Annette Bening is meeting the moment.

The acclaimed actor is currently in the midst of her fifth campaign for an Oscar statuette, this time for her intense and very physical performance in Nyadbased on the life of legendary and determined swimmer Diana Nyad.

Bening isn’t, however, considered the favorite to win this year. When asked during a recent interview with CNN about whether she’s as mad about that fact as some of her supporters are, she laughed heartily.

“I appreciate your rage, I applaud your rage, I support your rage,” she said.

She doesn’t, however, “live in anger,” she added.

Bening maintains that when it comes to the entertainment business, “you have to have a sense of humor about it.”

“One of the good things about this moment for me is that I can look back at 34 years ago when I first went to the Oscars and what that was like, and compare it to this time, so it does give me a certain perspective that allows me to just go with the flow,” she said. “I don’t really worry. I’m just appreciative.”

Bening is referring to her first Academy Award-nominated role in 1990’s The Grifters, the Stephen Frears-directed crime drama in which she starred opposite John Cusack and Anjelica Huston. It was one of her first film roles, but Bening stole the spotlight and was soon landing lead roles, like in bugsy (opposite her future husband Warren Beatty) and The American President,