‘Yes’ to Dinner, ‘No’ to Rest

After enduring 3 1/2 hours of Oscar speeches, production numbers and lots of nail-biting, there’s only one thing left to do: eat.

And that’s just what guests did at the Board of Governors Ball, the official Academy Awards after-party that was blessedly only a few steps from the award show at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

“I’m going to eat a lot of food,” said Christine Lahti, winner for live-action short (with Jana Sue Memel). “We’ve all been dieting like crazy to fit into our dresses. Every woman here is going to pig out tonight, and it’s well-deserved.”

This was indeed the time to finally exhale, forget about diets and celebrate the evening. Hundreds of people hustled into an enormous white tent on the Music Center plaza where Wolfgang Puck’s gourmet pizza waited on silver trays, lavish English garden bouquets sat atop tables and congratulatory kisses actually landed on cheeks instead of hovering in mid-air.

Supporting actress winner Mira Sorvino was swamped by admirers. While still in the entryway crush, she managed to find time to do an interview via cell phone.

“It’s some radio station from Austin or something,” she said. “I’m just not saying ‘no’ tonight.”

Proud papa Paul Sorvino said, “I don’t have the words to express how I feel. They don’t exist in any language that I’ve ever heard--well, maybe Italian.”

Supporting actor winner Kevin Spacey, beads of sweat dotting his brow, said he’d actually “been sleeping pretty well, except last night I had a tougher time because I started thinking for the first time about what I might say, and that kept me up for a little while.”

And Emma Thompson, winner for screenplay adaptation, said her idea of celebrating was “taking off my shoes. That’s all I need to do.”

Although this was a sit-down dinner very few people sat, giving the party a kind of kinetic, frenetic energy as they buzzed from clique to clique and shouted above the band.

Those who managed to stay put feasted on Alaskan salmon and free-range veal and a chocolate and raspberry cake shaped to look like a film reel, with a little gold Oscar on top. Puck, who catered the ball in collaboration with Restaurant Associates Caterers, did his magic flying chef trick and oversaw this party and another at Spago.

The heaviest traffic was definitely at Christopher Reeve’s table, which was six-deep with friends and admirers. Reeve was joined by Robin Williams, Tim Robbins and best actress winner Susan Sarandon.

Others joining in the revelry included Quentin Tarantino, Nathan Lane, Joan Allen, Tim Roth, Mel Gibson, Whoopi Goldberg, Bruce Springsteen, Alicia Silverstone, Oprah Winfrey, Gov. Pete Wilson, James Cromwell, Jeff Goldblum and Laura Dern, Jeremy Irons, Jessica Lange, Jim Carrey and Claudia Schiffer (with David Copperfield).

Winona Ryder counseled supporting actress nominee Kate Winslet, saying, “Don’t worry, there’ll be a next time.”

Show producer Quincy Jones said he’s leaving for a post-Oscar vacation on a boat for 10 days. “This was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.”

But not everyone is lucky enough to get a breather; Thompson is off to Taiwan and Tokyo to promote “Sense and Sensibility,” Elisabeth Shue was bound for Russia the next day to start on her next film and Alan Menken had to be at work at 10 the next morning to start scoring “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.”

In Hollywood, there’s no rest for the weary.