The traditional lunch that brings together the Oscar nominees took place on Monday, in the presence of Tom Cruise, Steven Spielberg, Cate Blanchett and even the writer Kazuo Ishiguro…
Tom Cruise lived up to his status as “the last real movie star” on Monday (February 13th) at the Oscars luncheon in Beverly Hills, California, where nearly 200 nominees for the statuette race gathered for an extensive exercise self-promotion and competition assessment.
Among many stars, including director Steven Spielberg and actress Cate Blanchett, Tom Cruise has become the attraction of the day. From Hollywood moguls to Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, a whole host of admirers rushed to greet him. The star is nominated for this year’s Oscars as a producer of Top Gun: Maverick, in which he also stars. The feature film, which was a hit in theaters, is among the favorites for the statuette of the best film.
A ceremony that is eroding
“It’s incredible. (…) I just want people to go to cinemas”Cruise told AFP. “But it’s lovely”, he admitted, pointing to the crowded Beverly Hills ballroom where these feasts took place, between giant statuettes and unlimited champagne.
The 95th Academy Awards will take place on March 12. This year, voters gave several nominations to blockbusters such as Maverick, Avatar: The Way of the Water And Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Something to counter the continuous erosion of the ceremony on television. During her speech at lunch, the president of the Academy, Janet Yang, in any case repeated that she wanted to let the controversy turn. “unprecedented” came last year when Will Smith slapped comedian Chris Rock live before being kicked out. “What happened on stage was totally unacceptable. And our organization’s response was inadequate,” she said. Will Smith was able to stay on the Oscars stage and accepted his best actor award, before being banned from any ceremony for ten years.
Traditional family photo of the nominees
The Academy “must act with compassion and determination” in times of crisis, insisted Janet Yang, to applause. After lunch, the names of the 182 nominees present, as well as directors representing their countries in the category of the best international films, were read. The nominees then posed for the traditional family photo.
Favorite of many experts for the Oscar for best picture, comedy Everything Everywhere All At Once earned its actors the most hearty acclaim. “We paid them dearly to do this!”, joked the Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh, in the running for the statuette of the best actress thanks to her role as a laundry owner in bickering with the taxman, who suddenly discovers the existence of parallel universes. The enormous success of this independent film, nominated in eleven categories, is “a dream come true”she added.
Colin Farrell and Austin Butler, rivals for the title of best actor for their respective roles in the Irish tragicomedy The Banshees of Inisherin and the biopic Elvis on the rock’n’roll legend, also garnered thunderous applause.
American dream
British actress Andrea Riseborough, on the other hand, was conspicuous by her absence, after her controversial nomination in the best actress category for her role as an alcoholic in remission in To Leslieobtained without a real campaign, thanks to the sustained lobbying of certain actors on social networks.
The present, they savored the moment, like the writer Kazuo Ishiguro, nominated for the screenplay of the British drama Live after receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature five years ago in Stockholm. Hollywood vibe, “It’s very different. (…) It’s like a version of the American dream. So many people dream of being here”, he explained. According to him, “the Oscars are more like an election, there is a lot more campaigning” to do than for other prestigious awards.
Another Nobel, but peace this time, the Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai was also campaigning. She is executive producer of Stranger at the Gatea short documentary about an ex-US soldier who wanted to blow up a mosque in his hometown. “It’s surreal”she dropped, after meeting Tom Cruise. “I saw it on screen and now I see it in person.”