Beverly Hills, California:
They drank. They ate. They chatted.
And Melissa Leo tried to keep her white pantsuit clean.
Welcome to the Oscar Nominees Luncheon, where contenders for the year's Academy Awards gathered - and for this one last time together, were still all winners.
Leo, a supporting-actress nominee for The Fighter, sat with her agent as well as musician Moby, who was there as the date of the documentary Waste Land's director Lucy Walker. "I was curious: How does (Moby) get away without having no last name?" asked Leo. "That is not an easy way to live. He told me the whole story about how he got the name Moby. He is a really sweet guy. I don't know about his music, because I haven't heard it, but he is a really sweet guy."
Javier Bardem (Biutiful) chatted with Jeff Bridges (True Grit), Jacki Walker (Animal Kingdom) with Helena Bonham Carter (The King's Speech), and Geoffrey Rush reunited with short-documentary nominee Sarah Nesson (Poster Girl), with whom he celebrated the first The King's Speech screening, in Telluride.
Like Rush, Amy Adams is an Oscar-luncheon veteran.
"Well, the first time is like a blur," she recalled. "Everything was a blur. It was so . . . I couldn't even accept it almost as reality. It seemed so surreal. The second time I was here with (Doubt stars) Meryl (Streep) and Viola (Davis), (screenwriter) John Patrick Shanley and Philip Seymour Hoffman. I don't know if it was the nature of Doubt, but I was very subdued. I was very serious, thinking very seriously about what it meant to be nominated. Maybe it is the nature of The Fighter, but, I'm here to party - like, I'm having a good time. So, yeah!"
Weaver got close to fellow Australian Nicole Kidman (Rabbit Hole) for the so-called, "class photo." "Yeah, I actually stood beside her," Weaver noted. "But, because she is about a foot-and-a-half taller than I am, she very graciously sat down so they could get us both in the same shot. "
Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit) stood near longtime family friend, musician Hans Zimmer; Jeremy Renner (The Town) was right by Rush, Jennifer Lawrence and Mark Ruffalo.
And then there was Leo, trying to keep clean in the back of the class.
"Well, there is a funny little story about it because, with Frozen River, I knew what we were in for, and so on, like that," she said. "I opted this time to not sort of find myself were I found myself, but to choose to go way up to the top back row. Because then I would have a vantage point to see all and collect a little more information for myself. That was wonderful. So, I came in from the stage left side of the risers, come walking across and, lo and behold, who do I see coming across the top riser from stage right area? (The Fighter star and producer) Mark Wahlberg and (director) David (O. Russell). So, I said to Mark, 'I guess we knew we had to go to the back of the class!' He laughed."
The 83rd annual Academy Awards is set for Sunday 27 February in Hollywood.
And Melissa Leo tried to keep her white pantsuit clean.
Welcome to the Oscar Nominees Luncheon, where contenders for the year's Academy Awards gathered - and for this one last time together, were still all winners.
Leo, a supporting-actress nominee for The Fighter, sat with her agent as well as musician Moby, who was there as the date of the documentary Waste Land's director Lucy Walker. "I was curious: How does (Moby) get away without having no last name?" asked Leo. "That is not an easy way to live. He told me the whole story about how he got the name Moby. He is a really sweet guy. I don't know about his music, because I haven't heard it, but he is a really sweet guy."
Javier Bardem (Biutiful) chatted with Jeff Bridges (True Grit), Jacki Walker (Animal Kingdom) with Helena Bonham Carter (The King's Speech), and Geoffrey Rush reunited with short-documentary nominee Sarah Nesson (Poster Girl), with whom he celebrated the first The King's Speech screening, in Telluride.
Like Rush, Amy Adams is an Oscar-luncheon veteran.
"Well, the first time is like a blur," she recalled. "Everything was a blur. It was so . . . I couldn't even accept it almost as reality. It seemed so surreal. The second time I was here with (Doubt stars) Meryl (Streep) and Viola (Davis), (screenwriter) John Patrick Shanley and Philip Seymour Hoffman. I don't know if it was the nature of Doubt, but I was very subdued. I was very serious, thinking very seriously about what it meant to be nominated. Maybe it is the nature of The Fighter, but, I'm here to party - like, I'm having a good time. So, yeah!"
Weaver got close to fellow Australian Nicole Kidman (Rabbit Hole) for the so-called, "class photo." "Yeah, I actually stood beside her," Weaver noted. "But, because she is about a foot-and-a-half taller than I am, she very graciously sat down so they could get us both in the same shot. "
Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit) stood near longtime family friend, musician Hans Zimmer; Jeremy Renner (The Town) was right by Rush, Jennifer Lawrence and Mark Ruffalo.
And then there was Leo, trying to keep clean in the back of the class.
"Well, there is a funny little story about it because, with Frozen River, I knew what we were in for, and so on, like that," she said. "I opted this time to not sort of find myself were I found myself, but to choose to go way up to the top back row. Because then I would have a vantage point to see all and collect a little more information for myself. That was wonderful. So, I came in from the stage left side of the risers, come walking across and, lo and behold, who do I see coming across the top riser from stage right area? (The Fighter star and producer) Mark Wahlberg and (director) David (O. Russell). So, I said to Mark, 'I guess we knew we had to go to the back of the class!' He laughed."
The 83rd annual Academy Awards is set for Sunday 27 February in Hollywood.
