The Lunch Bunch

With the 79th annual Academy Awards now only 2 and 1/2 weeks away, events surrounding the ceremony are happening left and right:

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences honored the 2007 Oscar nominees with its annual luncheon at the Beverly Hilton.

Timothy M. Gray of Variety takes you to the "Nominees Luncheon":

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences honored the 2007 Oscar nominees with its annual luncheon at the Beverly Hilton.

With a whopping 139 contenders, Monday's Oscar nominees luncheon offered several only-during-awards-season treats: Seeing Peter O'Toole sit a few feet from Abigail Breslin, Steven Spielberg introduce himself to Philip Glass, Clint Eastwood reunite with his "Bird" star Forest Whitaker and members of the Mexican film community issuing whoops of enthusiasm over each other's noms.

The annual ritual, which began in 1982, offers contenders the opportunity "to bask in the company of your fellow nominees," as Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences [president] Sid Ganis said.

Event at the BevHilton featured three of the five directing hopefuls, 15 of the 20 actors and reps from 23 categories -- everything except foreign-language film, since that group gets its own event two days before the Feb. 25 ceremony.

Oscarcast producer Laura Ziskin announced the first "Thank-You Cam," a camera backstage that will be the first stop for winners as they step offstage. They can extend their acceptance speeches, and the footage will be quickly posted on Oscar.com. (The unspoken goal, as always, is to reduce the laundry list of names cited onstage.) ...

The invitation said dress is informal, and outfits ranged from Penelope Cruz's snazzy white dress and Eastwood's suit to the jeans and untucked shirt of Gil Kenan ("Monster House," animated feature) and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's cargo pants and corduroy sport coat.

Biggest applause went to eight-time nominee O'Toole (a rare standing ovation) and Martin Scorsese.

The tradition is for all the contenders to assemble for a "class photo," after which each is called to the stage to accept a certificate and an Oscar sweatshirt. Ganis said the first lunch featured 45 nominees; last year's event featured a then-record 111. With a turnout this year that "easily blows our previous record out of the water," as Ganis said, it took 40 minutes to complete the roll call.

The "Thank You Cam"? Ugh! I know that brevity for the tv audience is important...But c'mon! Do you really think this new idea is gonna make the show any shorter? Nothing else has worked that's been tried to meet that goal over the years...I doubt this cam will either.

Here's a related item from the website Breitbart.com:

Oscars contender Forest Whitaker said an annual awards show held to honor black actors should not be interpreted as a political statement against the Academy Awards.

"It's about people being celebrated by a community. It's very clearly not a protest or a statement," Whitaker said at an Oscars nominees luncheon here.

Whitaker was speaking in response to a question about an article in the latest edition of Newsweek magazine referring to a "secret meeting" held by black stars in Hollywood to honor each other.

Whitaker is on course to become only the third African-American actor to win the best actor prize in 78 years for his portrayal of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in "The Last King of Scotland."

He is one of a record five black actors who have been nominated for acting Oscars at Hollywood's big night on February 25, along with Jennifer Hudson, Eddie Murphy, Will Smith and Djimon Hounsou.

Whitaker said the diversity indicated that the Oscars were increasingly color blind. "I think there's been progress," Whitaker said. "When I was a kid there was only one actor (Sidney Poitier)."...

Oh how I wish the color of some one's skin was no longer an issue in this country...