Entertainment

the insider: luke matheny

we talk with the oscar winner!

by liza darwin

Everyone who watched the Academy Awards last weekend fell a little bit in love with Luke Matheny, the NYU grad who won the Oscar for Best Live-Action Short for his film, God of Love. The curly-haired hometown hero (who we still don't think has gotten a haircut) was honored last night at the University, golden Oscar in tow. We chatted with Luke about the big win, what's next, and his favorite guilty pleasure movies.

Have you slept at all since Sunday?

I'm really more of an 8 and a half hours kind of guy, but it's definitely been a 4 or 5 hours kind of week. I just got back to NYC last night. I'm selling DVDs off the website, so I've been stuffing envelopes and mailing them out.

You're doing that yourself? You just won an Oscar!

Yep, I still do it.

What was going through your mind when you were up there on stage making your acceptance speech?

Well, I had a speech prepared already, but I kind of ad-libbed the part about how I wish I'd gotten a haircut.

Which is the line that everyone remembers.

That's what I'm known for now [laughing]. It got a laugh, and it made me not be as scared out of my mind. I knew there was a 45 second time limit and I just raced through. I actually heard it for the first time today.

What's next for you?

I'm back to work. It's rolling up my sleeves and finishing up these two strips I'm working on, and just capitalizing on the win.

As a filmmaker, what's your biggest guilty pleasure movie?

The Bodyguard. It's one of those movies that I detested when it first came out, but I've grown to like it, and Whitney Houston turns out to be actually amazing in a way that I really appreciate.

Since most of your films have been pretty lighthearted and romantic, would you ever go dark?

Everybody seems to want me to. But I've found a formula that works, so I probably won't change my style anytime soon.

Find out more about Luke Matheny here.