Kodi Smit-McPhee Called Kirsten Dunst After Oscar Nomination: 'My Mother Away from My Mother'

Kirsten Dunst was Kodi Smit-McPhee's first post-nominations phone call.

The 25-year-old actor scored his first Oscar nomination, Best Supporting Actor, for his role as Peter in The Power of the Dog.

When he found out the news, he was with his girlfriend, mom and younger brother, and he immediately called his onscreen mother Dunst to celebrate. Smit-McPhee's costars Dunst, her fiancé Jesse Plemons, and Benedict Cumberbatch each got Academy Awards nominations as well, and their movie is the most nominated of the year with 12 total.

"I actually called Kirsten, I believe first. We had a little celebration and I asked where Jesse was, and he was on a set so I couldn't contact him until the next day. But, yeah, it was my mother away from my mother!" says the actor as part of PEOPLE's 2022 Oscars portfolio in this week's issue.

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"It means the world, to put it simply," he says of the nomination.

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"One thing that I've been returning to is the fact that I feel this recognition isn't just for my achievement in The Power of the Dog alone or even anything that was a precursor to that, but also my personal life and any adversity I've faced and what the team around me pushed through to continue doing what I love and to make it here today," says Smit-McPhee. "So this is a very heartfelt thing."

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He says there was "no scene I was anxious to do," recalling that playing Peter was a breeze for him.

"I loved that. He is really very quite monotoned, if I may say that. It's your perspective of him that dances around him, and that's what tells his story," the star explains. "It was a cruise for me in many ways, in essence."

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