Nicole Kidman Sparkles, Russell Crowe Commands at Oscar Luncheon
March 12, 2002

By Brandon Gray

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (Zap2it.com) - If the stars were feeling any pressure, they were keeping it pretty well concealed at the annual Academy Awards Nominees Luncheon. Russell Crowe took command of the press room, while Nicole Kidman and Halle Berry looked ravishing as usual.

It wasn't all jokes and thank yous, though, as some stars expressed their thoughts on the nature of campaigning for the coveted golden trophy at the luncheon put on by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences at the Beverly Hilton on Monday.

Most of the major nominees were in attendance, including Crowe, Will Smith, Denzel Washington and Tom Wilkinson for Best Actor; Halle Berry, Kidman and Sissy Spacek for Best Actress; Jim Broadbent, Ethan Hawke, Kingsley and Jon Voight for Best Supporting Actor; Helen Mirren, Marisa Tomei and Kate Winslet for Best Supporting Actress; Robert Altman, Ron Howard and Ridley Scott for Best Director; and Sting for Best Original Song.

The stars were extracted from the luncheon and paraded into the press room in quick succession. They stood at a podium in front of deep green curtains, flanked by two giant Oscar statues. The clanging of dishes and chatter of the luncheon churned audibly from whence they came.

"There's a star-studded line outside," Kingsley observed in regards to he and his fellow nominees waiting to talk to the press in the room next door. "It's like waiting for a dentist," he added in good humor.

When Kidman entered the room, it was kind of like her entrance as the Sparkling Diamond in the movie she's nominated for "Moulin Rouge." Lovely in a khaki-colored strapless dress and blonde-tinged hair, she talked about how she was pleased to be nominated for "Rouge" over her other hit from 2001 "The Others," "because it was such a long period of my life," she said. "I was happy I didn't let Baz (Luhrmann) down."

Asked what her awards show beauty secret was, she quipped, "Champagne." As she made her way back to the luncheon, one could hear her sniffle. She had just flown in the awards luncheon and the SAG Awards the day before from Sweden where she's filming Lars von Trier's "Dogville."

"Monster's Ball" star Berry was decked out in a tightly-fit grey business suit-style dress and jacket with a circular swooping neckline cut low.

"Iris" co-star Winslet wore a black pinstripe suit with white shirt, her hair pulled back save for two stray bangs dangling down the sides of her face. Tomei, category rival for "In the Bedroom," also went with the pulled-back hair look and donned a strapless tight white ruffled dress.

Smith, who's up for his portrayal of legendary boxer Muhammad Ali in "Ali," learned that he's the first rapper-turned-actor to be nominated.

"That's actually kind of cool," Smith said. "I made history already."

"So what's this like? How do these things work?" cracked a goateed-as-usual Hawke, first time nominee for supporting actor "Training Day," when it was his turn to take the podium. His wife Uma Thurman was there to support him, sitting in the back of the room, wearing eye glasses and a lavender sweater. "I think I am the surprise nominee," Hawke admitted.

"I was thinking I might do some poetry for you," joked Crowe when he took the podium, making a reference to his spat at the British Academy of Film and Television Awards. He then quickly recited a dirty limerick from the Australian movie "Breaker Morant." Wearing a blue shirt with the top buttons undone and no tie underneath his suit and disheveled long hair and beard, Crowe was rather jovial, countering his reputation for not enjoying his encounters with the press.

When the event's wrangler tried to cut the press off at just two questions, Crowe firmly asked her to sit down so he could field more. "Sissy Spacek had an hour in here," he exclaimed.

But Crowe could be crossed by rudeness. Somebody walked through the room with a blaring walkie-talkie, causing Crowe to stop mid-answer. "You can leave now, thank you," he seethed to the poor guy who promptly made his exit.

Crowe has a lot to be happy about. In addition to being a frontrunner to take home his second Oscar in a row after last's year win for "Gladiator," "A Beautiful Mind" has been embraced by the public.

"We've made a movie about a schizophrenic and we've taken in over $140 million at the box office," he emphasized. "That says a lot about the movie-going public," which is especially sweet to Crowe because "there was a certain publication in this town that said a maximum box office of $35 million."

When asked if we'd be treated to some more poetry on Oscar night should he win, Crowe quipped, "I don't have a poem just yet. Give me a few days."

Aside from the usual banter of how happy everyone is just to be nominated and how they'd be honored to lose to their worthy nominees, the permeating subject matter was about Oscar campaigning in light of the latest salvo in regards to "A Beautiful Mind." It was suspiciously leaked right in the midst of Oscar voting that the film's subject, the Nobel Prize-winning mathematician John Nash, said and did some very anti-Semitic things among other no-no's.

"I think we should reexamine how much money we're spending on campaigning," Crowe summed up, reminding people that the Oscars are "supposed to be a celebration of filmmaking."

"You can't just let the work speak for itself," said "Black Hawk Down" director Scott. "You have to be around because people forget."

"In the Bedroom's" Wilkinson would rather there weren't any Oscars at all. "I'd say scrap them," he said, pointing out the impossibility of determining who indeed was best actor due to the subjectivity of the whole affair. "Is apple pie better than chocolate cake? But then (the Oscars) are an awful lot of fun."

Wilkinson admitted, though, to partaking in some campaigning. "That's why I'm here," he said, and then noted "a faint whiff of hypocrisy" on his part. "I feel slightly dirty now."

Washington simply doesn't get involved with any of it. "I don't campaign," he said. "I stay out of it. I don't read the trades." Complimenting Warner Bros., the studio behind "Training Day," for supporting him without making him do things he doesn't want to do. "They haven't asked me to party with the right people."

Tomei was the last star to speak to the press, rushed along as lunch was being served. "Red Buttons is my new best friend," she declared. Indeed, the comedy legend had entered the press room with Tomei to support her. He stood in the back, sipping on a drink.

Then the two returned to the luncheon together.

Source: Zap2it.com