"Hollywood director" is still a term that Jean-Marc Vallée is reluctant to adopt.

That's despite the fact that his latest work, Dallas Buyers Club, stars some of the biggest names in the business and the film, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in the fall, has already garnered Golden Globe attention.

And, of course, there's also the success he experienced with Young Victoria and his French-language hit, C.R.A.Z.Y.

"Of course, it's Hollywood because now [the production company] Focus took the film and it's the big machine and they're promoting it, but we did this film the independent way so I feel good about the reaction on this film, but of course the etiquette of being called 'Hollywood,' well, that's something else," Vallée told Jian Ghomeshi during a recent appearance on CBC's Q.

Award season is a distant reality when you're making a movie with that indie spirit, but it's one Vallée is now experiencing head on.

The nomination voting for this year’s Academy Awards begins Dec. 27. The nominations will be announced on Jan. 16.

Two of Dallas Buyers Club's stars, Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto, are nominated for Golden Globes and are expected to get the nod from the Academy too.

McConaughey plays Ron Woodroof, an HIV-positive, homophobic cowboy who took on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in the 1980s over access to antiviral medications which were not yet authorized for use in the U.S. Leto plays Rayon, a transgendered woman with AIDS who befriends Woodroof.

The critically acclaimed film is the biggest commercial success to date for Vallée.

Vallée wasn’t nominated for a Golden Globe, but that doesn’t mean he won’t be nominated for an Oscar.

And now that he has finished shooting his next feature film (Wild starring Reese Witherspoon), he’s ready to jump on the Oscar promotion bandwagon.

“Focus is putting a lot of money and efforts to bring this film into all these, you know, ceremonies," he said. “But, we don’t think about it when we shoot the film.”

Vallée has come under fire for not casting a transgendered actor in the role of Rayon.

He told Ghomeshi that he never considered casting a transgendered actor.

“Is there any transgendered actor?” he said. “To my knowledge I don’t know one.”

“I never thought of hiring a real rodeo guy to play the rodeo guy, Ron Woodroof.”