For the first time this award season, Oscar was smiling.

High spirits reigned at the Academy Award nominees luncheon Monday afternoon as positive word from the writers’ strike negotiations led many to believe that this annual low-key gathering would not be their only chance to celebrate together.

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Many celebrities said they wouldn’t cross a picket line to attend the Oscars on Feb. 24, which threatened to leave Hollywood’s big party starless. But unofficial word over the weekend that the writers and studio bosses had found common ground on some sticking points made many hopeful that an agreement will come through in time to save the Oscars.

The mood was nothing but upbeat throughout the Beverly Hilton ballroom — far different than when the strike-crippled Golden Globes were announced two weeks ago.

George Clooney, a best-actor contender for Michael Clayton, has pressured both sides to make a deal that would at least allow the Oscars to happen. He noted that even a tentative contract needs to be ratified by the guild board.

“I think it’s got a good shot at it, and I think it’s a great sign. It looks very good,” the actor-writer-director said, while noting that he still would not attend the awards without a deal in place. “I’ve never crossed a picket line, and would never. I belong to six unions, so it makes it hard.”

Clooney worked hard to keep the afternoon light, particularly during the nominees’ pre-lunch news conference. After fielding a particularly heavy question from a reporter, he told the small group of reporters, “I don’t know if you could hear her, but she asked, uh, how come I look so good up close?”

He also jokingly taunted Daniel Day-Lewis, regarded as a front-runner in Clooney’s acting category for his misanthropic oilman in There Will Be Blood. Day-Lewis was among the few nominees who didn’t attend the luncheon.

“I’ll tell you, I don’t like Daniel Day-Lewis. I don’t know if you guys have met him, but … I, uh, caught him stealing,” Clooney said. “He screws the whole thing up because he’s so good.”

Filmmaker Brad Bird, a writing nominee for Ratatouille, which is also up for animated feature, said there’s a sense in the industry that the strike is no longer an Oscar threat. “I don’t know if it’s looming anymore,” he said. “I feel like it’s hiding in the bushes.”

Tony Gilroy, nominated for writing and directing Michael Clayton, said that even though he is among the striking writers, it’s easy to feel conflicted about staying away from Oscar night.

“It’s my absolute hope we get to go and get dressed up and do the whole thing,” he said. “But when you think about the economics that have wreaked such havoc with so many people’s lives, whether I want to get dressed up and go to a party is a little bit less important.”

Sid Ganis, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, and telecast producer Gil Cates both addressed the crowd acknowledging the positive strike news while vowing to have the show regardless.

“We’re going to hand out Oscars not because of some quaint showbiz notion that the show must go on,” he said. “The Oscar exists because the academy’s founders, 80 years ago, believed movies were not just a business, and people needed to be reminded of that.”

Before handing out the customary certificate of nomination — and complementary Oscar sweatshirt — to the contenders, Ganis told them there was a new line on the document.

“It says, ‘Must be present to win,’ ” he joked.

The crowd response? A bit of tentative, nervous laughter.

The luncheon is designed as a safe haven from the Oscar campaigning, a chance for nominees from every category to break bread together and sip wine in an informal setting.

Seating is designed with an eye toward mixing and mingling. Even the Coen brothers, Joel and Ethan, nominated for directing and adapting the best-picture contender No Country For Old Men, were split up. Joel ended up beside Vincent Paronnaud, co-screenwriter and director of the animated Iranian tale Persepolis.

Michael Moore, nominated in the documentary category for Sicko, chatted with Marketa Irglova and Glen Hansard, the singers/stars of the Irish musical Once, which is up for best song with Falling Slowly.

Julian Schnabel, the eccentric director of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, swirled around the ballroom in purple pajamas over a dark overcoat, rarely without his glass of liquor — even when a publicist tried to hold it for him when he spoke to the media.

Clooney abandoned his table for much of the afternoon to chum around with No Country supporting actor Javier Bardem, both of them corralling the Coens when they passed by.

Ellen Page, a lead actress nominee for Juno, said it was “surreal and bizarre” to be among the 2007 Oscar class at age 20. “This obviously isn’t why I do what I do,” she said. “But (acting) is what I love to do, and when something like this happens, it’s absolutely exciting and ridiculously humbling and makes me think, ‘Well … this is kinda working out OK. Maybe I’ll get to make a couple more movies.’ ”

Clooney, who noted that he came to fame later in life, in his mid-30s, said the young nominees don’t need any advice from him. “I can’t give Ellen Page advice, she’s too smart. I need to find some dumb actor.” [Source: USA Today]

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