There were countless champagne toasts all around as Women in Film feted the femmes—the 44 women nominated for the 87th annual Academy Awards out of a list of more than 200.
And since we’re talking numbers, it was the Eighth Annual Women In Film Pre-Oscar Cocktail Party presented by MaxMara, BMW, Tiffany & Co., M·A·C Cosmetics and Perrier-Jouët– and about 30 of those female contenders came to the party, along with a couple of hundred other VIP guests.
WIF president Cathy Schulman and Oscar-winning actress and recording artist Jennifer Hudson were the hostesses with the mostest for the soirée, which was held at the lovely new Hyde Sunset Kitchen + Cocktails in Los Angeles on Friday night before the Academy Awards.
“I feel very inspired,” Hudson told the exuberant crowd when she took the stage with Schulman. “So many of these ladies have inspired my life and my career. I come from a very powerful background of women, and this is an extension of that.”
Even in the well-behaved crowd, things got a bit chaotic as Meryl Streep entered the room. Well-wishers and photographers crowded around the woman known as the queen of modern acting. Streep’s nomination for her role in “Into the Woods” was her 19th nod, and she is the most-nominated actor in Academy Awards history. She has three Oscars.
Other acting nominees schmoozing the room included Laura Dern and Rosamond Pike, who talked about their roles in “Wild” and “Gone Girl.” Pike, with a newborn son, talked about the dichotomy of wearing comfortable clothes at home and getting completely glammed up for the series of awards season events culminating in the Oscars
It was a festive night for WIF Board of Director and actress Lake Bell who celebrated the evening with Michelle Monaghan and Kate Flannery.
Other Oscar nominees in attendance included Aneta Kopacz (Documentary – Short Subject, Joanna), Anna Pinnock (Production Design, The Grand Budapest Hotel & Into the Woods), Anna B. Sheppard (Costume Design, Maleficent), Becky Sullivan (Sound Editing, Unbroken), Bonnie Arnold (Animated Feature Film, How to Train Your Dragon 2), Cathleen Sutherland (Best Picture, Boyhood), Charlotte Watts (Production Design, Mr. Turner), Daisy Jacobs (Short Film – Animated, The Bigger Picture), Dana Perry (Documentary – Short Subject, Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1), Danielle Brisebois (Music – Original Song, Begin Again), David Lancaster (Best Picture, Whiplash), Diane Warren (Music – Original Song, Beyond the Lights), Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou (Makeup and Hairstyling, Guardians of the Galaxy), Ellen Gossenberg Kent (Documentary – Short Subject, Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1), Frances Hannon (Makeup and Hairstyling, The Grand Budapest Hotel), Helen Estabrook (Best Picture, Whiplash), Ido Ostrowsky (Best Picture, The Imitation Game), Joanna Natasegara (Documentary Feature, Virunga), Kristina Reed (Short Film – Animated, Feast), Laura Dern (Supporting Actress, Wild), Laura Poitras (Documentary Feature, Citizenfour), Lisa Bruce (Best Picture, The Theory of Everything), Mathilde Bonnefoy (Documentary Feature, Citizenfour), Meryl Streep (Supporting Actress, Into the Woods), Mihal Brezis (Short Film – Live Action, Aya), Nora Grossman (Best Picture, The Imitation Game), Oded Binnun (Short Film – Live Action, Aya), Rory Kennedy (Documentary Feature, Last Days in Vietnam), Rosamund Pike (Leading Actress, Gone Girl), Talkhon Hamzavi (Short Film – Live Action, Parvaneh), and Tatiana Macdonald (Production Design, The Imitation Game).
Others spotted in the crowd included Patty LuPone, Peter Fonda and Elle Fanning.
As a parting gift, guests received a M·A·C Cosmetics box with products curated by Oscar-nominated makeup artists Frances Hannon (“The Grand Budapest Hotel”) and Lizzie Yianni-Georgiou (“Guardians of the Galaxy”).
