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As if winning five Oscars weren't enough, DreamWorks, the studio behind American Beauty, had to keep reminding people that everything was indeed coming up roses. At the studio's post-Oscar bash at Spago, thousands of red rose petals—the kind that flutter significantly through the movie—floated in the drinks, littered the bathrooms and blanketed the table where 11-year-old nominee Haley Joel Osment had the good (sixth?) sense to huddle for a chat with studio co-founder Steven Spielberg. "This is the place to be," said Beauty costar Scott Bakula, one of the revelers along with Dame Judi Dench, Roberto Benigni, Val Kilmer and Paula Abdul, who choreographed the movie's nymphet cheerleaders. "I'm not going to do much of the town—the town will come here."

Actually, on Oscar night, Hollywood turns into a celebrity caravan, with stars air-kissing their way from party to party. "I just came to stare and gawk," said newcomer Leelee Sobieski (Here on Earth) at Vanity Fair's party at Morton's, where Hollywood's No. 1 couple of the moment, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston, held intimate court at a VIP table, while Jane Fonda caught up with niece Bridget nearby. At the Governors Ball, Warren Beatty gently massaged the neck of his exhausted and very pregnant wife, Annette Bening, at the same time accepting congratulations from such well-wishers as Kevin Spacey. And, much further down the celebrity chain, Darva Conger, the disheartened bride from FOX's ill-fated Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?, squinted into TV lights as she entered the restaurant Crustacean for a benefit to clean up Santa Monica Bay. "Being here," she said, "is certainly a perk." Accompanied by her personal manager, Conger made the rounds like everybody else. No matter that she was turned away from the Vanity Fair shindig; IN STYLE let her celebrate with their crowd across the street.

The first stop for many partygoers was the academy's annual Board of Governors affair at the Shrine Auditorium, where swirling images of clouds and flames were projected onto a canvas draped from the ceiling. After enduring the painfully long, slow telecast, Best Actress Hilary Swank, rubbing elbows with Ashley Judd, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Caine, Faye Dunaway and 1,600 other guests, was ready for Wolfgang Puck's spread of salmon, roasted chicken, caviar and—the envelope, please—Oscar-shaped matzos. "I thought I was going to pass out," said Swank, on the arm of her still-beaming husband, actor Chad Lowe (Rob's little brother). "I've got to eat." She could have feasted on Winona Ryder's praise; Swank, said Ryder, gave "one of the most important performances I've seen in years." But Ryder came out mostly for Girl, Interrupted costar Angelina Jolie, who won Best Supporting Actress. "I'm thrilled," said Ryder about Jolie's victory. "I definitely cried."

The End of the Affair's Julianne Moore, who lost out to Swank, mellowed out with a beer and mused about an actress's greatest challenge: how to react when the cameras are on your face and your name isn't called. "It's ridiculously hard," she said. "It's like a game show. You just try to stay calm and have a normal expression on your face." There was nothing normal about Lance Bass's first Oscar experience. The *NSYNC teen throb, who sang "The Music of My Heart" with Gloria Estefan, felt a little out of sync onstage. "We were totally out of our element," he said, " 'cause our fans weren't there like we're used to in the balcony."

Over at 8800 Melrose Avenue, where Elton John threw a joint celebration with IN STYLE magazine to benefit his AIDS foundation, Back-street Boy Kevin Richardson was not nearly as discombobulated as Bass. Seated with The Nanny's Fran Drescher and tennis ace Martina Navratilova, he spent most of the evening kissing his fiancée, Kristin Willits. "She's the one that knocked my hat in the creek," said the Lexington native. "That's a Kentucky quote." Coming up for air, the couple talked to Farrah Fawcett (with a friend, handbag designer Lana Marks) among a crowd that included Jane Seymour, Bond girl Denise Richards, Elizabeth Hurley (who attended without Hugh Grant) and Robin Williams. Elsewhere in the room, Ally McBeal's Dyan Cannon, undulating to the groove, danced to techno music.

Things were jumping as well at Miramax's party inside the Polo Lounge, the storied pink-and-green watering hole of the Beverly Hills Hotel. Guests included Ann-Margret, Jane Fonda, The Practice's Dylan McDermott and director Quentin Tarantino, who borrowed a page from the Steven Seagal handbook of bizarro formal wear and donned a velvet Shanghai Tang Mao jacket. But the real stars were the two Cider House Rules winners. Supporting Actor Michael Caine, with wife Shakira and his daughters Natasha and Dominique, was anticipating lugging the 8½-lb. statuette for his flight back home to London. "I don't care how heavy it is," said Caine, wolfing down tandoori chicken rolls and tiny lamb chops. Out on the patio, John Irving graciously allowed Delroy Lindo, one of the film's stars, to hold on to his Oscar for screenwriting—although eventually the novelist leaned over and said, "You are going to have to give it back at some time. Not now, but sometime."

Oddly enough, Miramax's hottest young stars—Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon (as well as his girlfriend, Winona Ryder)—left their reserved table conspicuously empty and instead mingled at the Vanity Fair party. Paltrow listened intently as model Elle Macpherson offered advice. "Gwyneth's in her prime when she dresses in '50s elegance as she did in The Talented Mr. Ripley," said Macpherson. "That should be her style." Responded Paltrow: "I'll take any advice from Elle Macpherson that I can get. I'm not an idiot." The high-wattage crowd, dining on ahi tuna and rack of lamb, included Cameron Diaz smooching with actor-boyfriend Jared Leto and R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe escorting Courtney Love. The rocker-actress had watched the show from home with daughter Frances Bean, 7. "She got her ears pierced today," said Love. "And she got a bob last week, so it's intense." Nicole Kidman, eyes wide open behind spectacles, explained that husband Tom Cruise, nominated for Magnolia, was philosophical about his loss to Michael Caine. "He's been nominated before and hasn't won," she said. "So he's used to it."

Meanwhile, Hilary Swank, fortified by her earlier supper, showed no signs of fatigue. "I'm enjoying it," she said. And Angelina Jolie met up with her godmother, actress Jacqueline Bisset. Even as the clock neared 2 a.m., the Oscar winner was still talking to her father, actor Jon Voight, and accepting congratulatory kisses from the likes of Patrick Swayze and Titanic's Frances Fisher. "So far," said Jolie, "so good." You go, girl interrupted.

Anne-Marie O'Neill, Tom Gliatto, Paula Chin, Julie K.L. Dam, Galina Espinoza, Dan Jewel, Michael A. Lipton, Samantha Miller, Lisa Russell, Sophfronia Scott, Kyle Smith, Alex Tresniowski
Reported by: Steven Cojocaru, Ken Baker, Karen Brailsford, Kelly Carter, Tom Cunneff, Mark Dagostino, Alison Singh Gee, Julie Jordan, Sue Miller, Edmund Newton, Pamela Warrick, Ulrica Wihlborg, Paula Yoo

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