Nominees for the film industry’s most coveted awards gathered Monday at the Beverly Hilton to celebrate their Oscar nods and nosh with the competition.
The hotel ballroom was adorned with life-size models of the golden Oscar statuette as guests arrived for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ annual nominees luncheon for actors, directors, cinematographers, costume designers, visual effects artists and others up for Academy Awards.
“Into the Woods” costume designer Colleen Atwood, who has been nominated 11 times and has won three Oscars, said the thrill had not worn off.
“It’s a fun day, the luncheon,” said Atwood, who was among the nominees that fielded press questions about the hectic award season schedule, what they plan to wear on the big night and the behind-the-scenes stories about their films.
Patricia Arquette, nominated for her supporting turn as a single mother in the 12-years-in-the-making “Boyhood,” said coming to the luncheon felt “like the grown-up version of a kid going to Disneyland.”
If she wins an Oscar, the actress — who already has collected Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe awards — said, “I hope I don’t faint.”
Michael Keaton, competing in a tight race for best actor for his role as a washed-up film superhero in “Birdman,” said if he was lucky enough to win, he’d have to think hard about how to thank director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu.
Keaton said he was an “enormous fan” before the film and now finds the Mexican director — who was a no-show at the luncheon — “just really courageous.”
Though he said he typically tosses out much of his prepared speeches to “go with how I feel,” Keaton said he could predict one thing if he finds himself at the winner’s podium.
“The word ‘grateful’ — I’m just going to keep saying it and saying it and saying it,” Keaton said.
It was a sentiment echoed by many of the nominees.
French actress Marion Cotillard said she’d “never dreamed of having an American career.”
“I’m so grateful, I feel so lucky,” Cotillard said of her chance to have audiences here see her in the Belgian film “Two Days, One Night” and her other work.
Emma Stone, who flew in from New York, where she is playing Sally Bowles in “Cabaret” on Broadway, said it was too early to start thinking about prepping for Oscar night.
“It’s like (Sally’s) dream to be doing this,” said Stone, who is nominated for her turn as a daughter out of rehab in “Birdman.” But playing a “gin-swilling, very sad character every night … I can’t really think about facials just yet.”
Eddie Redmayne, nominated for his role as Stephen Hawking in “The Theory of Everything,” said he feels “it’s sort of bad luck if you start preparing.”
The British actor said when he packed his recently won Golden Globe statuette in a carry-on, TSA agents stopped the bag after X-raying it.
“I was praying that they’d make me open it up,” Redmayne said, laughing.
Laura Dern brought along her father, actor Bruce Dern, and said she remembered coming to an Oscars luncheon at the age of 7 with her mother, actress Diane Ladd.
“I remember the Oscars as this really shared, collaborative experience” between her parents’ friends and today, “some of my best friends are in that room” as nominees, said Dern, who’s vying for supporting actress honors in “Wild.”
Julianne Moore, who has already taken home Golden Globe and SAG awards for her role as a professor suffering from early onset Alzheimer’s disease in “Still Alice,” also talked about the great atmosphere at the Oscars luncheon.
“(It’s) like you’re on a great big press junket for a movie and you’re all on the same movie,” Moore said.
Moore said the last time she was nominated, for the 2002 film “Far from Heaven,” she’d just given birth and had to wear a boxy coat dress.
“I won’t have to wear something so misshapen” this time around, Moore said.
J.K. Simmons, 60, and Robert Duvall, 84, up for supporting actor honors in “Whiplash” and “The Judge,” respectively, talked about all they have learned to get this point in their careers.
“I’ve just hung around long enough” to get the chance to work with and learn from great actors, Simmons said.
Duvall praised the younger generation.
“The young actors today are better than ever,” Duvall said. “I learn from them … we learn from each other.”
Asked what he’ll do if he wins, Duvall fired back, “I’m not going to win it,” drawing laughs from the roomful of reporters.
Rosamund Pike, who’s nominated for her portrayal of the murderous wife in “Gone Girl,” compared awards season to being in “one of these game shows where you turn the corner and you don’t know what to expect.”
Pike said the award means “recognition, someone saying you did OK, more than OK … Even being nominated for an Academy Award means that somebody said you’re going down that road in the right direction.”
British actress Felicity Jones, vying for best actress for “The Theory of Everything,” said the best thing about awards season so far was meeting rock legend Patti Smith, while Simmons said his turn hosting “Saturday Night Live” was a “real life highlight.”
First-time nominee Steve Carell, who played murderous millionaire John du Pont in “Foxcatcher,” recalled learning about his nomination.
“I wish I could tell you that I was cool,” Carell said. “I was up at 5:30 … sitting downstairs in the darkness.” When he and his wife heard, they exploded in “supremely happy” moment, jumping up and down with joy, he said.
Reese Witherspoon, producer and lead actress in “Wild,” based on Cheryl Strayed’s memoir of hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, talked about roles for women.
Witherspoon said she decided to start her production company when “I saw six of my favorite actresses fighting over a really crappy role in a movie.” Now she looks for projects where she feels she can “put some good into the world.”
Bradley Cooper, nominated for his portrayal of U.S. Navy Seal Chris Kyle in “American Sniper,” brought a somber note to the behind-the-scenes proceedings.
“(Kyle) was murdered two years ago to the day,” Cooper said.
As for the debate that has surrounded the film’s portrayal of war, the actor said, “Any discussion that sheds light on the plight of the men and women in the armed services … is fantastic.”
The three-time nominee was just as excited as his peers to be part of the celebration.
“I was raised on Oscar shows … no matter where I was, everyone was huddled around the TV in my family,” Cooper said. “I always used to fantasize about being there.”
A small group of activists and union members protested briefly outside the hotel before police arrived and asked them to leave, according to a spokesman for the Services Employees International Union United Service Workers West.
They were objecting to the Academy’s use of Security Industry Specialists, a non-union security contractor, for the event, the spokesman said.
The 87th Oscars will be presented Feb. 22 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, with Neil Patrick Harris hosting.
