Oscars 2014: all the speeches

Transcripts of all Academy Awards winners’ onstage speeches…

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave

Yes! Thank you to the Academy for this incredible recognition. It doesn’t escape me for one moment that so much joy in my life is thanks to so much pain in someone else’s. And so I want to salute the spirit of Patsey for her guidance. And for Solomon, thank you for telling her story and your own. Steve McQueen, you charge everything you fashion with a breath of your own spirit. Thank you so much for putting me in this position. This has been the joy of my life. I’m certain that the dead are standing about you and watching and they are grateful and so am I.

Chiwetel, thank you for your fearlessness and how deeply you went into telling Solomon’s story. Michael Fassbender, thank you so much. You were my rock. Alfre and Sarah, it was a thrill to work with you. Joe Walker, the invisible performer in the editing room, thank you. Sean Bobbitt, Kalaadevi, Adruitha, Patty Norris, thank you, thank you, thank you, I could not be here without your work.

I want to thank my family for your training and the Yale School of Drama as well for your training. My friends, the Wilsons, this one’s for you. My brother, Junior, sitting by my side. Thank you so much. You are my best friend. And Ben, my other best friend, my chosen family.

When I look down at this golden statue, may it remind me and every little child that no matter where you’re from your dreams are valid.

Thank you.

Performance by an actor in a leading role

Matthew McConaughey in “Dallas Buyers Club”

Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you to the Academy for this—all 6,000 members. Thank you to the other nominees. All these performances were impeccable in my opinion. I didn’t see a false note anywhere. I want to thank Jean-Marc Vallée, our director. Want to thank Jared Leto, Jennifer Garner, who I worked with daily.

There’s a few things, about three things to my account that I need each day. One of them is something to look up to, another is something to look forward to, and another is someone to chase. Now, first off, I want to thank God. ‘Cause that’s who I look up to. He has graced my life with opportunities that I know are not of my hand or any other human hand. He has shown me that it’s a scientific fact that gratitude reciprocates. In the words of the late Charlie Laughton, who said, “When you’ve got God, you got a friend. And that friend is you.”

To my family, that who and what I look forward to. To my father who, I know he’s up there right now with a big pot of gumbo. He’s got a lemon meringue pie over there. He’s probably in his underwear. And he’s got a cold can of Miller Lite and he’s dancing right now. To you, Dad, you taught me what it means to be a man. To my mother who’s here tonight, who taught me and my two older brothers… demanded that we respect ourselves. And what we in turn learned was that we were then better able to respect others. Thank you for that, Mama. To my wife, Camila, and my kids Levi, Vida and Mr. Stone, the courage and significance you give me every day I go out the door is unparalleled. You are the four people in my life that I want to make the most proud of me. Thank you.

And to my hero. That’s who I chase. Now when I was 15 years old, I had a very important person in my life come to me and say “who’s your hero?” And I said, “I don’t know, I gotta think about that. Give me a couple of weeks.” I come back two weeks later, this person comes up and says “who’s your hero?” I said, “I thought about it. You know who it is? It’s me in 10 years.” So I turned 25. Ten years later, that same person comes to me and says, “So, are you a hero?” And I was like, “not even close. No, no, no.” She said, “Why?” I said, “Because my hero’s me at 35.” So you see every day, every week, every month and every year of my life, my hero’s always 10 years away. I’m never gonna be my hero. I’m not gonna attain that. I know I’m not, and that’s just fine with me because that keeps me with somebody to keep on chasing.

So, to any of us, whatever those things are, whatever it is we look up to, whatever it is we look forward to, and whoever it is we’re chasing, to that I say, “Amen.” To that I say, “Alright, alright, alright.” To that I say “just keep living.” Thank you.

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

Jared Leto in “Dallas Buyers Club”

Incredible. Ellen, I love you. To my fellow nominees, I’m so proud to share this journey with you. I’m in awe and have so much respect for you all. To the Academy, thank you. In 1971, Bossier City, Louisiana, there was a teenage girl who was pregnant with her second child. She was a high school dropout and a single mom, but somehow she managed to make a better life for herself and her children. She encouraged her kids to be creative, to work hard and to do something special. That girl is my mother and she’s here tonight. And I just want to say, I love you, Mom. Thank you for teaching me to dream. To my brother, Shannon, the best big brother in the world, you’re a true artist. Thank you so much for sharing this insane and amazing adventure that is 30 Seconds to Mars, and for being my best friend. I love you. Thank you.

To all the dreamers out there around the world watching this tonight in places like the Ukraine and Venezuela, I want to say we are here and as you struggle to… to make your dreams happen, to live the impossible… We’re thinking of you tonight. And this is, is incredibly special as well because there’s so many people that helped me get here. And I just want to say thank you to Focus Features, to Mick Sullivan, to Jim Toth, to Jason Weinberg, to Emma Ludbrook, to Kelly Adams, to the entire Dallas Buyers Club team. Matthew, I love. Jean-Marc. And this for the
36 million people who have lost the battle to AIDS and to those of you out there who have ever felt injustice because of who you are or who you love, tonight I stand here in front of the world with you and for you. Thank you so much and goodnight.

Performance by an actress in a leading role

Cate Blanchett in “Blue Jasmine”

Sit down. You’re too old to be standing. Thank you, Mr. Day-Lewis, from you it exacerbates this honor to and it blows it right out of the ballpark. Thank you so much to the Academy. As random and as subjective as this award is, it means a great deal in a year of extraordinary, yet again, extraordinary performances by women. Amy Adams, everything you do, but your performance in American Hustle blew my mind. And Meryl, what can I say? Sandra, I could watch that performance to the end of time, and I sort of felt like I had. Julia, #suckit. You know what I mean? And Judi Dench, I mean what a career. She’s not here tonight because at the age of 79, her film was so successful that she’s in India doing a sequel. I mean what a career that is, if I could hope.

