Oscar 2010: Top 15 Speech Moments

Oscar speech moments that inspired or entertained

Ben Stiller as an Avatar Na'vi presenting the Oscar

By Robin Rowe

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Gosh!TV) 3/8/2010 – With the pressure of 41.5 million watching, the biggest Oscar audience in five years, who provided the best acceptance speech moments?

1. “We had this fantasy of making our film our way with the talent that we hoped to have, and hopefully, we would find a distributor and somebody might even like the movie,” says screenwriter Mark Boal receiving the award for Best Picture for The Hurt Locker. “So to be standing here, this was really, truly, honestly never part of anything we even imagined in our wildest dreams.”
2. “Thank you, Mom and Dad,” says Jeff Bridges receiving the Oscar for Best Actor for Crazy Heart. “They loved show biz so much and I feel an extension of them. You know, this, this is honoring them as much as it is me.”
3. “Did I really earn this or did I just wear you all down?,” says Sandra Bullock receiving the Oscar for Best Actress. “And Meryl, you know what I think of you and you are such a good kisser.”
4. ”I would not be standing here if it wasn’t for Mark Boal, who risked his life for the words on the page,” says Kathryn Bigelow receiving the Oscar for Best Director for The Hurt Locker, “and wrote such a courageous screenplay that I was fortunate enough to have an extraordinary cast bring that screenplay to life. I’d just like to dedicate this to the women and men in the military who risk their lives on a daily basis in Iraq and Afghanistan and around the world. And may they come home safe.”
5. “I was a reporter back from Iraq with the idea for a story about these men on the frontlines of an unpopular war,” says screenwriter Mark Boal receiving the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for The Hurt Locker. “To our amazing cast and crew, and most of all to one extraordinary individual and visionary filmmaker. Kathryn Bigelow, this belongs to you.”
6. “Oscar and Penélope, that’s an über bingo,” says Christoph Waltz upon receiving the Oscar from Penélope Cruz for Best Supporting Actor in Inglourious Basterds.
7. “Boy, never did I dream that making a flip book out of my third grade math book would lead to this,” says director Pete Docter receiving the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film for Up. “Thanks so much to Disney and to Pixar Animation Studios for believing in this oddball film.”
8. “In a world in which most of us are told and tell ourselves that we can’t,” says Elinor Burkett receiving the Oscar for Best Documentary Short Subject for Music by Prudence. “Liyana, the band behind this film, teaches us that we’re wrong. Against all odds they did, so we can.”
9. “I’m sorry I’m drawing a blank right now, but I thank everyone,” says screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher receiving the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire. “I wrote that speech for him,” added host Steve Martin.
10. “First, I would like to thank the Academy for showing that it can be about the performance and not the politics,” says Mo’Nique receiving the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for Precious. “Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey because you touched it, the whole world saw it.”
11. “I don’t want to step on your tail,” says Mindy Hall receiving the Oscar for Best Makeup for Star Trek from Ben Stiller wearing Avatar Na’vi vivid blue skin makeup and sporting a long tail. “It’s hard to follow that face. We had an amazing staff of artists, over 40. We share this with you and we’ll be giving your names backstage at that backstage Thank You Cam.”
12. “Thirteen years ago, the doctors told me I wasn’t going to survive, and I thought that this dream of standing here would never come true,” says Robert Stromberg receiving the Oscar for Best Art Direction for Avatar. “And, here we are. Jim, every day we went to work, we knew we were working with a genius.”
13. “I already have two of these, so I’m feeling greedy,” says designer Sandy Powell in an Edith Head moment while receiving the Oscar for Costume Design for The Young Victoria. “I’d like to dedicate this one to the costume designers that don’t do movies about dead monarchs or glittery musicals. The designers that do the contemporary films and the low-budget ones…but I’m gonna take it home tonight.”
14. “When I was nine and I asked my dad, ‘Can I have your movie camera, that old, wind-up 8-millimeter camera that was in your drawer?’”, says Michael Giacchino receiving the Oscar for Best Original Score for Up. “And he goes, ‘Sure, take it.’ And I took it and I started making movies with it and I started being as creative as I could, and never once in my life did my parents ever say, “What you’re doing is a waste of time.’”
15. “I want to thank the Academy for not considering Na’vi [the language in Avatar] a foreign language, first of all,” says Juan José Campanella receiving the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film for The Secret in Their Eyes (El Secreto de Sus Ojos). “And for letting us spend three great days in the company of incredible filmmakers.”

March 8th, 2010 · No Comments