LOS ANGELES – The annual Academy Award nominees luncheon on Monday is a chance for this year’s Oscar hopefuls to come together for photos, hugs and congratulations.
The luncheon is a warm, feel-good, egalitarian affair where little-known first-time nominees in categories like best animated short get to rub shoulders and share tables with acting nominees like Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone.
The centerpiece of the event at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California, is a class photo of the entire group of nominees. Nearly all of them usually attend, both as part of the Oscars experience and as part of their unspoken campaigns for votes.
It’s also a chance for the leadership of the Academy, including President Janet Yang to give speeches and address their prominent members in person.
She used last year’s luncheon to address what she called the Academy’s “inadequate” response to Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the previous year’s ceremony.
The leaders may address some serious issues this year, but it’s likely to have a lighter tone.
This year’s invited 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 key categories.
Other top nominees include “The Holdovers,” “Killers of the Flower Moon” and “Poor Things.”
And while “ Barbie ” director Greta Gerwig and star Margot Robbie were snubbed in their main categories, both will be among the invitees — Gerwig as an original screenplay nominee, Robbie as a producer of a best picture nominee.
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