After the January 7 fires KO’d the annual Academy luncheon last year for nominees, later replacing it with a private nighttime dinner exclusively for nominees after voting closed and just 5 days before the actual ceremony, the traditional lunch at the Beverly Hilton was back in force Tuesday with a huge turnout, and not just the massive numbers of nominees, but also their plus-1’s, studio heads, various friends of the Academy, AMPAS Governors, journalists, and many others jam packed into the Hilton ballroom to celebrate those in the Oscar club of 2025.
Oscar’s golden bunch got to take the big class photo and leave with their official certificate of nomination after an afternoon of mingling and schmoozing that was all a bit of sensory overload for those who have been on the trail for months, and still have more than a month to go before the March 15, 2026 ceremony takes place at the Dolby Theatre, and as one cynical nominee was overheard to lament, “all my dreams die”.
For those of us who started meeting these filmmakers back in Cannes in May this all felt like aBut save that dark sentiment for another day. Everyone in this room today was a “winner”. As mentioned from the stage, in Academy President Lynette Howell Taylor’s remarks, as well the statistics offered by Actors branch governor Lou Diamond Phillips who admirably read off the roll call of nominees for the big photo op, these in this room were the ones still standing after some 300+ eligible movies were considered for this town’s highest honor (other than not having a single email exchange with Jeffrey Epstein). It is something to be proud of, and the sheer excitement and enthusiasm in the room from every nominee from Steven Spielberg who has been here more than a few times, to first timers like the hair and makeup nominees from IFC/Shudder’s dark horse horror film The Ugly Stepsister.
It was all an even playing field in this room where nominees were seated at tables not with their colleagues, and not by status, but with a mix of others including the press members (who surprisingly got publicly thanked by Taylor for among other things making predictions) who have been covering this contest for months and drew their table assignments out of a bowl, possibly finding themselves sitting next to Leonardo DiCaprio or Hee Dong Nam, one of 7 nominated songwriters for KPop Demon Hunters’ “Golden”.
Just before the annual march of the nominated to the risers set up for the occasion like a high school class photo, Taylor begged to future “winners” to please watch the video on the screen and see what a “good” acceptance speech looks like Oh, and you get 45 seconds. One by one, beginning with Delroy Lindo and slowly emptying one table after another until every nominee attending including the last to be called – Teyana Taylor – was in place, the chosen ones assembled.
It was all run by placement at each table in the room, clearly not by size, although 6 ft 6 Jacob Elordi was one of the first called and stayed well postitioned on the top rung so that, say, Amy Madigan would not have to wear stilts to be seen behind him. In fact his Frankenstein producer and Best Picture nominee J. Miles Dale, not one of the taller nominees, told me organizers eventually shuffled him down towards the front so he others of similar height – including his riser-mate Spielberg – could all be seen perfectly.
This wasn’t the only picture taken at this event. There was a red carpet for arrival shots, and inside cell phones were taking selfies all over the place with the famous and not-so-famous snapping away. At my table that included KPop Demon Hunters co-director Maggie Kang taking an impromptu shot with her guest, the inimitable Ken Jeong who kept us entertained throughout, and Ryan Coogler who stopped by to say hello.
The turnout was excellent including all the acting nominees except Sentimental Value Best Actress nominee Renate Reinsve and One Battle After Another Supporting Actor nominee Sean Penn who, just 12 hours earlier was on stage with me at the wildly fun Santa Barbara International Film Festival Hammond Cinema Vanguard award tribute to him, DiCaprio and Benicio Del Toro. Di Caprio and Del Toro did make it to the lunch and in fact in a ballroom full of mini reunions I saw Leo huddled with his dad George and his Catch Me If You Can director Spielberg.
All five nominated directors were also there and -filing it under ‘no rest for the weary’ – immediately following the lunch (which ended at 3) had to hightail it to Santa Barbara for the directors panel at SBIFF, that is actually four of them – Chloe Zhao, Coogler, Josh Safdie, Joachim Trier – all but recent DGA winner Paul Thomas Anderson who appeared instead last night at the aformentioned SBIFF tribute to his three iconic One Battle After Another actors to present them – hilariously like an episode of The Dating Game – their awards at the end of the evening.
In all the Academy counted 230 nominees attending, an impressive 76 of whom are women. Neon’s Tom Quinn asked us to note that a record number of these women, 10, are up for producing Best Picture including the first time two women (Sentimental Value’s Maria Ekerhovd and Andrea Berentsen) are sole producers of a Best Picture nominee.
Taylor and AMPAS CEO Bill Kramer sat at the Disney table with Dana Walden, Alan Bergman and others as the Academy’s deal with long time broadcast partner ABC ends in two years with the 100th Academy Awards. Then it is on to You Tube and a whole new world for Oscar, but no doubt this swell annual gathering of nominees will continue long into the its second hundred years.
Pete Hammond/Deadline
English (US) ·