Hollywood's elite mingle at the party of all parties

Hollywood’s leading lights headed into the night to celebrate or commiserate at a host of glitzy parties after walking the red carpet at the Academy Awards. But before the champagne corks popped, some of the stars faced the press to explain their feelings when their name came out of the golden envelope. Ben Affleck could not believe the US first lady had read out “Argo” as the winner of best film. “I was sort of hallucinating when that was happening. In the course of the hallucination, you know what I mean, it doesn’t seem that odd when some other — oh, look, a purple elephant! Oh, Michelle Obama! It seems like it’s natural because the whole thing is so unnatural. Honestly, I was just asking these two guys outside, was that Michelle Obama?” Jennifer Lawrence, 22, won her first Oscar for her lead role as an outspoken young widow in the quirky comedy “Silver Linings Playbook.” She also had a funny turn and tripped on the way up to the stage but was good natured and self-effacing enough to laugh about it afterwards. Asked backstage what was going through her mind as she stumbled, falling on her hands, Lawrence responded: “A bad word that I can’t say that starts with ‘F’.” Anne Hathaway was a popular first time Oscar winner for her supporting role in musical “Les Miserables” where she showed off her hitherto little known talents as a singer… Best supporting actress “I had a dream, and it came true. And that can happen. And that’s wonderful. And so, that was all I was saying was that it can and it did. Excuse me. That’s not articulate.” A massive chandelier of fruit, vegetables and champagne could not overshadow filmmaker Ang Lee, from being the star of the show at his after party where he celebrated his second Best Director award for “Life of Pi”. Drawing the most stars, the Governors Ball, thrown by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, which hosts the Oscars, was the place to be…even for other nominees who missed out this year on getting any awards.