Oscar nominees gather for a chummy night of cocktails, dinner and the annual class picture

Demi Moore, from left, Zoe Saldana, and Cynthia Erivo arrive at the Oscars Nominees Dinner on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025, at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

Five days before the Academy Awards, nearly every nominee gathered for a cocktail reception, dinner and class picture shoot that served as an Oscars orientation.

The event Tuesday night at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures was a stand-in for the annual Oscars luncheon usually held about a month earlier but scrubbed because of the Southern California wildfires.

With the voting over and winners determined, contenders got chummy and the mood was cheerful. Best actress favorites Mikey Madison and Demi Moore hugged and chatted. So did best actor front-runners Timothée Chalamet and Adrien Brody.

“Everyone say Oscar nominee!” best actress nominee Cynthia Erivo shouted gleefully from the front row of the museum’s David Geffen Theater, where the dozens of nominees sat for their group picture.

Clustered in front with Erivo were three best supporting actress nominees: her “Wicked” castmate Ariana Grande, Monica Barbaro of “A Complete Unknown” and Zoe Saldaña of “Emilia Perez” along with Madison, nominated for “Anora.” The five women stood in a circle and talked happily together after the photo, and kept the conversation going as they descended the stairs together to dinner.

In the back of the theater, a trio of best actor nominees sat together: Sebastian Stan of “The Apprentice,” Colman Domingo of “Sing Sing” and Brody, of “The Brutalist.”

After the photo was taken, Academy President Janet Yang gave the orientation presentation, reminding everyone that the 97th Academy Awards will be held Sunday.

She greeted first-time nominees and acknowledged there were also some with more than one.

Denis Villeneuve, director of “Dune: Part 2” and a four-time nominee, raised his hand. Sixteen-time best original song nominee Diane Warren raised both of hers.

Yang emphasized that the wildfires made this year different, and emphasized “the importance of community and an atmosphere of support.”

But, she said, “The show, the big show, the Oscar show, you know what I’m talking about, will of course go on, and we simply must honor the talent, your talents, this year, as we have every year.”

She gave the annual, usually fruitless, guidance that acceptance speeches should be limited to 45 seconds, and had the class repeat the number back to her. “Forty-five!” they shouted.

“It doesn’t sound like a lot, but you can definitely get a lot in there,” she said. “What works best is to be heartfelt, humorous if you like, poignant, inspirational, but brief.”

A straggling nominee then showed up, and Grande shouted to the official photographer, “are you ready to go again, Trevor?” and they reshot the picture.

As the big group broke up, Chalamet greeted several reporters by name and hugged them.

It was a fun night for the famous, but in some ways it’s an even bigger evening, as Sunday will be, for the majority of nominees — from short film animators to sound mixers — who are neither famous faces nor household names.

Here they were treated as equals with their A-list peers. All were identified by the same black name tags.

Madison and Isabella Rossellini, up for best supporting actress for “Conclave,” each wore theirs as they stood and talked at length during the cocktail reception. Many others dropped in on the conversation including Moore, “Anora” director Sean Baker, and best supporting actor nominee Jeremy Strong from “The Apprentice.”

Rossellini and Madison pulled out their phones and shared dog photos.

“Yes, you have like a farm!” Strong said to Rossellini.

Samantha Quan, a best picture nominee as an “Anora” producer and Baker’s wife, asked Rossellini, “Do you have any goats?”

“Oh yes,” Rossellini replied.

“The Brutalist” director Brady Corbet stopped to talk to the women too, but stood aside when they were asked to get closer for a photo.

“I don’t want to get them sick,” he said.

The attire for the evening was listed as “cocktail” and the outfits ran the gamut. Madison, Grande and Moore wore evening gowns. Rossellini wore a smoking jacket and necktie with a gold brooch. Strong wore a brown bomber jacket with running shoes. Chalamet wore, if there is such a thing, a black, shiny, formal version of a denim jacket and jeans, with a blingy gold chain around his neck.

Media members, publicists, partners and all others were eventually told to stand aside while the nominees sat for a dinner that was exclusive to them.

The roll call that normally goes with the photo was skipped, so it was difficult to determine who wasn’t there, but apparent absentees included Elton John, up for best original song, Ralph Fiennes, up for best actor for “Conclave,” and Karla Sofía Gascón, nominated for best actress for “Emilia Perez.”

Andrew Dalton, The Associated Press