Pallade Veneta - With Oscar race locked, actresses celebrate backstage anyway

Pundits were -- correctly -- unanimous that Jessie Buckley would win for her tear-jerking turn as William Shakespeare's wife in "Hamnet."

But that did not stop her rival nominees enjoying the night -- if anything, they were the life and soul of the party.

Emma Stone, a two-time best actress winner already, spent much of the ceremony happily chatting backstage with friends and admirers in the theater's most exclusive lobby.

"The bar is the place!" Stone, nominated for her role in conspiracy theory thriller "Bugonia," told AFP.

Indeed, while the Oscars are being handed out in the adjoining theater, the Dolby Theater's ground-floor bar is renowned as a free-flowing gossip, networking and champagne spot for the industry's movers and shakers.

Stone jokingly admitted she wasn't sure exactly how many Academy Awards she'd attended, but by now knew where to wait for her category to come up.

For Norwegian actress Renate Reinsve, it was a second trip to Hollywood's top awards show, but a first as an acting nominee.

She came to the Oscars four years ago for best foreign film contender "The Worst Person in the World," but was personally recognized this time for "Sentimental Value."

"It's so much more chill this time -- this time I actually know people!" she told AFP.

Moments later, she effusively greeted Pedro Pascal like an old friend. He promptly stepped on her toe as they embraced and profusely apologized, to mutual laughter.

After her fellow supporting actor and actress nominees had missed out in their early categories, the film's Norwegian team gathered at the bar again with their plus ones.

"Last time I couldn't bring a guest. This time, I got to bring my sister," the Norwegian star added.

Reinsve predictably lost best actress, but the whole gang took to the stage as "Sentimental Value" won best international film.

"It's about a very dysfunctional family, and it's the opposite of what I felt of this beautiful group behind me," said director Joachim Trier, from the stage.

- 'Exciting' -

This year, the Oscars bar's raucous chatter was muted temporarily by the moving tribute to Rob Reiner and the start of the "In Memoriam" section honoring Hollywood legends who died this year.

There was spontaneous applause when Catherine O'Hara, star most recently of Hollywood satire "The Studio," was shown on screens.

Inside the theater, wins for "Sinners" consistently drew the loudest cheers from the in-person audience, with even those in the nosebleed seats rising to a standing ovation when Michael B. Jordan won best actor.

"I'm only here because of the people that came before me," said Jordan, before name-checking a number of the small group of previous Black Oscar acting winners including Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington and Halle Berry, to wild applause.

As for Buckley, she too periodically appeared at the bar before and during the ceremony, not stopping to chat much, but seemingly showing no nerves as she was wished the best of luck by many of those she passed.

"Thank you," she grinned with a confident smile, before collecting her seemingly inevitable prize.

"Thank you to the incredible women that I stand beside -- I am inspired by your art and your heart and I want to work with every single one of you," she shouted out to her fellow nominees from the stage, as the night drew toward its close.

D.Bruno--PV