Melissa McCarthy, nominated for Can You Ever Forgive Me?, brought her mom as her date, and told Connelly that mom had a specific question before she accepted the invitation.

“She’s like, ‘Well, do we really get lunch?'” McCarthey laughed. “And I said, ‘We do. The luncheon will provide a lunch!'”  And I was like, “Is…the deal off if they don’t give lunch?”

In a career that’s spanned more than 50 years, Sam Elliott earned his first-ever Oscar nomination, for his role as Bradley Cooper’s character’s brother in A Star Is Born.  But as Elliott told Connelly, he’s always seen his career as a marathon, not a sprint.

“I wanted to do this when I was a young kid and on same level,” the laid-back actor drawled. “I felt it was against all odds, it was like a pipe dream, but it was my pipe dream. And, y’know, I was prepared to spend a lifetime pursuing it.”

For Emmy and Golden Globe-winner Regina King, her Oscar nomination for If Beale Street Could Talk means giving a hand up to others.

“I hope that it allows me to be in a position to create more opportunities, to be a part of the inclusion happening on a bigger level,” she says of her newfound showbiz status as a nominee. “You don’t want to receive these accolades and not do what you’re supposed to do as a human being.”

The 91st annual Academy Awards air February 24 on ABC.