IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Oscar hopefuls pay tribute to Kobe Bryant at luncheon
LOS ANGELES >> Renee Zellweger, Al Pacino and dozens of other Academy Award nominees bowed their heads in a moment of silence Monday for Kobe Bryant to open the annual Oscars luncheon, a somber moment in an otherwise sunny annual affair that serves as a meet-and-greet, celebration and training session for each year’s class of nominees.
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President David Rubin asked the audience to honor the NBA star and 2018 Oscar winner and his daughter, who were among nine people killed in a helicopter crash Sunday.
“With all the success he had on the court, he was the most excited person in the room that day,” Rubin said of Bryant at the 2018 luncheon.
Bryant went on to win an Oscar for best animated short for “Dear Basketball.”
The group of longtime Oscar luminaries and first-time hopefuls broke into applause to end the silence.
Leonardo DiCaprio, Laura Dern, Robert De Niro and Quentin Tarantino were all set upon by groups of photographers as they walked into the luncheon being held just a few steps from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, home to the 92nd Academy Awards on Feb. 9.
Tarantino, nominated for best director for “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood,” stood for a few photos before heading to join his fellow nominees at lunch tables.
Inside the ballroom, Brad Pitt and Tarantino autographed a “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” movie poster brought by the film’s sound engineer Mark Ulano, who is nominated for his work in three films in the best sound mixing category.
Taika Waititi, whose film “Jojo Rabbit” is nominated for six Oscars, walked in and shared a hug with Bong Joon Ho, whose “Parasite” earned nominations for best director, best international film and best picture.
Both congratulated each other on their awards season recognition.
The luncheon is an annual chance for all Oscar nominees to rub shoulders, celebrate the status many will only have once and take a class picture after a roll call of all the nominees summons them to the front of the ballroom. Among those standing near the center of the frame were Pacino, Diane Warren and “Frozen II” songwriters Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez.
Monday’s menu was entirely plantbased, with nominees noshing on vegan cheese, micro herbs, roasted maitake mushrooms and forbidden rice, with wines from the fittingly film-friendly vineyards of Francis Ford Coppola.