Stars' stay-cool tips for Oscar season

GETTING through Hollywood's awards season is no easy feat. It looks like a glamorous celebration on TV, but awards are serious business here. Nominees, especially the famous ones, face a repeated challenge: They must look gorgeous and be gracious again and again as they win or lose the most coveted honors in their business in front of a worldwide audience. Plus, there are so many parties, so many interviews, so many events and appearances and screenings and outfits that, for the leading nominees, the first two months of the year almost become one flashbulb-illuminated, Champagne-soaked blur. With the Oscars around the corner capping off two months of glittery celebration, here's a look at stars' views on awards season and how they're surviving: ? Oscar winner Ben Affleck says this time of year is a strange one that stretches beyond the stars. "The notion of awards season, it is like you have spring, summer, fall, winter and awards season. It somehow has gotten firmly entrenched in our kind of culture in a way that seems to have expanded a bit over the years. I don't know if I could give anybody advice. It is a difficult thing to navigate." ? Supporting actress nominee Amy Adams, who has been up for an Oscar twice before, has some practical advice: "Hydrate. That is my key this year, drink a lot of water. It sounds silly, but that is the first thing that came to mind. Try to get a lot of sleep and hang out with your friends as much as you can. Be in the moment." ? Helena Bonham Carter has done it before with style. "I think you've got to pace yourself, and also say no a lot. Because it is a bit of an onslaught. It's an onslaught, so you've got to keep an even keel and keep a sense of proportion. And maybe I'll try wearing matching shoes this time. I was wearing mismatching shoes on the Globes, and apparently there was horror at this major fashion misdemeanor ... So I don't know, just keep a sense of humor and enjoy it." ? Kevin Spacey celebrates, win or lose. "I've only been to the Academy Awards as a nom! inee twi ce and I've won twice. That's a very different circumstance than, for example ... going to the Golden Globes, having been nominated six times and not winning again. How do you deal with that? You go to the bar and you end up hanging out with all your friends and your colleagues and people you don't see for a long time because that's what you do at the Globes. There's no bar at the Oscars, which is something they really ought to reconsider." ? "The Social Network" screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, who has won six Emmys for "The West Wing" and is up for his first Oscar, says he'll just take it all in. "I just keep my head down and remember that, you know, this is all fun. And enjoy every minute of it with the guys I made the movie with." ? Trent Reznor, who's nominated for his score for "The Social Network," says he used to stay away from awards shows when he was with Nine Inch Nails, but he's going to the Oscars. "I've also realized that the whole experience is worth allowing myself to kind of take a pause and experience it. My nature is to isolate in a room and just work. As I've gotten a little more comfortable in my own skin, I'm forcing myself to kind of be in the moment and make the best of it, and it's actually been pretty enjoyable. Sometimes in an absurd way, and a very surreal way, it's been interesting." ? Hans Zimmer has been nominated nine times (this time for "Inception"), so he knows what he's talking about. "One of the things is thank your mom. Second survival guide: Drink more water than you are normally used to, because you will be out late and drinking. If you can, wear comfortable shoes because your feet are going to kill you after you have been to all the parties. Then, my publicist Ronnie Chasen, used to say to me, 'Don't say anything stupid.' So I always remember that one. I don't succeed at that one completely, but I take that one on board." ? Fourteen-year-old Hailee Steinfeld, nominated for supporting actress for her first movie role in "True Grit", is taking her folks' advice. "My paren! ts have always told me, 'If you have fun, then you are always in the right place.' So, as long as you are loving it and having fun, then it's all good."