As the celebrities went to the 2013 Palm Springs Film Festival, it was the Oscar nominations, which will be announced on Thursday, that the media wanted to know about.
   Palm Springs honorees Ben Affleck, Bradley Cooper, Dame Helen Mirren, Richard Gere, Sally Field, Naomi Watts and Tom Hooper were quizzed on the red carpet about their thoughts on the Oscars, with Cooper and Gere downplaying the effect the Thursday announcements would have for them.
   Dame Helen said she keeps her Oscar statuette in London where it was rarer, while Watts talks about the mixture of emotions, from fun to anxiety. ‘It’s nerve-wracking and very scary,’ she noted.
   Director Tom Hooper talked about the huge opening numbers that Les Misérables had: ‘We were all pinching ourselves and humbled by this reaction. It’s surpassed any expectation we had for the film.’
   At the Festival, Affleck won for Best Ensemble Performance for his film Argo. Dame Helen was given the International Star Award, and asked the audience, ‘Please watch films with subtitles. It’s not so difficult. You are missing out on so many truly wonderful experiences in the cinema.’ She thanked the audience in 11 languages.
   Gere won the Chairman’s Award, with Diane Lane reading a list of Gere’s philanthropic achievements.
   Hooper won the Sonny Bono Visionary Award, presented to him by Les Misérables actor Eddie Redmayne.
   Watts won the Desert Palm Achievement Actress Award for her role in The Impossible, which recounts the events of the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004. Cooper won the Desert Palm Achievement Actor Award for Silver Linings Playbook.
   Field won the Career Achievement Award, with her career spanning nearly half a century.
   Robert Zemeckis won Director of the Year, the award being presented to him by Tom Hanks.