The ultimate Hollywood power luncheon

Oscar nominees hobnob three weeks ahead of Hollywood’s big night.

BEVERLY HILLS: The annual Oscars Nominees Luncheon convened more than 200 contenders pursuing an Academy Award on March 2 — from 18-time nominee Meryl Streep for best actor in August: Osage County to Lupita Nyong’o, who won a Best Supporting Actress nod for her first film role ever in 12 Years a Slave.

The eclectic group of movie stars, directors and technical wizards appreciated U2 frontman Bono, thanks to his best song nomination for Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom. The luncheon was a chance to turn on the charm by praising the Oscars, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and the magic of Hollywood film-making.

“I’m going to celebrate no matter what,” said Matthew McConaughey, the presumed frontrunner for Best Actor for his role as an unlikely AIDS activist in the low-budget Dallas Buyers Club, for which he won the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards.

Cate Blanchett, the favourite to win Best Actor for her role as a disgraced socialite in Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine, said this nomination “certainly took [her] by surprise.”

This year’s Oscars nominations reflect a field crowded with high-quality films and a large number of strong performances that resulted in notable exclusions. For the nine films nominated in the Best Picture category, odds appear to be strongest for the brutal slavery drama 12 Years a Slave, space thriller Gravity and 1970s corruption caper American Hustle, which have all won top prizes in the awards season and lead the Oscar nominations.

Actor nominees made a point of praising their directors for their good fortune, like Best Supporting Actor nominee Jonah Hill for his role in Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street.

“Money is never a concern to work with people like Martin Scorsese,” said Hill, who took a pay cut and worked for union scale wages for his role as a drug addled swindling sidekick. “I would do whatever...I would paint his house if he asked me to.”

Producers for the 86^th Academy Awards gave advice on acceptance speeches at the show, hosted this year by comedian Ellen DeGeneres: Deliver something heartfelt and meaningful rather than a list of people to thank and make it quick.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 13^th, 2014.

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