Last night at the 97th Academy Awards in Los Angeles, while the wins were super exciting for audiences and those up for various awards, the Oscars speeches can be just as compelling as the performances in the award-winning movies.
Some of those main speeches include Best Actress for Mikey Madison (“Anora”), Best Actor for Adrien Brody (“The Brutalist’), Best Supporting Actress for Zoe Saldaña (“Emilia Pérez”), Best Supporting Actor for Kieran Culkin (“A Real Pain”), the Best Director win for Sean Baker (“Anora”), and finally the Best Picture win for “Anora.”
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Brody had long been the favorite to land the Best Actor statue for his haunting and career-defining performance in the post-WWII immigrant artist drama “The Brutalist,” which he tipped toed around his ups and downs between his Oscars wins and tried to present a vague message of acceptance and inclusion.
The shock on Madison’s face was obvious as while “Anora” was seen as a Best Picture favorite going into the ceremony, her win wasn’t a complete lock from those predicting the outcomes of the awards. The young actress used her Best Actress speech to give a shoutout to the sex workers and consultants in the film.
Despite the controversy connected to her co-star Karla Sofía Gascón‘s social media posts, an emotional Saldaña was holding back tears letting the audience know she was the first actress with Dominican Republic ancestry to win the Best Supporting Actress award. Proudly, performing in Spanish for the film.
Culkin used the opportunity of his Best Supporting Actor win to hold his wife to a wild promise of more kids if he won an Oscar statue.
Baker took the time to highlight the need to make movies with theatrical release in mind and supporting all movies being shown in theaters during his speech for Best Director, which was presented by Quentin Tarantino, who Baker inadvertently thanked for his influence on “Anora” (Madison had played one of the Manson Family members in “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood”).
Lastly, the Best Picture speech from Alex Coco, Samantha Quan, and Baker highlighted the independent film aspect of “Anora” and Coco pointing out the film’s budget was only $6 million, impressive compared to other big-budget nominees.
You can watch those acceptance speeches below.
