10 things you don't see on the Oscars telecast

Everyone looks flawlessly glamorous during the Oscars telecast, but behind the scenes, millions of dollars and thousands of hands are making sure the show goes off without a hitch. USA TODAY's Donna Freydkin, Bryan Alexander and Andrea Mandell reveal 10 things that won't be captured by the cameras on entertainment's biggest night (ABC, Sunday, 7 p.m. ET/4 PT).

1. It really does take a village to get an A-lister gussied up to dazzle on the red carpet.

Just ask makeup artist Gina Brooke, who works with Anne Hathaway, Madonna and Amber Heard. "For the dress alone, there are five people involved, between the designer, the stylists, the assistant," she says. "Then you have the hairstylist, who has one assistant. Plus, a makeup artist and her assistant. Then there are the facials before. Ten people at minimum to get them ready."

Oscar prep takes at least three hours. "Of course they look flawless. Who wouldn't?" Brooke says. "Can you imagine how amazing you would look (with that much help)?"

2. Every nominee has a speech scripted, just in case.

We love to think we're seeing spontaneous tears and authentic astonishment up there on stage. But, sorry, it's not true. "Everyone, whether they admit it or not, has a speech prepared in the event of winning an Oscar. We practice them in the shower, in the car, in the middle of the night, when we think no one's listening," says industry publicist Bumble Ward. "Even the calmest of folk lose the plot under such exciting circumstances, so, yes, most people have something — even chicken scratch on the back of a paper napkin — ready to go." The best offerings sound like they came from the heart, however, and not a PR office. Think Michael Keaton at the Golden Globes, thanking his son/best friend, Sean.

3. Those red carpet arrivals are meticulously choreographed.

Nothing is left to chance, and every single celebrity's entrance is timed. The lesser names arrive first and talk to the assembled media. The bigger stars get there later. "It really depends on the show and when in the season it is. For example, the Globes carpet is useful if you want to get across a message or a narrative for the rest of the awards season," says Ward.

And there are very few mistakes on Hollywood's biggest night. Will you ever see famous exes (cough, Brad and Jen) run into each other on a red carpet? Never. Publicists manage their clients' every move on the big day, which means those limos will keep taking laps until any potential misadventures on the red carpet clear.

4. It's the only cash bar in Hollywood. And everyone's starving.

In a town overflowing with open bars and endless swag, it's always a shocker to see the Academy Awards' bar charging $4 for bottled water and $14 for a cocktail. (Light snacks are available, but those go fast; it's a long wait for the Governors Ball dinner after the show.) No one is more surprised than first-time nominees, who, along with the rest of Hollywood, typically arrive cashless. Best advice: Hightail it to the Governors Ball, where the champagne is flowing and the food, made by Wolfgang Puck, includes Oscar-shaped smoked salmon flatbreads and sinfully good chicken pot pies with shaved truffles.

5. The Oscars receive white-glove treatment and security.

Fifty trophies have been created for the Oscars. They are tagged, wheeled backstage on a three-tiered cart and given a final polish by a white-gloved attendant in black-tie attire. The statuettes remain in the wings during the show, with their own security detail standing nearby. The intricately engraved plate for each winner waits at the Governors Ball; the others are destroyed. "They see their name put on the Oscar, and it's emotional," says Randy Haberkamp, official Oscar historian.

6. No, Oscar does not look like someone you know.

The 8½ pound gold-plated britannium statuette is a knight holding a crusader's sword standing on a reel of film with five spokes signifying the five original branches of the film academy (actors, directors, producers, technicians and writers). The award wasn't designed from a specific model. Bette Davis (among others) claimed she coined the term "Oscar" based on the posterior likeness to her husband, Harmon Oscar Nelson. "But it's one of those things no one knows for sure," says Haberkamp.

7. Backstage is crammed with wall-to-wall celebs.

The wings are filled with stars presenting, performing or heading to a very social green room. Some are allowed back purely for moral support. When Angelina Jolie famously showed her leg onstage at the 2012 Oscars, Brad Pitt watched intently from a monitor 20 feet away. The celebrities are so plentiful that they sometimes have to press up against each other to let large props get onstage. "You see people just having won an Oscar going, 'Oh, my God, it's Barbra Streisand.' They are amazed by who's back there," says Haberkamp.

8. The winners and their Oscars take a "winner's walk."

After an Oscar victory, excited winners might be offered a chair (Meryl Streep sat in shock for 15 minutes after winning for The Iron Lady in 2012) or a bottled water (she needed that, too). The new winners are encouraged to give longer speeches on a backstage camera (helpful for those they forgot). They then take the "winner's walk," down a corridor filled with black-and-white pictures of past winners. "They are suddenly confronted by the history of the moment," says Haberkamp. All winners sign a poster for the Oscar records, then go meet the blinding lights of the photographers.

9. Not everyone is honored just to be nominated.

In fact, stars leave are known to leave after they lose, relying on seat fillers to, you know, fill the seats in the auditorium. That's what went down with Dreamgirls' Eddie Murphy, who lost out in the best supporting acting category to Alan Arkin in 2007. He walked out.

10. They give the clothes back ASAP (and the jewels even faster).

Those haute couture gowns, tailored within an inch of their lives to fit glamorous A-list silhouettes, often are on short-term loan. Designers such as Chanel, Givenchy and Dior allot their finest confections to nominees and presenters, with a caveat: The gown is picked up by a messenger within 48 hours.

The jewelry (always insured) goes back even faster, sometimes Oscar night. "We've picked up in the middle of the night many times," says Brooke Brinkman Ghanimian of Simon G. Jewelry, which lends out millions of dollars worth of gems. Adds Forevermark's Adelaide Polk-Bauman: "Depending upon the value, there might be a security escort involved."

On occasion, the goods are keepers: Alexander McQueen designer Sarah Burton gifted Jessica Chastain's very first Oscar gown to her in 2012, and Gwyneth Paltrow's dad (late director/producer Bruce Paltrow) bought her the 40-carat diamond Harry Winston necklace she wore for her win in 1999.