LOS ANGELES, Mar 8 (AP/UNB) – The Academy Awards is without question Hollywood's biggest night, a time when the world stops to gawk at its celluloid heroes. Here's an insider's look from the Kodak Theatre at what you are not seeing on camera.

While the mood is chaotic outside on the red carpet, it's refreshingly calm inside the Kodak Theatre nearly an hour before the start of the 82nd Academy Awards. Dozens of ushers and other workers chitchat amid the empty blue orchestra seats where nominees and other A-listers will soon be perched for the ceremony. On stage, the ivory floor below the crystal-blanketed curtain receives a last-minute cleaning.

There's a swanky makeshift smoking section erected just outside the theater, complete with couches, cocktail tables and a behemoth black rug. It's so nice that several attendees are out there enjoying glasses of champagne with their smokes before the doors to the theater even open. Their revelry is interrupted by a soothing female voice that coos, "Please take your seats. The Academy Awards will begin in 15 minutes."

Inside the theater, Robert Downey Jr. comes backstage with his wife and they head straight for the green room, where Elizabeth Banks and Jeremy Renner are already relaxing. Meryl Streep breezes through the area, a glass of champagne in hand. Javier Bardem stands in the hallway with a soda as Penelope Cruz stops by the makeup station for a quick touchup.

Old Hollywood meets New Hollywood as Lauren Bacall sweeps past "Precious" star Gabourey Sidibe in the hallway.

The first nominee to arrive with a front row seat? Vera Farmiga, who sits alone adjusting her flowing crimson gown. It's not long before her "Up in the Air" co-star and fellow supporting actress nominee Anna Kendrick shows up and introduces Farmiga to her mother.

With just minutes to show time, a parade of A-listers including Jeff Bridges, Colin Firth, Helen Mirren and Sandra Bullock hustle into the theater. Bullock stops to tell a dancer, "You rock," while Bridges, a fixture on awards shows this year for his performance in "Crazy Heart," jokes to Firth that he "has the walk down." Neil Patrick Harris tap dances in place and sings to himself. "Good times, good times," Harris says as walks on stage to announce that the show is under way.