For Geoffrey Fletcher, Oscar nomination means a 'lifelong dream' comes true

After finding out Tuesday that he had been nominated for an Academy Award, Waterford native Geoffrey Fletcher was busy handling congratulatory phone calls, including one from his mother, Bettye.

"She saw me working for so long, ever since I was very young, and I pulled out these toys and a camera and made these little movies with them," he said. "It's this lifelong dream, and a year ago I was just happy to have a movie made, to be involved with a feature film. For this to happen, it still hasn't fully sunken in."

Fletcher's nomination is for his screenplay for "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' By Sapphire."

"I am, as you can imagine, thrilled. It's still sinking in. Still sinking in," Fletcher said from his New York City apartment Tuesday morning.

A couple of hours earlier, he was watching the nominations press conference on the Internet in his apartment. The adapted screenplay category was the last up, and after the first few nominees were announced, Fletcher began to think they weren't going to say his name at all.

"When I saw my name and heard my name, it didn't feel quite real," he said.

After earning his undergraduate degree in psychology from Harvard, Fletcher got his master's degree in film from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. He has been an adjunct film professor at NYU and at Columbia.

He worked for years trying to get into feature films before "Precious." In an interview with The Day in November, he said, "There were some very difficult times where I would ask myself, 'What am I doing? Will I ever get an opportunity to make a feature film - any film, even a film that would vanish?' "

But he kept at it, creating his own short films. Those films drew interest from such directors as John Singleton and Lee Daniels, who asked Fletcher to adapt the novel "Push" written by Sapphire into a screenplay.

"Precious" focuses on the struggles of an illiterate, obese teenager who is abused by her mother and is pregnant with her father's child. The New York Times called the movie a "risky, remarkable film adaptation."

"While I was writing it, I felt I was working on something that was very special to me," Fletcher said. "I didn't know if it would connect with other people or how widely it would be seen or if it would be seen at all.

"I would tell my film students that if you just pour your passions and your abilities and your soul into your work, then the other stuff may fall into place. No guarantee, but it's probably the best chance one has of really creating something that connects with other people."

"Precious" ended up with six Oscar nominations Tuesday, including those for best picture, best director for Lee Daniels, best actress for Gabourey Sidibe, and best supporting actress for Mo'Nique.

"I'm so happy for everybody on this film. That's another big part of this day," Fletcher said.

A big part of the day is family, too, and Fletcher speaks gratefully not only about his mother but also about his brothers and father.

Fletcher, 39, is the youngest son of Bettye and the late Alphonse Fletcher Sr.

"My brothers always cared so much about me and looked out for me," he said. "Early on, anything they knew about film, they would talk to me about it."

His brother Alphonse Jr., or Buddy, showed him how animation works. His brother Todd talked about mythology and storytelling.

"All of those things, I've used so often," he said. "Without them, I'm certain this wouldn't have happened."

"I've also thought a lot of my father, who passed away in 1990. He worked hard for us and spent so much time with us. ... I really wish my father could see this."

The Oscars will be handed out in a ceremony on March 7. And Fletcher's Oscar date?

"Oh," he said, "that would surely be my mother."