NEW YORK — As a kind of warm-up to his upcoming spot as Academy Awards co-host, Alec Baldwin appeared at the Time Warner Center for a personal and wide-ranging conversation.

But he did have one Oscar forecast: Expect wardrobe changes for himself and co-host Steve Martin .

“It’s a very metrosexualized kind of a show now,” Baldwin joked.

The Wednesday evening event, presented by Fordham Law School, came shortly before the anticipated March 7 ceremony. Though sold out and crammed, the audience was a mere 500, far less than the 1 billion who supposedly watch the Oscars worldwide. Baldwin, 51, spoke passionately and at length about numerous issues, including nuclear power and family law.

Though he’s under orders not to discuss his preferences for the various awards, he said he’s been beset by questions: “Everywhere I go, people say, ‘So who do you like in the Oscars?’”