After a year away, Oscar nominees celebrate together

The Oscar race may be heating up, but you wouldn’t know it to peek in on the nominees' luncheon Monday in Los Angeles.

Attendees packed into a ballroom at the Fairmont Century City for the annual luncheon, where nominees get to mingle and celebrate. It was a long-awaited homecoming for many after a year away due to the pandemic.

Before the lunch, nominees excitedly greeted one another. Will Smith and Denzel Washington, both best actor nominees this year, smiled and grabbed each other’s hands. “CODA” Star Emilia Jones was signing with co-star Daniel Durant, who plays her brother in the movie.

Kristen Stewart arrived with her fiance Dylan Meyer, circling the room in her Chanel outfit, while Netflix exec Ted Sarandos shook hands with Questlove, whose documentary “Summer of Soul” is nominated. Benedict Cumberbatch made his way around holding hands with his wife Sophie Hunter.

Nominees continued mingling, ignoring the pleas to be seated.

“Just being back together without a hazmat suit is cause for celebration,” said Will Packer, who is producing the show this year. “This is a year like no other, this is THE year.”

Kim Morgan, the “Nightmare Alley” screenwriter, was a little overwhelmed by the experience which was also her first time. “I’m a writer,” she said.

Osnat Shurer, an animation nominee for “Raya and the Last Dragon,” said it was a joy to be at the luncheon. She was excited to tell Jessica Chastain that she loved her performance in “The Eyes of Tammy Faye.” What she didn’t expect was that Chastain was also a fan and frequent watcher of “Raya,” thanks to her children.

Near the end of the festivities, Washington gave big hugs to Garfield and “Belfast” director Kenneth Branagh, while supporting actor nominee Troy Kotsur made his way over to embrace Bradley Cooper, who is the best picture nominee as a producer of “Nightmare Alley.”

Top of mind for many were the changes to the broadcast, in which eight categories are going to be presented off the air before the show. While many have spoken out against the decision, some are supportive too.

At Spielberg’s table was Penelope Cruz, who is nominated for her work in the film “Parallel Mothers” which is entirely in Spanish.

The experience, she said was “Very emotional” and she’s also happy “to see how the Academy opens a little more every year.” Her husband Javier Bardem is also nominated for his work in “Being the Ricardos.”

Cruz said she was not happy about the decision to hand out some of the awards before the broadcast.

“Every single category is important,” Cruz said.

“I believe that when people are watching the ceremony they know we depend on (them)..all these departments are equally important.”

“Dune” director Denis Villeneuve said he’s worried that the nominees in the categories “feel humiliated.”

“That’s very sad, too, when it’s supposed to be a celebration,” he said. “We’ll see how it goes this year. I’ll be there at 4 p.m. to clap … for all of my collaborators, for everybody.”

Bill Corso, an Oscar-winning hair and makeup artist, is one who was on the committee that made the decision. In 2004, he was given his Oscar in the aisle, another attempt to streamline the broadcast and, he said, it felt like he didn’t get his moment.

This change he hopes will let the winners have that moment on stage at the podium, which will be edited into the broadcast in a way that won’t be obvious to the viewing audience.