Oscars 2012: "The Artist"

John Goodman plays the studio executive desperate to modernize by branching into talkies.

He said he was attracted to playing a big shot, without lines. Since there was no scripted dialogue, he (and ALL the actors) just made it up, acting out loud, even though the audience would never hear a word.

"If I screwed up the dialogue that I was improvising, who cares?" he said.

Credit: Weinstein Company