Hollywood can be a male-dominated town

Hollywood can be a male-dominated town, but the actresses, producers, and industry stalwarts of Women in Film set Oscar weekend in motion yesterday. The organization—along with MAC, Max Mara, and Perrier-Jouët—threw its sixth annual pre-Oscars cocktail last night, hosted by last year's best supporting actress, Octavia Spencer. She was glad to lend some of her own support to fellow actresses, she said. "Men are celebrated every day. It's easy to get a project green-lighted if you're a guy," she explained. "That's why I'm excited about Bridesmaids and [2012 nominee] Melissa McCarthy"—an actress Spencer thinks is changing the game.

Plenty of Sunday night's nominees came to toast their chances, including game changer Quvenzhané Wallis (history's youngest best-actress nominee), Jessica Chastain, and Silver Linings Playbook's Jacki Weaver. "When we were making it, we knew it was special," she said of the film that's up for eight awards Sunday night. Weaver's director, David O. Russell, revealed that his star, Jennifer Lawrence, almost missed out on her Oscar-nominated leading role. "Jennifer was a last-minute, 'I don't think this will work' Skype audition, and she ended up stealing the role."

Not far away, the Elton John AIDS Foundation and LoveGold celebrated a Best Documentary Feature nominee, the AIDS doc How to Survive a Plague, at Chateau Marmont. Sir Elton, Sharon Stone, and Cameron Silver were on hand, as was the film's director, David France. "It tells an incredible story," he said of the film, "a true story about how a group of disenfranchised people changed the world." Hoorsenbuhs' Robert Keith and Kether Parker were there to show not only support but also a few jewels from their men's collection. "I like the gold, intensive pieces. They're masculine," Parker said. Not a bad consolation prize to keep in mind for anyone who doesn't take the gold this Sunday night.

— Alexis Brunswick and Azadeh Ensha