Oscars luncheon 2023 in pictures: Inside the big preview party as nominees mingle ahead of ceremony
Every year, ahead of the biggest night in Hollywood, Academy Award nominees get invited to a special luncheon party.
It’s become an annual tradition, the unofficial start of the countdown to the ceremony, with the stars mingling, eating a fancy meal, having their photos taken, and generally getting to know each other before the big night – kind of like a big Oscars hen or stag do, without the fancy dress and budget airline flights.
Tom Cruise, celebrating a best picture nomination for his Top Gun return, was among the stars in attendance, along with 182 nominees including Bill Nighy, Colin Farrell, Jamie Lee Curtis, Angela Bassett, Brendan Fraser, Austin Butler and more.
The luncheon, held at a Beverly Hills hotel, is also a chance to highlight the work of some of the less well-known nominees, including those who worked behind the scenes on this year’s biggest film contenders.
Here are some of the photos from the glitzy shindig.
Everyone wants a bit of Cruise
Tom Cruise is known for always taking time to meet fans, but here he was in demand with the celebs, too. Jamie Lee Curtis (pictured), Steven Spielberg and Michelle Yeoh were just some of the stars spotted with Maverick. Pic: Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP
Actress Ashli Ferguson feels the need… the need to grab a selfie. Pic: Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP
Best actress nominee Yeoh played it a bit cooler. Pic: Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP
No one wants a boring portrait
A bit like school photo day, the Oscars luncheon is a chance for the nominees to get some nice pics to show mum and dad. But there’s always one, isn’t there, best actor nominee Bill Nighy? All portraits: AP/Chris Pizzello
Feeling camera shy? If in doubt, throw your (pretend) Oscar in the air: Swedish filmmaker Ruben Ostlund is up for three awards – best director, best original screenplay, and best picture – for dark comedy Triangle Of Sadness
Or stick it on your shoulder: Brian Tyree Henry is nominated in the best supporting actor category for his performance in Causeway, alongside Jennifer Lawrence
It looks like Everything Everywhere All At Once directors Daniel Scheinert, left, and Daniel Kwan – aka The Daniels – opted for Rock, Paper, Scissors to decide who was front of shot
The Irish contingent
Thanks to The Banshees Of Inisherin, set on a fictional island off the west coast of Ireland, there’s a lot of love for Irish stars at this year’s Oscars. Banshees stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson were reunited at the luncheon…
… and Banshees actress Kerry Condon also joined them. All three are up for acting prizes, along with co-star Barry Keoghan, and the film is up for nine awards in total
Irish actor Paul Mescal is also up for the best actor award alongside Farrell, for his performance in coming-of-age drama Aftersun. Pic: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
A big year for newbie nominees
This is a huge year for first-timers, with 16 of the 20 actor nods going to actors who haven’t been in the running before – including Elvis star Austin Butler (pictured) as well as Nighy, Farell, Mescal, Henry, Brendan Fraser and Andrea Riseborough
Stephanie Hsu is also up for her first Oscar, for her performance in Everything Everywhere All At Once
As is her co-star, Jamie Lee Curtis, who believe it or not has never been up for an Academy Award before, despite her decades in showbiz
And the accessories award goes to…
While most save their big outfits for Oscars day, Domee Shi, director of the animated film Turning Red, raised the bar for lunchtime glam
This year’s Oscars ceremony takes place on Sunday 12 March. Madcap multiverse sc-fi Everything Everywhere All At Once and dark comedy The Banshees Of Inisherin are the favourites to win the best picture prize, with Top Gun: Maverick, The Fabelmans, All Quiet On The Western Front, Tar, Elvis, Avatar: The Return Of Water, Women Talking and Triangle Of Sadness also in the running.
Last year’s event infamously saw eventual best actor winner Will Smith slapping comedian Chris Rock on stage – an “unprecedented” incident that Academy president Janet Yang addressed at the luncheon, saying the organisation’s response was “inadequate”.
Read more on the Oscars:
Why British star’s nod has sparked controversy
The full list of nominees
Blockbusters, first-timers and snubs – all the talking points this year
She said the organisation had learned from what happened, telling the attendees that the Academy “must be fully transparent and accountable in our actions, and particularly in times of crisis we must act swiftly and compassionately and decisively for ourselves and for our industry. You should and can expect no less from us going forward”.
Surely everyone will be on their best behaviour this year, no?
