Some 172 of this year’s Oscar nominees — among them Timothée Chalamet (best actor for A Complete Unknown), Demi Moore (best actress for The Substance), Denis Villeneuve (best adapted screenplay for Dune: Part Two) and Brandi Carlile (best original song for “Never Too Late” from Elton John: Never Too Late), but not Kieran Culkin (best supporting actor for A Real Pain), Karla Sofía Gascón (best actress for Emilia Pérez) or Guy Pearce (best supporting actor for The Brutalist) — descended upon the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles on Tuesday night for a night at the museum unlike any other.
The Academy decided to host the gathering, dubbed an “Oscar Nominees Dinner,” just five nights before the 97th Academy Awards, in place of its traditional Oscar Nominees Luncheon, which was canceled in the wake of the Los Angeles wildfires earlier this year.
Upon arrival on Tuesday, nominees were ushered into a room just off of the museum’s Sidney Poitier Grand Lobby to take a photo with Academy president Janet Yang and then pose for media outlets in front of a step-and-repeat. After, they strolled over to a section of the lobby in front of a series of long tables at which they would later have dinner, where they mingled over cocktails with one another, as well as Academy CEO Bill Kramer, Academy Museum director Amy Homma and members of the Academy’s board of governors.
Some of the attendees had been to gatherings of Oscar nominees many times before — Diane Warren (best original song for “The Journey” from The Six Triple Eight) is nominated for the 16th time, 37 years after her first nom — while others were wide-eyed newbies, including four of the five best supporting actress nominees, Isabella Rossellini (Conclave), Zoe Saldaña (Emilia Pérez), Ariana Grande (Wicked) and Monica Barbaro (A Complete Unknown).
Many of the nominees had never met each other before. There also were reunions of old friends and colleagues — among them, nominated producers Marc Platt (Wicked) and Fred Berger (A Complete Unknown), who eight years ago were on stage accepting best picture Oscars for La La Land when, of course, all hell broke loose.
Most of the nominees, it seemed, are based locally, but quite a few traveled long distances to be in town for this gathering and a series of other pre-Oscars events and, of course, the Oscars itself. Among them: Ralph Fiennes (best actor for Conclave) from the U.K., Fernanda Torres (best actress for I’m Still Here) from Brazil and Slava Leontyev (best documentary feature for Porcelain War) from Ukraine, where he has been serving in the Ukrainian military during its war with Russia.
The Academy mandates that only one person can speak on behalf of a group of nominees who win together, so those tough decisions are being made at the moment. For example, the trio of best makeup/hairstyling nominees from The Substance, Pierre-Oliver Persin, Stéphanie Guillon and Marilyne Scarselli — who are the odds-on favorites to win — said they had designated Persin to speak if they should be so lucky. A few nominees acknowledged that they are preparing acceptance speeches just in case things work out for them. “I feel like an idiot,” Conclave producer Michael A. Jackman professed, “but I don’t want to look like an idiot!”
Eventually, the nominees were hustled up a staircase into the Death Star-resembling David Geffen Theatre. There, they sat in the theater’s plush-red seats and — following brief remarks by Yang reminding them to make the most of their 45 seconds on stage should they win — posed for this year’s “class photo” (which has historically been taken on bleachers in the International Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton).
Best original screenplay nominee RaMell Ross (Nickel Boys) playfully stood up just before several snaps were taken. Best actress nominee Cynthia Erivo (Wicked) — seated beside Grande, of course — encouragingly shouted before one shot, “Everyone say ‘Oscar nominee!’” And then, after best picture, director and adapted screenplay nominee James Mangold (A Completed Unknown) arrived late, they gamely did it all over again.
With the photos secured, the nominees headed back downstairs for a dinner prepared by Wolfgang Puck — New York steak, roasted salmon, pan roasted jidori chicken and black pepper gnocchi cacio e pepe, served family-style — and the handful of press on hand departed.
