I always love these conversations.

As they do every year during awards season, The Hollywood Reporter gathered the star names who'll be players when the Academy announces its Oscar nominees next year.

In the in-depth conversation that follows in the video below, Jamie Foxx, Denzel Washington, Matt Damon, Richard Gere, Alan Arkin and John Hawkes talk about a whole lot of interesting things about the craft, their lives as male movie stars, women, family, success and more, including, of course, race.

I'm watching it right now as I type this, but if you need some incentive to watch, here's an excerpt from THR's transcript:

[Denzel] Washington, whose daughter is studying the craft at NYU, says that he emphasizes to her the importance of being multi-talented. "I say: 'You're black, you're a woman, and you're dark-skinned at that. So you have to be a triple/quadruple threat.' I said: 'You gotta learn how to act. You gotta learn how to dance, sing, move onstage,'" the Flight star and two-time Oscar winner explained. "That's the only place, in my humble opinion, you really learn how to act. I said: 'Look at Viola Davis. That's who you want to be. Forget about the little pretty girls; if you're relying on that, when you hit 40, you're out the door. You better have some chops.'"

And also, interestingly, when asked about if there are any movies they've done that they regret doing, while all the other actors don't say, Jamie Foxx was free with his revelation that Booty Call is a film he regrets doing.

Denzel also talks about Nelson Mandela coming over to his house and asking Denzel's wife to fry him some chicken!

He also talks the big 'O' word – obligation.

But there are several other nuggets that are dropped during the conversation.

It's over an hour long, which is great! Set time aside to watch and listen: