Beck/Smith Hollywood

Ben Affleck is already an Oscar winner.

That’s right – no matter how his “Argo” fares at the 85^th Academy Awards on Feb. 24, the canny filmmaking star has made the utmost of this awards season, helping to hoist his historical thriller to ever-greater prominence as it picks up honor after honor (Producers Guild, Directors Guild, Screen Actors Guild, Critics’ Choice Awards and Golden Globes) by bringing his self-effacing charisma and charm to every occasion.

His star power was certainly on display at this week’s Academy Awards Nominees Luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.  While some nominees eschewed the press room, Affleck took full advantage.  He entered to enthusiastic applause, then proceeded to turn question after question into a chance to promote his movie – and was so smooth and fun about it, nobody seemed to mind.  Commenting on the many interviews he’s done, he talked about how there’s “a whole spectrum of interesting stuff” in the “Argo” script — about a joint CIA-Canadian secret service operation to get a group of diplomats out of Iran by faking a movie production.  “I’ve worked on movies where I ran out of things to say at the junket in 15 seconds, so it’s incredibly satisfying to have something I enjoy continuing to talk about.”

Asked whether he thought there should be an expansion of the number of nominees in the Best Director category, to coincide with the Best Picture noms, he said, “I’ll leave those sorts of calculations to the folks in the press and the pundits and the Oscarologists or whatever it is.  I just feel incredibly honored to be here as producer of this movie, to be at the big party.  It’s tremendous.  Seven nominations, including Best Picture — I’m elated, truly genuinely thrilled.  So I don’t get into worrying too much about who was nominated for what,” added Affleck, referring to his snub in the directing category.  “I’ve had many, many, many, many, many – many — years watching from home.”

He talked glowingly of the Oscar-nominated directors, of the wave of talented movie makers in Mexico.  When a Univision reporter asked about “Argo’s” Mexican director of photography, Rodrigo Prieto, Affleck proudly told her he’d learned “nuevo palabras” from the cinematographer, including a word meaning “trusted friend” which he said Prieto called him all through the production.  The word caused snickering throughout the pressroom.  Suffice it to say, it does not mean trusted friend.

Always a festive occasion where all the nominees still feel like winners, this year’s luncheon was attended by more than 160 Oscar contenders – including youngest-ever nominee Quvenzhane Wallis (“Beasts of the Southern Wild”), adorable in a sparkly-top purple dress and poised beyond her nine years.

Also in purple hues was beautiful Jessica Chastain, who admitted, “It’s said that most little girls dream about their wedding dresses, but I always dreamed about my Oscar dress.”

The actress, whose portrayal of a driven CIA agent in “Zero Dark Thirty” landed her a Best Actress nomination, commented on women working in traditionally male-dominated arenas.  She offered the advice of “looking at the great examples of women like Kathyrn Bigelow and like Maya, the woman I play in this film.  Instead of complaining about the numbers not matching – and of course it’s a really important issue – but I’ve found, if you do really good work, it will rise to the top.  And Kathyn Bigelow never talks about the glass ceiling for women in Hollywood, for directors. She shows up on set.  She’s an expert at her work.  At the end of the day, that’s what she’s known for. You don’t think, ‘She’s a brilliant filmmaker – and she’s a woman, can you believe it?’  I just think, ‘She’s a brilliant filmmaker.’”

Jennifer Lawrence, stunning in a white strapless dress, talked fashion, too.  “Last time was comfort, this time it’s like, ‘Suck it up. Wear a corset’  I’m going to go for fashion.  It’s a shame the Oscars come at the end, when you’re exhausted from dressing up, and I never care.”

Best Supporting Actress Nominees-photo by Todd Wawrychuk / ©A.M.P.A.S.

Anne Hathaway, looking tres chic with her pixie haircut and teeny tiny-waisted black dress, was asked whether she’d picked out a gown for the Academy Awards.  “I have to get on that don’t I?” she replied.  “It was the Super Bowl.  I couldn’t think about dresses with all that delicious fried food around.”

Naomi Watts also looked gorgeous in black

Speaking of great-looking, Best Actor nominee Bradley Cooper was asked whether “Silver Linings Playbook” was a game-changer for him.  “Well, I know that I wasn’t up here for ‘Hangover,’” he answered, to laughter.  “So maybe.”

Far from feeling worn out by the awards season whirl, Cooper said “I’m enjoying every minute of this — but it’s easy for me because I like people.  If I didn’t like people, if I had a hard time being around people, it would be difficult.”  He said that response to the touching film, in which he plays a man struggling with bipolar illness, has “gone so much farther than awards season,” with memorable events such as showing “Silver Linings Playbook” to troops in Washington, D.C.  “I’m very grateful.”

As far as his plans for the 24^th, he said, “I’m sure the day of I’ll be calming my mother down.  She still doesn’t know what to wear.  So I think I’ll be a caretaker.”

Jean Dujardin confessed to dropping the French F-word, Meryl Streep divulged her plans for imbibing, Octavia Spencer admitted her fears and Christopher Plummer copped to being a naughty boy — backstage at last night’s 84th Academy Awards.

The Best Actor winner for “The Artist” answered a lot of questions in rapid fire French.  He said, through his translator, that he has a few ideas he wants to develop for movies he would do here in America.  He also let us know that his canine compatriot, Uggie, had already gone to bed.  But the chatter stopped abruptly when reporter Joal Ryan asked him if he had, in fact, let loose with the French equivalent to the F-bomb during that last outburst of his acceptance speech.  He weighed his translator’s explanation a moment, and then said, with the look of a guilty little boy, “Ah.  Yes.  Sorry.”

Will leg flashing become the next hot pose?  Instantly dubbed “Jolie-ing” (in the spirit of Tebowing and Bradying) backstage at the Oscars, it’s the stance taken by Oscar presenter Angelina Jolie to show off her glorious gam through the slit-up-to-there of her black gown.  (Fierce or fatuous?  You decide.)  It was when the three cowriters of George Clooney’s “The Descendants” — Jim Rash and Nat Faxon (alumni of The Groundlings) and director Alexander Payne — lined up on stage imitating Angelina that the pose burst into the pop culture humor space.  Bur writer/actor Rash (a.k.a. the guy from “Community”) insisted backstage that they had no intention of belittling the movie sex goddess.  “It was a loving tribute:  ‘Oh, she’s standing great.  We’ll stand like that, too.’”  The trio agreed:  “She’s supremely hot.”

Rash was asked whether he thought his winning an Oscar would help “Community” survive.  He hopes so.  “I guess I should take this into their offices,” he noted, holding up his statuette as he talked about the brass at NBC.  “It’s good to let people know where they stand with you.  It’s a good accoutrement to any outfit.”

Best Supporting Actress for “The Help,” Octavia Spencer, was asked about what was going through her mind as she was making her way up the stairs to the stage — while receiving a standing ovation from the Hollywood luminaries in the theater.

“Really and truly, I was just trying not to fall down, because I had an incident where I fell at an awards show,” she admitted.

Asked about what she thinks her win will mean to aspiring young actresses of color, Octavia said, “I hope it’s a hallmark of ‘More’ for young aspiring actresses of color — and by color I don’t just mean African American.  I mean Indian, Native American, Latin American, Asian American.   I hope in some way I can be a sort of beacon of hope.  Especially because I’m not a typical Hollywood beauty,” added the amply-upholstered actress.  She paused a moment, then joked, “You guys are supposed to go, ‘Oh, no — you ARE!’  Crickets, guys.  Work with me here.  Work with me!”

But seriously, “I believe you have to believe in yourself and you have to work very hard — and never think you’re the greatest thing since sliced bread, because I promise you, there would be Viola Davises and Jessica Chastains and Emma Stones who ARE the best thing since sliced bread.  So, take it seriously, but don’t take yourself too seriously.”

Spencer hopes to expand beyond acting in her career.  “I want to be a producer.  I want to be an activist.  I want to be proactive in bringing about work for men, women, boys and girls — anyone who is good at what they do and deserves a shot at it,” she said.  “I want to have a presence behind the cameras and in front of them, to be a jack of all trades and be decent at them.”
Spencer was asked about the recent L.A. Times article regarding the movie Academy’s membership — as having an average age of 62 with a heavy majority of white men.  What did she think of that?

She hemmed and hawed a little, saying, “I haven’t really thought about it.”

Did she have any thoughts on the Academy being proactive to geta more diverse membership?

Spencer drew a breath, then said, “I can’t tell the Academy what to do, honey.  They just gave me an Oscar.  They continue to do what they do.  I really don’t know.  I have no wisdom there….I’m sorry to cut you off, ma’am, but I saw where you were going and I didn’t want to get on that bus, no pun intended.”

Asked by a military reporter about her advice to new recruits for overcoming their fears, she said, “I haven’t really overcome my fears.  I’m scared to death right now.”  She added, “I don’t take what men and women in the military do lightly.  I’ve not served in that capacity, so I would not offer advice.”  But she did offer advice from Emerson:  “Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”

Chrisopher Plummer, who thanked his “long-suffering wife Elaine, who deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for coming to my rescue every day of my life” in his acceptance speech as Best Supporting Actor for “Beginnings,”  was asked to elaborate backstage.   “Of course I’m a naughty boy,” he let us know.  “I’ve been bad all my life.   She puts me in line.  It’s extraordinary.  She rescues me every day of my life — what could be clearer?”

Asked about Hollywood’s propensity for awarding straight actors for playing gay roles, and whether there’s a double standard involved,  Plummer opined that no,  “I think actors are universally the same, gay or straight.  A gay actor can play a straight guy, a straight actor can play a gay guy.  We’re actors.  It cancels out all sexual differences and misunderstandings of sexual differences.”

Meryl Streep, in an expansive mood, let the press know that she doesn’t take her Oscar attention for granted by any means (even after three wins out of 17 nominations).  When a reporter asked her if she was going to give Katharine Hepburn a run for her money, Meryl asked, “Did she have more?”

“Four” said the reporter.

“Oh, well,” she answered with a dismissive flick of the wrist.  (She’s such a good actress, one could almost believe she didn’t know Hepburn’s Oscar total.)

The Best Actress Oscar winner for “The Iron Lady” responded  more seriously when was asked about juggling her career and family life.  She said, “You can ask every working woman that question and get a million different answers, because it’s the juggle and the challenge that we all have.  But honestly, in my life, in the arts, I don’t go to work every day, so my day has been more flexible than other working women.  Even when I was young and broke, I was only working, ever, for four months at a time, and then I was unemployed.  My children never knew when I was going to be home, which was very valuable.”
After the laughter died down, she went on, “It’s an ongoing struggle — women have to do it all.  The more flexible work becomes, the more engaged dads become, the better.”

Meryl was asked whether she’d have a couple whiskeys in the tradition of real-life “Iron Lady” Margaret Thatcher, to celebrate winning her third Oscar.
“I’m going to start with a couple,” she said.

Colin Firth is looking forward to doing a lot of cooking, as he’s found it’s “a very good way to decompress.”  Natalie Portman is looking forward to staying “in bed, not having to do my makeup or hair, keeping my sweats on and relaxing.”   The “King’s Speech” Best Actor and “Black Swan” Best Actress Academy Awards winners seemed to be, among other things, downright relieved to be at the end of the awards season marathon.

But if going through all the interviews, parties and other awards shows and events while pregnant might have been extra taxing for Portman, she told press backstage that she found advantages in the experience as well.  “It’s been sort of a protection against, you know, all the hoopla.  It keeps you centered on where your meaning is in the midst of a lot of new shiny stuff which is superficial.”

Portman pointed out that, contrary to reports, she doesn’t know the gender of her baby yet.  Asked what the baby was doing when her name was announced, Portman admitted she didn’t remember anything about those first moments when she went to collect her Oscar.  However, “the baby definitely was kicking a lot during the song portion of the show — a little dancer.”

An astute reporter asked the Israeli-American Portman — the face of Miss Dior Cheri – about her response to Dior designer John Galliano’s recent arrest, complete with charges of his using anti-Semitic slurs.  She looked momentarily taken aback, and then simply passed on the question.

Another reporter asked her what were the chances of her naming her baby Oscar.  She replied, “I think that’s probably, definitely out of the question.”

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The erudite Firth said he had not seen the new PG-13 cut of “The King’s Speech,” but added, “I don’t support it.  I think the film has its integrity where it stands.”  In a move that strikes many as ridiculous, the MPAA rated the movie just named Best Picture of 2010 with an R – only because of a scene in which Geoffrey Rush’s speech therapist character endeavors to get his client’s mind off his stuttering by getting him to use unaccustomed swear words, including the F-word.  “I’m not someone who is casual about that kind of language.  I take my children to football games…and I hate hearing that language around them, but I’m not going to deny them the experience of a live game,” said Firth.  “I don’t take this stuff lightly.  But the context in which it’s used in this film could not be more edifying. It’s not vicious…I haven’t met the person yet who was offended by it.”

Firth also gave a behind-the-scenes insight as to how Oscar-winning director Tom Hooper set the scene for Firth’s Academy Award-winning performance.  “The way of working was conducive to the kind of tension and anxiety that I needed. The very first thing that Tom shot of me was single shot of me.  It was quite a baptism by fire.”  Firth noted that normally on a movie, a director will start with simple shots, such as characters getting out of cars, while the cast and crew are settling in, then work up to “the critical stuff, the stuff on your face.”  Tom started him off with a 10-minute scene with the camera trained right on his face.  “There was nothing to do but commit.”

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Melissa Leo

Speaking of the F-word, Melissa Leo said she had no idea that it was escaping her lips when she accepted her Best Supporting Actress Oscar for “The Fighter.”  “Those words, I apologize to anyone that they offend,” she said in the press room, with seeming sincerity.  “There’s a great deal of the English language that is in my vernacular…It was a very inappropriate place to use that particular word in particular.”

Asked about the excruciating wait for the Best Supporting Actress winner to be announced by the meandering 94-year-old Kirk Douglas, Leo made it clear she didn’t mind a bit.  “You know, he’s an old actor, and he knows.  Actually, he was doing us all a huge favor.  The longer he strung it out, the calmer we got to be.  I got to take more than one glance at Amy,” she said, referring to fellow nominee Adams.  “He strung it out in a rather delightful way for me.”  The announcement raised her heart rate, but Douglas’ bit “allowed my heart to settle down a little bit.”

The 50-year-old actress, who told us that her career had never been better since she matured out of her ingénue years, also commented on her dress.  She chose white, she said, referring to her real-life character, Alice Ward, the mother and manager of boxers Micky and Dicky Ward.  “I would like to think that Alice would have liked it.  I noticed a lot of footage of Alice in white.  It showed up on camera in the era of black and white TV.”  She added, “I could not have played her without having met her.”

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Christian Bale

Speaking of Dicky Ward, Christian Bale – who won Best Supporting Actor honors for playing the fighter – missed out on Melissa Leo’s award thanks to being out of the Kodak Theater with his real-life counterpart.  “I find myself likewise out in the bar with Dickiy and my wife thinking that it was like the other awards where you just walk on in and go out and unfortunately missed Melissa’s acceptance speech because they wouldn’t let me in.  I was literally banging on the door with Dicky going ‘Let us in!’  And they wouldn’t let us in.  That was my mistake.  I’ll know better if I ever return to the Academy Awards.”

So, he also missed Leo’s F-bomb.  “I missed the F-bomb, but you know, I’ve laid down many of them myself before.  So I think I know what it’s all about.”

The normally press averse Bale was met with questions alluding to his very good-naturedness.  “It’s just a genuine thing, you know?  I’m so flattered when anyone comes up to me and says they were so touched by the performance, I really adore that.”  But as far as going through the rigors of awards season campaigning, he reminded the press that he’s been in China, making filmmaker Zhang Yimou’s WWII move set amid the Japanese rampage in the Chinese city of Nanjing — and “I’ve not been a part of any of the campaigning that’s been going on.”

He praised his fellow nominees and mentioned there are a lot of other actors who’ve done great work this past year – and noted it’s nothing like the motorcycle racing he was watching this morning, where there’s a clear winner crossing the finish line.

He said he’s going to let his daughter decide where to put the Oscar.

Asked about the next “Batman,” Bale noted that, “I’m in the middle of filming a movie in China , but after that, it’s going to be straight on to ‘Batman,’ so yes, absolutely.  Much more ‘Batman.’”

He also fended off a question about Charlie Sheen by, again, saying he’d been in China and doesn’t know what’s been going on, earning a few guffaws from the press corps.

Bale said that he’d already decided he liked the character before it hit him, “’Oh, he’s a welterweight, isn’t he?’  He’s a crackhead.’  How many fat crackheads do you see?”  And therefore, the actor would need to put himself through a grueling weight loss process to play the role.  Talking about raw ability and passion, Bale recalled Jimi Hendrix, who played guitar with “his fingers just bleeding, blood dripping off the strings and I thought, ‘That’s it. That inspires me to no end.’  So whatever it takes, I feel like I’ll do for a movie.  But the thing is, a lot of people see it as a gimmick, and it’s not a gimmick.”

Would he do it again?  “I’m getting a little bit older now, and I’m starting to recognize that if I do too much, there may be no coming back from it.  I don’t have quite that same mentality which I did only a few years back, where I felt I was invincible and it didn’t matter what I did, I was coming through.  You know, I have a child now.  I just want to be smart about any other body alterations I make in the future.  There is only so much a body can take…Who knows?  Maybe that will be the last of it.”  But he admitted he’s been saying that for several roles.

*                      *                      *

Best Adapted Screenplay winner Aaron Sorkin – “The Social Network” – told the press, “Like a lot of people, I grew up worshipping the movie ‘The Graduate’ and like a lot of people I wondered how it must have felt for Buck Henry to see Dustin Hoffman bringing Benjamin Braddock to life for the first time.  Now I don’t have to wonder” – because he experienced the same feeling watching Jesse Eisenberg bringing to life his version of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

Asked about the partially Facebook-enabled revolution in Egypt, Sorkin admitted he’s “been cranky” about social networking until recently.  “Along the way somewhere, I turned into my grandfather…But when I see social networking tools mobilizing people for great causes like that, I really want to thank the Mark Zuckerbergs out there for doing it.”

He also thanked Mark Zuckerberg for being “an awfully good sport about this.  There’s not anyone out there who would want a movie done about things they did when they were 19 years old.”  Or, if you did, you’d want the movie to show only their own point of view, certainly not the point of view of people suing you for hundreds of millions of dollars.”