Viola Davis led the way at the 84th Academy Awards nominee luncheon yesterday but says she's not used to the "glam" lifestyle.

The star is in the running for best actress for her role in The Help and insists that the award season is very removed from her normal life.

She was joined by the other nominees for the annual pre-Oscar event that was held at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles.

"If you guys could see me when I'm at home with my cornrows," Viola laughed. "I am not a glam woman. My biggest fear is that paparazzi with some, like, lens is going to come into my backyard and see me when I get in my pool. That would be very unfortunate."

Also in attendance was George Clooney, nominated in the Best Actor category, who joked with reporters saying he got to the event early for the "free booze!"

Rooney Mara, who is up for the best actress prize for her role in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, already had something to celebrate.

Her family own the New York Giants football team who won the Super Bowl over the weekend.

"It was really fun," she said about the victory in Indianapolis. "It was very exciting. It was great."

The 150 nominees which also included Brad Pitt, Octavia Spencer, Michelle Williams and Martin Scorsese, were all shown a short film narrated by Tom Hanks about what they should and should not do during their acceptance speech if they are the winner.

Apparently their moment on stage should be memorable but not overrun the allotted 45 seconds otherwise the orchestra will start to play over them.

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