Octavia Spencer and Her Cheering Squad LOS ANGELES - It was wall-to-wall ladies at the party sponsored by Women in Film on Friday night. You'd almost never know that the Oscars this year are dominated by male movies. Nominees like Jessica Chastain, Viola Davis, Janet McTeer and Annie Mumulo (the "Bridesmaids" co-writer) turned up at Cecconi's, an Italian restaurant in West Hollywood, for an event hosted by Gwyneth Paltrow, who spent the evening sitting on a banquette talking to a member of her team. One of the Bagger's favorite people of the season, Octavia Spencer, came to greet Ms. Paltrow; a photographer asked them to pose for a photo. Is it O.K. with her? Ms. Spencer, ever polite, asked. But Ms. Spencer, too, was the subject of much adulation. "You are awesome!" the actress Christine Lahti cheered, when they met. Your work is amazing. Though as Cathy Schulman, the leader of the Women in Film organization, noted, less than three dozen of this year's 219 Oscar nominees are women, Ms. Lahti saw a glimmer of a silver lining. "Because of the success of "The Help" and "Bridesmaids," I hope there's so many more movies about women," she said. It just really makes me crazy that our stories aren't told in the way they should be, in big commercial movies. The fact that these can make money, I hope that executives say, "Oh, women can actually draw an audience."" Ms. Spencer nodded. "Especially because they make our budgets so small, that they can only make money," she said. Though she is a near-lock to win the best supporting actress Oscar on Sunday, Ms. Spencer said that aside from figuring out her gown, she was trying not to focus on it. "I'm not preparing," she said. I literally had a fitting today, I'm having a final fitting tomorrow. I literally don't think about Oscar. So Saturday night after I've said goodbye to George Clooney and Brad Piitt and Demian Bichir, all of those hot guys at the evening-before party, then I'll think about it. Because one thing Viola, she just really enlightened me on, was just living in the moment, and I haven't taken that lightly. If I start thinking ahead, I'm not going to enjoy this. I just met Gwyneth Paltrow - hello, that's awesome! Ms. Lahti told her that was the right attitude. "I feel like I know you," she said, "because everybody thinks I'm Allison Janney," Ms. Spencer's friend and co-star of "The Help," "and everybody thinks Allison's me. So now when people say, "Oh I loved you on "The West Wing," I say, "thank you."" Ms. Spencer laughed. "My favorite was the Christine Lahti in the bathroom moment -" the moment when, at the 1998 Golden Globes, Ms. Lahti was just flushing the toilet when her name was called as best actress award for "Chicago Hope." Do you hate that, when people bring that up? Ms. Spencer asked. I think it is the best. Ms. Lahti didn't mind; it happens all the time, she said. "You know what it taught me?" she said, smiling. That you can't take any award seriously.