Oscars nominees gathered Monday ahead of next month's 82nd Academy Awards to hear show organizers urge the stars to keep this year's acceptance speeches short and sweet. A galaxy of Oscar-nominated stars descended on the Beverly Hilton hotel for the annual nominees luncheon, an informal gathering of Academy Award contenders just three weeks ahead of the March 7 awards season extravaganza. The organizers have come up with a novel idea for avoiding those boring Oscar acceptance speeches filled with “thank yous.” Their solution: have the winners give two speeches. Contenders for the world's top film honors including George Clooney, Sandra Bullock, Meryl Streep and Jeff Bridges gathered on Monday for the annual Oscar nominees luncheon in Beverly Hills, and as is tradition, the show's producers offered tips on giving the 45-second acceptance speeches. Oscar co-producer Bill Mechanic called those often teary-eyed thanks “the single most-hated thing on the show.” Instead, he and co-producer Adam Shankman will have winners give two speeches: one onstage telling audiences what winning an Oscar means to them, and a second backstage for a “Thank You Cam” where winners can say “Thanks” to whomever they want. “Share your passion on what the Oscar means to you” with the audience, Shankman told nominees at the luncheon. He said the backstage video would be posted on the Web and winners could use them however they liked – e-mail them to their friends and even post them on their Facebook pages.
