You’d think with 10 best picture nominees, you’d see somebody from one of the films on the first night of real Oscar partying.

But the lone nominee who made an appearance was “Precious” director Lee Daniels, at the Artists for Peace and Justice cocktail party thrown by Vanity Fair at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

Daniels was the only nominee but not the only celeb, as director Paul Haggis, so involved with Haiti even before the earthquake, has rallied more and more bold-faced names to the cause. Among those crammed into the BHH’s bar were Gerard Butler, Maria Bello (a steadfast supporter), Ben Stiller, Jon Hamm and Jennifer Westfeldt,  Nia Vardalos and Ian Gomez, Matthew Bomer, Kristen Bell, and Paula Wagner and Rick Nicita. That’s what they call a nice crowd in Hollywood.

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Maggie Gyllenhaal, nominated for best supporting actress for “Crazy Heart,” is really just happy to be nominated for an Oscar.

“I’m going to enjoy all of it,” she told me the other night at a USA Network/Vanity Fair party held in the thick of the big snowstorm. All the USA Network TV shows were being celebrated–”Characters Approved.” There were lots of TV people roaming around Barry Diller’s magnificent IAC Building lobby waiting to hear the cast of “American Idiot” perform. Gyllenhaal was one of a few who were just being saluted for being themselves. Nora Ephron was another. (The IAC building looked like a giant lit up snowflake on the dreary West Side.)

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