Oscar producers aim to cut out the boring parts

Chastain, a best-actress nominee for the Osama bin Laden manhunt thriller "Zero Dark Thirty," said she expects to have a nice breakfast, with calming music and candles, on Oscar morning.

Best-actress rival Lawrence, nominated for the lost-souls romance "Silver Linings Playbook," said her family is pretty matter-of-fact about her Oscar success, using it a reason to party.

"The night of the Oscars, everybody just gets wasted and has a blast," said Lawrence, who dressed for comfort two years ago when nominated for "Winter's Bone" but is thinking style this time around. "This year, I'm like, 'No, suck it up. Wear a corset.' So yeah, I'm going to go for fashion this time."

Lawrence's "Silver Linings Playbook" co-star Cooper, a best-actor nominee, expects to be doing the reverse of his character, who's recovering from a stay in a mental hospital with help from his parents. Cooper said he figures he'll be minding one of his own parents before the Oscars.

"I'm sure the day of, I'll be calming my mother down," Cooper said. "She still doesn't know what to wear, so I'll be a caretaker that day."

Hathaway, a supporting-actress nominee for the musical "Les Miserables," said she hasn't given any thought yet to what she'll wear on Oscar night.

"Yeah, I need to get on that, don't I?" Hathaway said. "It was the Super Bowl. I couldn't think about dresses with all that delicious fried food around."

If the Oscar producers really want to keep the show moving, they might seek advice from De Niro, a supporting-actor nominee for "Silver Linings Playbook".

Meeting with reporters, seven-time nominee, two-time winner De Niro was asked how big a deal the Oscars are to him now. The notoriously terse De Niro lived up to his reputation with a five-word answer.

"It's still a big deal," he said, and moved on to the next question.