Stars gather at Oscar nominee luncheon
More than 160 nominees stepped out for the pre-Oscars luncheon at the Beverly Hilton hotel on Monday in Los Angeles. The annual event gives nominees a chance to mingle and field questions from journalists before movie's big night.
Jennifer Lawrence, Jessica Chastain, Anne Hathaway, Naomi Watts and Bradley Cooper were among the stars in attendance and gearing up for the Feb. 24 Academy Awards.
One question on reporters' minds? The Oscar dress.
"Most little girls dreamed about their wedding dress, but I always dreamed of my Oscar dress," Chastain said.
Hathaway, meanwhile, said she has to yet to find a dress. She joked, "It was the Super Bowl, I couldn't think about dresses with all that fried food around."
Ben Affleck was in attendance, too. His film, "Argo," is up for a best picture award, but Affleck was left out of the best actor category. When asked if the best director category should be expanded to match the number of best nominees (this year, there's nine best picture nominees), Affleck said, "I leave those sorts of calculations to the folks in the press and the pundits and the Oscarologists...I don't get into worrying about who got what or didn't get what. I've had many, many, many, many, many years watching from home."
The 85th Academy Awards Ceremony airs live on Feb. 24 at 7 p.m. ET on ABC.