You can watch the Oscars exclusively on Sky Showcase on Sunday 12 March from midnight. Sky News will be live on the red carpet at the ceremony in Hollywood on Sunday 12 and live with the winners at the Vanity Fair party on Breakfast with Kay Burley, Monday 13 March
Taylor Swift has announced she is getting married to her NFL star boyfriend Travis Kelce.
The pop star and Kansas City Chiefs tight end shared the news in a joint post on Instagram, with the caption: “Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married.”
The announcement was liked more than 1.7 million times just over 30 minutes after it was posted.
Pic: Instagram / @taylorswift
Swift and Kelce started their relationship in July 2023, after the three-time Super Bowl winner said on his podcast New Heights that he tried and failed to meet the singer at her Eras Tour concert in Kansas City.
Rumours grew that the couple were dating after Swift was spotted at a number of Chiefs games. On her seventh time in the stands, she brought her father, Scott Kingsley Swift, along.
Kelce told the Wall Street Journal in November 2023: “There were definitely people she knew that knew who I was, in her corner [who said]: ‘Yo! Did you know he was coming [to the Eras Tour]?’
“I had somebody playing Cupid… She told me exactly what was going on and how I got lucky enough to get her to reach out.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
From January: Taylor cheers on Travis after Chiefs win
Earlier this month, Swift appeared on Kelce’s podcast, New Heights, and announced her 12th album, titled The Life Of A Showgirl.
Speaking to her now-fiance and his brother Jason Kelce, Swift said it was inspired by the Eras Tour – and also talked about Travis’s attempt at meeting her two years ago.
While she said his plan to give her his number on a friendship bracelet was a “wild, romantic gesture,” she joked he “didn’t do any proper logistical planning” and thought he would be allowed backstage.
“Because he knows the elevator lady, he thought he could talk to her about just getting down to my dressing room,” she added. “That’s how it works in 1973.”
Read more about Taylor Swift:
Swift’s final London show was the ‘best’
The impact of the ‘excruciating’ Era’s tour
Her new chart record
The new album, which will be released on 3 October, marks her first release since she took back control over her entire back catalogue from private equity firm Shamrock Capital.
Sky News culture and entertainment reporter Gemma Peplow said after her globe-trotting tour and a swathe of re-releases over recent years, the new album cemented Swift’s reputation “as the hardest-working star in pop”.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
Despite rumours he would retire after losing this year’s Super Bowl, Kelce will play for the Kansas City Chiefs again this season.
He told GQ magazine his on-field performances “slipped a little bit” as he started acting, and added: “I’m just saying that my work ethic is such that I have so much pride in how I do things that I never want the product to tail off, and I feel like these past two years haven’t been to my standard.”
Entertainment
Boy, 16, convicted in Germany over supporting failed terror plot at Taylor Swift concert
A 16-year-old has been convicted in Germany for supporting a foiled plot to attack Taylor Swift concerts in Austria last year.
The teenager, named Mohammad A, who cannot be fully identified under Germany’s privacy laws, was convicted of preparing a serious act of violence and supporting a terrorist act of violence abroad.
He was handed a suspended 18-month sentence on Tuesday. According to the court, he made a “comprehensive confession” at his trial, which was held behind closed doors because of his age.
German judges found that the defendant, a Syrian national then aged 14, supported the ideology of the Islamic State group at the time.
The court heard he was also in contact via social media with a young man in Austria who planned to attack a Swift concert in Vienna, had sent him a video with bomb-building instructions, and organised contact with an IS member.
All three of Swift’s concerts at Vienna’s Ernst Happel Stadium were cancelled in August last year after a terror plot was uncovered by authorities.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Swiftie on cancelled Vienna show
Concert organisers had expected up to 65,000 fans inside the stadium at each concert and as many as 30,000 onlookers outside.
Authorities said the main suspect, now 20, planned to target those outside of the stadium and hoped to “kill as many people as possible”.
Omar Haijawi-Pirchner, head of the directorate of state security and intelligence, added at the time that the suspect was “clearly radicalised in the direction of the Islamic State and thinks it is right to kill infidels”.
Read more from Sky News:
‘Headphone dodgers’ targeted by new TfL campaign
Impact of new online safety rules revealed
Two victims of Isle of Wight helicopter crash named
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
Swift later called the decision to cancel her shows in Austria “devastating,” and said: “The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many people had planned on coming to those shows.
“But I was also so grateful to the authorities because thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives.”
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Sports2 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment11 months agoHere are the best electric bikes you can buy at every price level in October 2024