Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Tom Cruise stole the show at the 95th Oscars luncheon, the annual gathering celebrating the nominees for this year’s Academy Awards. At the Beverly Hilton Hotel, the in-person event had opening remarks from Academy President Janet Yang. This year’s 182 participants’ appeal was read by Devon Franklin, a member of the Board of Governors, who began with Jamie Lee Curtis and ended with Guillermo del Toro.
Aside from Yang addressing the Will Smith controversy at the head of the event to attendees (without naming his name), more than 200 guests gathered to celebrate the achievements of cinema from 2022 onwards. Of them, 182 were official nominees for this year’s largest turnout ceremony in history. Some of the notable names missing were Best Actress nominees Ana de Armas (“Blonde”) and Andrea Riseborough (“To Leslie”), supporting actor Barry Keoghan (“The Banshees of Inisherin”), producer James Cameron (“Avatar: The Way of Water”) and original song contenders Rihanna (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”), Lady Gaga (“Top Gun: Maverick”) and David Byrne (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”).
Here are some of the key takeaways from the event.
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Tom Cruise owns the room.
Nominated to produce Top Gun: Maverick, Cruise walked the red carpet alongside Jerry Bruckheimer, Christopher McQuarrie and David Ellison, greeted his colleagues and spoke briefly with journalists to host his first major awards event of the season.
Cruise could hardly walk a few steps without being approached by an industry figure, including Steven Spielberg, Brendan Gleeson, Paul Mescal, Baz Luhrmann, and Bonnie Arnold. He even secured a spot at one of the featured tables with nominated talent such as cinematographer Roger Deakins (“Empire of Light”), Daniel Kwan (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) and Michelle Williams (“The Fabelmans”).
The film, nominated for six Oscars including best picture, is a viable threat to take home the gold. I spoke to Cruise in the room and praised his work on the film and his previous nominated performances for Born on the Fourth of July (1989) and Magnolia (1998).
“I really appreciate that,” he said. I followed by asking if he was enjoying himself. He replied, “I’m having a great time.”
He is a man of few words.
The Academy has all 23 categories back on TV, so keep the speeches short.
Yang turned to the participants in the hall and asked them to abide by the rules of limiting their speeches to a total of 45 seconds. “You have to work with us,” she said. “This is live television, after all. Translation: Keep it short, sweet and to the point, please.”
We’ll see how many of you listen on March 12th.
3. Nobody knows what will win the best picture.
After speaking with several Academy members, publicists, and nominees, it feels like an unknown path leads into the final stages of awards season.
One voter was undecided whether to vote for Angela Bassett (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”) or Jamie Lee Curtis (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”). Another thinks Todd Field (“Tár”) is the real threat for best director, while another hesitates about how far “Everything Everywhere” can go in the top category.
No press sat down with nominees. Why?
Traditionally, the attending press drew a random number from various outlets, which they assigned to a table where the nominees would be seated. A fair (and fun) trial would seat a journalist at one of the tables. However, multiple sources tell Variety that some nominees didn’t feel comfortable having a member of the press at their table.
Be as happy about life as Ke Huy Quan is happy to be in space.
As DeVon Franklin read out the names of all 182 nominees, Ke Huy Quan’s name made the room cheer. Quan’s arms waved as he hopped almost all the way to the podium for the annual class photo. Unofficially, since I can’t call myself a reliable “Applause-O-Meter,” Quan’s co-star Stephanie Hsu might have been the contestant who received the loudest reactions in the room. Could that mean something?
Other big noisemakers included Austin Butler (“Elvis”), Brendan Fraser (“The Whale”), Guillermo del Toro (“Guillermo del Toros Pinocchio”), Rick Carter (“The Fabelmans”) and Dede Gardner (“Women Talking”) . .
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