LOS ANGELES, California??I thought it was exciting to see people walk together on stage like that,? Julia Roberts told us the day after the Academy Awards. ?It was really electrifying.?

Julia was, of course, referring to the five former winners presenting the nominees and then the winner in each of the acting categories. The 2001 Oscar Best Actress explained that she declined an invitation to be one of the presenters because her husband, cinematographer Danny Moder, had just returned from an out-of-town stint. ?I felt it was best to stay home, welcome him and be with my family,? she said. ?We watched the show on TV.?

A clip showing her break into that familiar laughter and exclaim, ?I love it up here!? when she won for ?Erin Brockovich? was one of the memorable ones shown.

?I thought Hugh Jackman did a great job,? commented the star of the new thriller, ?Duplicity,? about the actor-host. ?That?s got to be a tough spot. It?s like, who would want to be President? Who wants to host the Oscars? They got someone who?s really talented and capable and he just went for it.?

Asked if she rates last Sunday?s show a 10, the actress quipped, ?I don?t think you can give the Oscar show a 10 no matter what year it is but this one was good.?

Stepping into the show

Fil-Am PJ Raval, who was the cinematographer of ?Trouble the Water? which was nominated for the Best Documentary Feature, shared with us his random thoughts about attending the Academy Awards show for the first time: ?It was as if I was watching the red carpet coverage from a TV set at home and somehow, I stepped into the TV program. I started the afternoon in a limo ride from the Four Seasons to the Kodak Theater. After passing through limo security and a few crowds of protesters with signs like ?Heath is in Hell? or ?You eat your kids? which even baffled me, we made it to the red carpet where all the insanity ensued.

?Everything was a bit smaller than it looked on TV and in the magazines. The red carpet was long and the fans numerous, but somehow standing in the midst of everything, the space, the theater and even the stars seemed smaller.

?The movie stars are as beautiful up close as on the screen and they definitely know how to work the red carpet. When Penelope Cruz tried to exit and the photographers kept screaming for her to stay, her head turned back became a striking pose, showing off the back of her gown. She?s a red carpet pro.

?Everyone loves Danny Glover?one of our executive producers. Every two steps, crowds yelled ?We love you Danny!?

Japanese or Indian?

?Everyone was friendly. As I stumbled around, I ran into star after star?literally?as I had to walk back to the beginning of the red carpet line for a missed photo op and crossed through prime movie star traffic: Sean Penn, Beyonce, Natalie Portman, Mickey Rourke, the list goes on. Each one greeted me with a head nod, a smile, or even a ?hello.? At some point, I thought they were probably trying to figure out who I was?an actor from the Japanese Best Foreign Language Film nominee or a kid from ?Slumdog Millionaire.?

?Hugh Jackman?s commercial break banter was equally entertaining. He even introduced his father in the crowd?as a punch line to one of his jokes and also as an acknowledgment.

?The Oscar statuette is quite heavy. Out on the patio, one statuette got passed around so I held it, too. Why not?

?Hearing the Best Documentary Feature winner being announced was both stressful and a relief. Of course, I was disappointed we did not win but I was also still extremely honored our documentary was nominated for an Academy Award along with a great group of films.

?When the show was over, it was time to relax and enjoy the rest of the night which involved more limo rides and finally, food! And more champagne and celebration of our accomplishment of making a film we are all proud to be a part of.?

Humbling ?Challenge?

On the eve of the Oscars, designer Alan del Rosario was our guest at Miramax and Walt Disney Studios? celebration of its Academy nominees from ?Doubt,? ?Wall-E,? ?Happy-Go-Lucky? and ?Bolt? at the gorgeous rooftop pool deck of the new London West Hollywood Hotel. Alan lost in the ?Oscar Designer Challenge? (Chicago?s Tim Gunn won) the following day but at the party, he felt like a winner when the great Meryl Streep planted a big kiss on his cheek.

Alan said of his ?Challenge? experience: ?It was really humbling. Honestly, I didn?t join the competition with a lot of expectations. I knew it was going to be fun and I?ll just go for the ride. I believe I did put my best foot forward. I was just happy to be chosen and be a part of the whole challenge. I am grateful for all the support that I got from everybody who voted for me.?

One final note about the Oscars: It was sad to see this veteran actress, one of cinema?s most beautiful icons, now looking grotesque from plastic surgery. It reminded us what Best Actress winner Kate Winslet told us earlier: ?My own style icons are Susan Sarandon, Meryl Streep, Judi Dench and Helen Mirren?these beautiful, iconic older women who haven?t changed themselves at all. They haven?t conformed. Look at these incredible women whose faces still absolutely move. You feel that they?re real persons.?

Obsessed with Clive

Back to Julia, this was how she answered when asked to elaborate on her comment in an Esquire magazine article that George Clooney is obsessed with Clive Owen, the star of ?The International? and her leading man in ?Duplicity?: ?Perhaps I should leave for George to say he?s obsessed with Clive. But George admires Clive. I was using that as an example because George is really thought in the highest order of leading men. Clive is a great actor and person. We actors see Clive as someone who?s at the top of his game. He?s just a lovely guy.

?To spend time with Clive is just joy. He doesn?t take his job too seriously which is a relief, but he?s very good at his job. He comes incredibly prepared and that makes him so relaxed. He?s got the greatest wife and two beautiful daughters. What I had said to the man who interviewed me for Esquire was Clive is a really complete human being. That gives him an ease and makes you want to be around him.? We?ll run our full interview with Julia in a later column.

Clive gets to show in ?The International? why some people still rue that he wasn?t cast as the new James Bond. And like the 007 films, ?The International,? which also stars Naomi Watts, serves up exotic locations all over the world and exciting action scenes, especially a thrilling shootout at the famed Guggenheim Museum in New York.

Clive told us about this scene in a recent interview: ?The first time I met and sat down with Tom (Tykwer, director) to talk about the movie, he said, ?Look, this film isn?t an action film per se but when we do have action, I want it to be incredibly intense and explosive.? He had the whole thing worked out almost shot by shot way in advance. He and I walked around the Guggenheim months before we started shooting. Tom meticulously planned the sequence because they were building a replica of the Guggenheim to scale. The studio in Berlin wasn?t big enough to house it so we had to film in some huge hangar just outside Berlin.?

The British actor added, ?It?s one of the most exquisitely directed sequences I?ve been involved in. The fear was that when you do a huge shootout, the scene might feel like it?s outside the film and we?re just seeing this crazy scene. But the scene feels very much like it belongs in the movie and at the same time, it?s pretty spectacular.?

E-mail the columnist at rvnepales_5585@yahoo.com and read his blog, ?The Nepales Report,? on http://blogs.inquirer.net/nepalesreport.