BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — The tables aren’t set yet, but the stage is — and so are the veteran producer and first-time director of this year’s Golden Globe Awards.

Producer Barry Adelman and director Louis J. Horvitz say that with the big show just days away, the belly butterflies are beginning to flutter.

“We get our adrenaline going, no matter how many times we’ve done it, and that will build until showtime,” says Adelman, standing in the middle of the Beverly Hilton’s International Ballroom, where hundreds of stars will be sitting on Sunday.

Horvitz, who has directed the Academy Awards a dozen times, is taking his first pass at the Golden Globes — and he’s excited both personally and professionally.

“It’s one of the grand slams of television, and I’ve never done it. It was always on my list,” he says. “This is a director’s dream because everywhere you turn the camera, it’s laden with five major stars.”

More than 150 stars of TV and film are expected at Sunday’s ceremony, including Sandra Bullock, Jennifer Lopez, Bruce Willis, Robert Downey, Jr., Helen Mirren, Jeff Bridges, Michelle Pfeiffer, Steve Carell, Justin Bieber, Tom Hanks, Jane Fonda, Geoffrey Rush, Renee Zellwegger, Sylvester Stallone and various nominees.

The level of star power makes directing the Globes different from doing the Oscars, Horvitz says.

“When I was directing the Oscars, I couldn’t very well say, ‘Well, we don’t have the amount of stars of the Golden Globes, and also they’re having a good time and we’re not, seemingly,'” he says with a smile. “People want to see the stars.”

Adelman and Horvitz count themselves among those people. Adelman says his “inner fan” comes out during Hollywood’s awards season. Horvitz says that his starry excitement persists, regardless of how many celebrities he’s worked with or big events he’s done.

“You never lose the inner child when it comes to the consummate performers in front of the camera in film, television and music,” he says. “You really do admire what they do, and I’m happy I’m behind the camera.”

Phil Berk, president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which puts on the Globes, calls himself “the biggest fan in the room.” But he’s less interested in the stars and more focused on the winners.

“I’ll be the most eagerly anticipating member in the audience, hoping that my choices for the different awards prevail,” he says. “But I’m not batting 1,000. I’m at about 500.”

While Berk will be seated among the stars in the ballroom, Adelman and Horvitz occupy decidedly less glamorous spaces on show night.

Adelman monitors the show from a wooden desk just off stage. (“They put a drape around it so we’re not that humiliated,” he jokes.) Horvitz, meanwhile, will direct shots from 17 different cameras from a satellite truck in the parking lot behind the kitchen.

Their goal is the same: To bring viewers inside one of the year’s most star-studded celebrations.

“It’s a party and they’re toasting a great year of accomplishment and their friends and their success,” Adelman says.

Barry Adelman, executive producer and writer of the Golden Globe Awards, left, speaks about the upcoming Golden Globe Awards as Louis J. Horvitz, director of the Golden Globe Awards telecast, looks on at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Wednesday, Jan. 12. The Golden Globe awards show will air on Sunday, Jan. 16.

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