The director is quick to point out, however, that the difference in funding did nothing to change his style or approach to storytelling. "Mel was very great about it," Egoyan says. "I had the freedom to tell the story exactly how I wanted to tell it and never felt the slightest pressure to make the film more marketable or viewer-friendly. Although Felicia's Journey was tied to Hollywood, it was still a very small-scale, independent feature." In a lesser director's hands, Felicia's Journey could easily have devolved into a standard Hollywood thriller, but Egoyan's thoughtful approach to the material and his sense of subtlety and restraint made it a complex and powerful work.

At the end of our interview, Egoyan muses on the most important subject of the day-the recently announced Oscar nominations. He expresses disappointment that Bob Hoskins didn't receive a nod for his work in Felicia's Journey, but admits that the category of Best Actor was very crowded this year, with many deserving candidates. "I was kind of surprised The Cider House Rules ended up with a Best Picture nod," he says. "But I was very happy to see The Sixth Sense recognized. I also thought Topsy-Turvy might have gotten more nominations."

The world of filmmaking has changed radically in the last decade, Egoyan notes. "When I made Family Viewing there was definitely a firm line between commercial and independent movies that seemed immutable. But today, that's all changed. I think it really began with Soderbergh's Sex, Lies, and Videotape-a title I still wish I'd thought of first, incidentally-which proved that features which were artistically ambitious could still meet with commercial success."

When asked whether he would ever consider coming to Hollywood to make a big-budget, artistic feature such as Anthony Minghella's The English Patient, Egoyan admits that he "would definitely be open to it. It all depends on the situation. Having complete control and final cut is a very important element to me. At the same time, I am definitely aware of the possibilities that the world of Hollywood offers. I haven't yet wanted to tell a story that required any kind of sizeable budget, but it's a possibility that could definitely arise in the future."