Before the nominations and campaigning comes a big moment: a movie’s first screening. At the annual Oscar nominees luncheon earlier this week, Academy Award nominees from Emma Stone to Mel Gibson talked to Variety about their films’ first screenings.

“It was at the Venice Film Festival and it was a trip,” said Stone of “La La Land’s” big debut. “It was a trip. There were subtitles and I was sweating a lot. Very nervous.”

“When I saw it with a big audience in Italy, and it got a standing ovation, it was quite gratifying,” Gibson remembered of “Hacksaw Ridge’s” first screening. “I think they liked it, or they appeared to, unless they were all faking, which I suppose is a possibly.”