Oscar nominees for films from ‘Oppenheimer’ and ‘Barbie’ to documentary shorts gather for luncheon
LOS ANGELES — The annual Academy Award nominees luncheon on Monday is a chance for this year’s Oscar nominees to gather for photos, hugs and congratulations.
The lunch is a warm, feel-good, egalitarian affair where little-known new nominees in categories like best animated short film meet and share tables with acting nominees like Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone.
The centerpiece of the event in Beverly Hills, California, is a class photo of the entire group of nominees. Nearly all of them are usually there, both as part of the Oscars experience and as part of their unspoken voting campaigns.
Before the lunch proper began, nominees including Cillian Murphy, a best actor favorite for “Oppenheimer,” a best supporting actress favorite for “The Holdovers,” made the rounds of media whose reporters were in cabanas around the Beverly Hilton are set up. swimming pool.
Steven Spielberg, nominated for best picture as producer of “Maestro,” chatted with a small group on the patio.
Lesser known nominees gathered in the ballroom and posed for group photos.
They will later sit down for a vegetarian menu with king oyster mushrooms and wild mushroom risotto.
The event is also an opportunity for the Academy’s leadership, including President Janet Yang, to give speeches and personally address their distinguished members.
She used last year’s luncheon to address what she called the Academy’s “inadequate” response when Will Smith punched Chris Rock at last year’s ceremony.
Leaders may discuss some serious issues this year, but it will likely have a lighter tone.
This year’s guests include director Christopher Nolan and stars Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr. and Emily Blunt of “Oppenheimer,” the most nominated film with 13 nominations and the favorite in many major categories.
Other top nominees include “The Holdovers,” “Killers of the Flower Moon” and “Poor Things.”
And although Barbie director Greta Gerwig and star Margot Robbie were snubbed in their major categories, both will be among the invitees: Gerwig as an original screenplay nominee, Robbie as a producer of a best picture nominee.