LOS ANGELES (AP) 鈥� For most people across the globe, Oscar night ends with the bestowing of
Not for and guests, of course. Their night is just beginning.
After the first stop 鈥� 鈥� many headed to the more exclusive Vanity Fair party at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, where guests were greeted by a 20-foot high arrangement of 10,000 yellow orchids, according to organizers, with a menu that ranged from Mediterranean sea bass and grilled ribeye to Domino鈥檚 pizza served in 鈥渃ustom slice boxes鈥� and In-N-Out burgers. The invite list was culled this year to make the gathering more exclusive. Some guests stopped to talk on their way in.
Keeping the comedy fresh, not worrying about Leo
To hear Conan O鈥橞rien tell it, Oscar-night jokes are like food. They go stale fast.
Sometimes before you even get to use them.
鈥淭hings move quickly and it鈥檚 like you鈥檙e a chef in a kitchen 鈥� you just have to decide what鈥檚 fresh, what works,鈥� O鈥橞rien told The Associated Press on the way into the Vanity Fair party.
He said some jokes written a month ago were ditched, because after two weeks, they鈥檇 already expired.
How do you know when something is stale? 鈥淵ou just have to constantly, constantly check with people and check with yourself,鈥� he said.
But said he doesn鈥檛 get scared about those famous faces in the audience or worry what they’ll think.
鈥淎t this point, after this many years, you don鈥檛 even see the individual people,鈥� O’Brien said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 another audience. … I don鈥檛 get thinking about, 鈥楬ey, I hope Leo likes this joke.鈥欌��
A Shakespearean fashion dilemma
To change, or not to change 鈥� as Hamnet, er, Hamlet might ask. That is the question.
Some stars make quick Superman-like wardrobe changes before hitting Oscar night parties. Others decide they鈥檙e just fine in the elaborate duds they began the evening with.
Amy Madigan, fresh off her supporting actress win for 鈥淲eapons,鈥� stuck with her Dior silk feathered jacket over wool and silk trousers when she made her way into the Vanity Fair party.
But slipped from her flowing Chanel red-and-pink concoction to a black sequined gown. And Rose Byrne, a nominee in the category for 鈥淚f I Had Legs I’d Kick You,鈥� shed her embroidered floral gown for a two-piece black fringe number, also by Dior, to dance the night away (or at least party it away).
Odessa A鈥檢ion seemed ready to soar 鈥� literally. The breakout 鈥淢arty Supreme鈥� actor, who earlier wore a bohemian-style Valentino number, donned a multi-colored ensemble by Harris Reed that culminated in a set of black fringed wings reaching toward the sky.
Fonda’s latest fight
Jane Fonda had the First Amendment on her mind.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 why I am here,鈥� said the two-time Oscar winner, 88, who recently relaunched the Committee for the First Amendment to fight incursions on free speech. Her father, Henry Fonda, was among the Hollywood figures who started the group in the 1940s.
鈥淚鈥檓 getting people to sign up,鈥� Fonda said. 鈥淪trength in numbers.鈥� The media industry, the actor added, is especially important. 鈥淭hey go after the press and the arts, too, authoritarians do. So we have to fight back.鈥�
Fonda added: 鈥淚t鈥檚 bipartisan. Republicans as well as Democrats have to fight for the First Amendment.鈥�
No art without risk
For David Borenstein, co-director of the Oscar-winning documentary making art goes hand in hand with risk.
鈥淚 think there鈥檚 no art without risk,鈥� Borenstein said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no real politics without risk. If you鈥檙e not taking a risk, then I鈥檓 not sure what you鈥檙e doing.鈥�
‘This was a very risky project,鈥� he added. 鈥淲hat was so important for this was people coming to us early and supporting us, even though they knew it was risky.鈥�
鈥淢r. Nobody Against Putin鈥� explores the Russian leader鈥檚 propaganda and patriotism program for the nation鈥檚 youth after the invasion of . The film鈥檚 protagonist and co-director, Pavel Talankin, was a teacher in a small-town school in Russia who captured on video his students鈥� lessons, chants and songs promoting the war in Ukraine.
Focusing on hope
Audrey Nuna was feeling hopeful.
鈥淚鈥檓 so freaking good, so proud. I鈥檓 just overjoyed,鈥� said Nuna, one of the three voices behind the fictional girl group HUNTR/X, who had performed 鈥� at the show. The song won the Oscar for best original song, a first for K-pop. And the movie won for best animated feature.
Nuna said she felt that host O鈥橞rien鈥檚 speech was inspirational in its reference to hope in chaotic times.
鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 feel like we have the space for it,鈥� she said, 鈥渂ut it really is important to show that there鈥檚 hope, and I think with this song being so hopeful and this message of 鈥楰pop Demon Hunters鈥� being so hopeful, it just feels like a celebration, of diversity, representation, just all the good (stuff).鈥�
And while Nuna regretted that the show had cut off one of the songwriters during the acceptance speech, she said it hadn’t ruined the night.
鈥淚 think that our team has such good camaraderie that we understand it鈥檚 bigger than those small moments,鈥� she said.
An especially important victory
For Oscar-winning sound editor Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, the night’s victory meant a lot more than the golden statuette she was holding.
Whittle shared on the red carpet that she’d been ill with cancer while working on 鈥淔1.鈥�
鈥淚 had cancer while I was working on this film, and so a year ago I had no hair,鈥� Whittle said, 鈥渁nd so the fact that I鈥檓 standing here with hair, holding this, makes the whole thing even more mind-blowingly special and amazing.鈥�
Whittle said the job 鈥渞eally helped keep me focused and made me not think about what I was going through.鈥� Her colleagues, she said, 鈥渨ere so supportive of everything that I needed to do, and, the whole crew was behind me the whole way, and they really made me feel like I was still necessary, and I still needed to be there to do the job.
It was really great.鈥�
鈥�-
Associated Press writer Jocelyn Noveck contributed to this report.
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