Heartfelt, sharp, aware, bright, and sincere, these are the best speeches from the show.
There’s an art to a great Oscar speech, and it comes accompanied by massive odds: a ticking time-limit, the fact that every other speech has thanked family, gods, collaborators, the need for originality, the need to speak from the heart, the need to be memorable.
The speeches transcribed below are my pick for the finest, the most memorable, from this year’s Oscar bunch.
Heartfelt, sharp, aware, bright, and sincere, these are the best speeches from the show.
Do vote for your favourite speech at the end.
Best Supporting Actress: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Jesus. Thank you to the Academy, to my beautiful, powerful nominees to IFC, to Jonathan Sehring, John Sloss, Cathleen Sutherland, Molly Mann, David Dicamila, our whole cast and our crew, my Boyhood family who I love and admire, our brilliant director Richard Linklater, the impeccable Ethan Hawke, my lovelies Ellar Coltrane and Lorelei Linklater.
Thomas and Paul, thank you for giving me my beautiful children.
And Enzo and Harlow, you’re the deepest people I know.
My friends who all work so hard to make this world a better place.
To my parents, Rossano, Richmond, Alexis, and David, to my favourite painter in the world, Eric White, for the inspiration of living with a genius, to my heroes, volunteers and experts who help me bring ecological sanitation to the developing world with Givelove.org.
To every woman who gave birth, to every taxpayer and citizen of this nation: we have fought for everybody else’s equal rights. It’s our time to have wage equality once and for all, and equal rights for women in the United States of America.
Best Director: Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu, Birdman
Good luck charms work, because at the DGA awards I was wearing a Raymond Carver shirt, Billy Wilder tie, I won.
But today, tonight I’m wearing the real Michael Keaton’s tighty-whiteys. Thank you. They are tight, smell like balls, but it worked, I’m here. Thank you Michael.
Honestly, this is crazy.
We’re talking about that little prick called ego. Ego loves competition, right, because for someone to win, someone has to lose.
But the paradox is that true art, true individual expression -- as all the work of these incredible fellow filmmakers -- can’t be compared, can’t be labelled, can’t be defeated, because they exist and our work will only be judged, as always, by time.
So I am just very grateful, thankful, humbly honoured by The Academy which I think for this incredible recognition. Which I have it here because of the work of all the actors, all the producers, uh Chivo Lubezki who I didn’t mention -- Chivo, you are the genius, you are the artist of our generation -- Martin Hernandez, Antonio Sanchez, so many wonderful people work on this film.
And obviously again I forget some of you, I forget so many of you, this is like a slow-motion kind of moment in my life. So forgive me if I forgot everybody and [in Mexican] here’s to my Mexican compatriots.
Best Adapted Screenplay: Graham Moore, The Imitation Game
Thank you so much to the Academy and to Oprah for this.
I need to shower my love and kisses on everyone who’s a part of our Imitation Game family: Morten, Norah, Ido, Teddy, Kiera, Benedict, Billy, Alexandra, our entire cast, Maria, I love you guys so much. Thank you for this film, I’m so indebted to you for it.
So here’s the thing: Alan Turing never got to stand on a stage like this and look out at all of these disconcertingly attractive faces and I do, and that’s the most unfair thing I think I’ve ever heard. And so in this brief time here what I want to use it to do is to say this: Um, when I was 16 years old, I tried to kill myself because I felt weird and I felt different and I felt I did not belong. And now I’m standing here and so I would like this moment to be for that kid out there who feels like she’s weird or she’s different or she doesn’t fit in anywhere; yes, you do. I promise you, you do.
Stay weird, stay different -- and when it’s your turn and you’re standing on this stage, please pass the same message to the next person who comes along. Thank you so much!
Best Original Song: Glory, from Selma, by John Legend and Common
Common: First off, I’d like to thank God that lives in us all.
Recently, John and I got to go to Selma and perform Glory on the same bridge that Dr King and the people of the civil rights movement marched on 50 years ago. This bridge was once a landmark of a divided nation, but now is a symbol for change.
The spirit of this bridge transcends race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, and social status. The spirit of this bridge connects the kid from the South side of Chicago, dreaming of a better life to those in France standing up for their freedom of expression to the people in Hong Kong protesting for democracy.
This bridge was built on hope. Welded with compassion. And elevated by love for all human beings.
John Legend: Thank you. Nina Simone said it’s an artist’s duty to reflect the times in which we live.
We wrote this song for a film that was based on events that were 50 years ago, but we say Selma is now, because the struggle for justice is right now.
We know that the voting rights, the act that they fought for 50 years ago is being compromised right now in this country today. We know that right now the struggle for freedom and justice is real.
We live in the most incarcerated country in the world. There are more black men under correctional control today than were under slavery in 1850. When people are marching with our song, we want to tell you that we are with you, we see you, we love you, and march on.
Best Actress: Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Thank you so much! I read an article that said that winning an Oscar could lead to living five years longer; if that’s true, I’d really like to thank The Academy because my husband is younger than me.
There’s no such thing as Best Actress, as is evidenced by the performances of my fellow nominees; I’ve been honoured to be among you, every step of the way. I am grateful for this and grateful for the opportunity to stand up here and thank people that I love.
My manager Evelyn O’Neill, Kevin Eubane, Josh Eubane, my family, my grandparents, my brother Peter, my sister Valerie, my mother and father who told me I could be whatever I wanted to be if I got an education, although I don’t think they meant an actress.
I thank my dad for showing me the world.
I want to thank everybody who made this movie. Sony Classics, Killer Films, James Brown, Lex Lexus, Lisa Genova, Kristen Steward, Alec Baldwin.
I’m so happy, I’m thrilled, actually, that we were able to hopefully shine a light on Alzheimer’s Disease. So many people with this disease feel marginalised, and one of the wonderful things about movies is that it makes us feel seen, and not alone. And people with Alzheimer’s deserve to be seen so that we can find a cure.
And finally to our filmmakers, Wash Westmoreland and Richard Glatzer, who had hoped to be here tonight but they can’t be here because of Richard’s health. When Richard was diagnosed with ALS, Wash asked him what he wanted to do: did he want to travel, did he want to see the world, and he said that he wanted to make movies. And that’s what he did.
And finally, for my husband Bart and our children Cal and Liv, thank you for my life, thank you for giving me a home. Thank you very much for this.
Best Supporting Actor: JK Simmons, Whiplash
Wow, thank you. Thank you to the Academy. Thank you to everyone involved in the making of Whiplash.
And I am grateful everyday for the most remarkable person I know: my wife, the wonderful Michelle Schumacher. I'm grateful for your love, your kindness, your wisdom, your sacrifice and your patience.
Which brings me to the above-average children -- even though I may try their patience more. Joe and Olivia, you are extraordinary human beings. Smart, funny, kind, loving people and that's because you are a reflection of your mother.
And if I may, call your mom, everybody. I've told this [to], like, a billion people, or so. Call your mom, call your dad. If you're lucky enough to have a parent or two alive on this planet, call them. Don't text. Don't email. Call them on the phone. Tell them you love them, and thank them, and listen to them for as long as they want to talk to you.
Thank you. Thank you, Mom and Dad.
Best Actor: Eddie Redmayne, The Theory Of Everything
I don't think I'm capable of articulating quite how I feel right now. This belongs to all of those people around the world battling ALS.
It belongs to one exceptional family -- Stephen, Jane, Jonathan and the Hawking children. And I will be its custodian. And I promise you I will look after him.
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