Tom Cruise’s Star Power Shines Bright at Oscars Luncheon, With Largest Turnout of Nominees in Event History
Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Tom Cruise stole the show at the 95th Oscars luncheon, the annual gathering celebrating the nominees for the year’s Academy Awards. At the Beverly Hilton Hotel, the in-person event had opening remarks from Academy president Janet Yang. The roll call of this year’s 182 attendees was read by Devon Franklin, a member of the Board of Governors, who began with Jamie Lee Curtis and ended with Guillermo del Toro. Aside from Yang addressing the Will Smith controversy at the top of the event to the attendees (without saying his name), more than 200 guests gathered to celebrate the cinema’s achievements from 2022. Of them, 182 were official nominees for this year’s ceremony, the largest turnout in history. Some of the notable names missing were best actress nominees Ana de Armas (“Blonde”) and Andrea Riseborough (“To Leslie”), supporting actor Barry Keoghan (“The Banshees of Inisherin”), producer James Cameron (“Avatar: The Way of Water”) and original song contenders Rihanna (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”), Lady Gaga (“Top Gun: Maverick”) and David Byrne (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”).