PartyLines- photographs by Patrick McMullan

How do you feel? “I feel like I’ve got a shot at this thing! I feel good about my chances.” —JAMES SCHAMUS (Lifetime Achievement Award winner)

—PAUL RUDD

Have you been to the Gotham Awards before? “When I first moved to the city in ‘99, I had the script for Blue Valentine under my arm and no one wanted the movie, so I had to get jobs to pay the bills, and my first job was cutting the tribute films for the Gotham Awards.” —DEREK CIANFRANCE (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for IFP)

—ANNETTE BENING

What were you doing twenty years ago? “I know exactly what I was doing. That’s when my son was being born. He’s 20 years old.” —STEVE BUSCEMI (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for IFP)

—ANTHONY MACKIE

You and Jesse Eisenberg seemed to be having an intense conversation onstage while you were presenting. “Ha, really? He’s great. He was just trying to help me figure out what I was supposed to do.” —WINONA RYDER

—AMANDA PEET

What did you learn tonight? “That Robert Duvall is my freaking idol. I love that he got his award and just bounced. He was like, ‘I got my statue. I’m out.’” —ANNE HATHAWAY

—ALLY SHEEDY

You sat next to me at the Jackass 3D premiere. “I totally remember. How are you? The first half was great. Then I was like, ‘Oh God, there’s more of this?’” —DARREN ARONOFSKY

—BARBARA HERSHEY

Hey, Jesse, I’m from New York Magazine… “I’m not supposed to do any more press. It makes me too anxious.” —JESSE EISENBERG

—CHARLES FERGUSON

How did you recover from the training for Black Swan? “I stopped exercising, and I started eating like a crazy person pretty much the day we finished.” —NATALIE PORTMAN

—HILARY SWANK

Are you a hermit? “Probably. I have hermetic feelings. I think we all do.” —ROBERT DUVALL

—JULIANNE MOORE

Are you reading anything good? “I don’t read books. I don’t read newspapers.” No NPR? “It’s not a line I’m giving you. It’s just the truth.” —MELISSA LEO

—LENA DUNHAM

What’s your game plan while hanging around all these other famous people? “I try to find a good segue into a conversation and then say, ‘You’re amazing!’ or something like that. Or walk up and go, [laughs nervously] ‘Ha-ha-ha…you’re amazing!’ Now you know.” —GRETA GERWIG

—LEIGHTON MEESTER

You’re on House right now. “[Raises the roof.] Insert that I raised the roof on that.” —AMBER TAMBLYN

—MILA KUNIS