The 87th Oscar ceremony is still 18 days away, but the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Monday already invited award nominees to a luncheon at the Beverly Hilton, USA Today reported.

Hollywood greats including Clint Eastwood, Bradley Cooper and Reese Witherspoon all attended the event, which Craig Zadan and Neil Meron -- the producers of the Feb. 22 show hosted by Neil Patrick Harris -- used to urge potential winners to keep their celebratory comments to 45 seconds.

"We need this to be a collaboration," Zadan said. "Please prepare your speeches, and don't wing it."

The luncheon is an annual event staged by the academy, and attendees were served what Britain's Guardian dubbed "ultra-Californian fare," including horseradish chive mousse, konbu paper and stir-fried vegetables.

The Oscar class of 2015 later took the stage for their picture, Entertainment Weekly noted, and its members then had the opportunity to comment on their hopes and expectations for the big night.

Eddie Redmayne, who is nominated in the Best Actor category for his performance in the Stephen Hawking biopic "The Theory of Everything," may be hoping to take home an Oscar statuette for reasons beyond the fame associated with it.

The British actor recounted a recent incident at an airport security check when he was stopped with his Golden Globe in the carry-on.

"I went through, saw the bag go through and saw the woman stop the thing and go close-up on the weird shaped thing," Redmayne said. "She's like, 'I think it is an award or something.' I was praying that they would make me open it up. The guy was like, 'Is this real?' And I was like, 'Uh, yeah.' That was a special moment," the 33-year-old admitted.

Steve Carell, who, thanks to his work in the true crime drama "Foxcatcher," competes with Redmayne, recalled the moment when he learned that he had received an Oscar nomination.

"I wish I could say that the phone rang and woke me up and I said, 'Oh my gosh. I forgot that was today. What a surprise,'" the comedian admitted. "But I was up at 5:30 with a cup of coffee sitting downstairs in the darkness. ... When my name was announced, I ran upstairs to tell (my wife), and she was running downstairs."