The event: Academy Award winners
As Sunday's nominees gathered Friday at the Fig & Olive restaurant in Los Angeles for formal congratulations from partygoers, Mirren quietly offered them tips for the big night. "Wear comfortable shoes and don't wear a tight dress -- enjoy and have a laugh," she said.
The crowd: Among others sipping Champagne and enjoying the hors d’oeuvres were actors Lupita Nyong’o and
There, too, were producers Jeremy Kleiner and Dede Gardner of “12 Years a Slave,” Emma Tillinger Koskoff and Joey McFarland of “The Wolf of Wall Street,” Rachel Winter and Robbie Brenner of “Dallas Buyers Club,”
Quotes of note: "It's so important for us to bring the women who are both in front of the camera, behind the camera, above the line, and below the line together," said Schulman, "because one thing we know as women in film … is that when women work together, more movies for women and about women occur."
Taking her turn at the podium, Mirren said, "I don't often wish that I'm younger because I think it's pretty cool to be older," owing, she said, to "that lovely I- don't-give-a-[darn] kind of feeling." She added, though, that on this night, after looking at the audience, she wished she were 40 years younger.
"It's not that I want to have a better body or remember my husband's name … or be able to dance all night, or any of those things," she said. "When I first came into this industry, you walked onto a film set and it was all men … and, my God, how much things have changed. I've witnessed that change. It's so exciting to see that change .… That's why I want to live another 40 years, because I want to see what further changes are coming."
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