And me, I’m here excepting an award in an extraordinary screenplay by Woody Allen. Thank you so much, Woody, for casting me. I truly appreciate it. I’m so very proud that Blue Jasmine stayed in the cinemas for as long as it did. And thank you to Sony Classics, to Michael and Tom for their extraordinary support. For so bravely and intelligently distributing the film and to the audiences who went to see it and perhaps those of us in the industry who are still foolishly clinging to the idea that female films with women at the center are niche experiences. They are not. Audiences want to see them and, in fact, they earn money. The world is round, people.

Thank you to my mum, to my sister, to my brother, to my three glorious sons. I would not be standing here without you. To my husband, Andrew, you are a legend. Thank you to my agent, Hylda Queally, you’re behind the pillar somewhere up there. You are a goddess. To my agent in Australia, Robyn Gardiner, I love you so very much. To my publicist Lisa Kasteler. To the sublime Sally Hawkins. And to the extraordinary cast of Blue Jasmine. I don’t know how to do this with other actors and this I share with you. To the hair and makeup people who sweated me up and tried to make me look attractive. Thank you for the attempt. To Carla Meyer for getting Sally and I together and for incredible support. To Helen Robin. To everyone involved in Blue Jasmine, I thank you so much.

And finally, I would like to thank every single member of the Sydney Theatre Company, one of the great theater companies in the world. For me, working on Blue Jasmine, it was a real synthesis of my work in the theater and on film. And not only working with you for the last six years has been the most enormous privilege of my career but it’s made me a better actress. There is so much talent in Australia and Michael Wilkinson and C.M. and I are just tonight’s tip of the iceberg. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Best motion picture of the year

“12 Years A Slave” Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Steve McQueen and Anthony Katagas, Producers

Brad Pitt: Thank you all. Thank you for this incredible honor you bestowed on our film tonight. I know I speak for everyone standing behind me that it has been an absolute privilege to work on Solomon’s story. And we all get to stand up here tonight because of one man who brought us all together to tell that story. And that is the indomitable Mr. Steve McQueen.

Steve McQueen: Oh wow. I’m sorry, I apologize for the paper but otherwise I’ll just bore you all. Well, maybe I’ll do the same now but I’ll try not to. I’d first like to thank the Academy. Thank you so much. There are a lot of people for me to thank so I’ll just push on. My wonderful cast and crew, Plan B, Brad Pitt, who without him this film would just not have been made. Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner and Anthony Katagas. River Road, Bill Pohlad, New Regency, Arnon Milchan and Brad Weston. Film4, to the great Tessa Ross. And Fox Searchlight, Steve Gilula and Nancy Utley, and their fantastic team.

My publicist Paula Woods, I’m sorry about this, for her hard work. April Lamb, and my magnificent agents. I have to say this to all these women, I have all the women in my life and they’re all the most powerful. And my mother, obviously. Maha Dakhil – I can’t even pronounce it. Maha, I’m nervous, I can’t pronounce your name, you know who you are – Beth Swofford, Jenne Casarotto and Jodi Shields. Just give me one more minute. I’d like to thank this amazing historian, Sue Eakin, whose life, she gave her life’s work to preserving Solomon’s book. I’d like to thank my partner, Bianca Stigter, for unearthing this treasure for me. Finally, I thank my mother. My mum’s up there. Thank you for your hard-headedness, Mum, thank you. And my children, Alex and Dexter. And my father, thank you.

The last word: everyone deserves not just to survive, but to live. This is the most important legacy of Solomon Northup. I dedicate this award to all the people who have endured slavery. And the 21 million people who still suffer slavery today. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Best animated feature film of the year

“Frozen” Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee and Peter Del Vecho

Jennifer Lee: We’re gonna do this together because we’re collaborative, but we’ll be fast.

Peter Del Vecho: First, we want to thank each and every person at Walt Disney Animation Studios, our family. We are so proud of you for making the film as magical as it is. And we’re bringing this home to you.

Jennifer Lee: And for our personal families and dearest friends, thank you so much for supporting us through this hard work. And for really being our inspiration.

Chris Buck: And finally we’d like to dedicate this to our guardian angel, that’s my son, Ryder Buck. Thank you, Ryder.

Jennifer Lee: Thank you.

Achievement in cinematography

“Gravity” Emmanuel Lubezki

I want to thank the Academy for this amazing award. I would like to share this with the cast and crew. I know everybody says that. But I truly want to share it with the cast and crew, especially with my friend and my teacher, Mr. Alfonso Cuarón. To your passion and your creativity and your drive, I mean, incredible. And with Tim Webber and the team of Framestore nerds that made this trip possible. I want to share it as well with David Heyman and Warner Bros. for making the movie and with Sandy Bullock. Sandita, you are absolutely amazing. To my wife, Laurencita, Alejandra and Dani, my daughters, my parents, my family, my friends, my teachers… not all of them, but some of them. And thank you so much. Goodnight.

Achievement in costume design

“The Great Gatsby” Catherine Martin

I do have a few words tucked into my bra. It’s a very Australian thing to do. It’s where you put your tissues. I’ll be very short. It’s not a long list. Of course, I’d like to thank the Academy, but mainly I’d like to thank my incredible team. I have a group of ladies who are sewing for me right now in Sydney on a show we’re making of Baz’s first film, a musical. They’re my golden girls. They’ve been working with me for 25 years. They bring me such incredible luck. They’ll all be watching the TV right now and they know who they are. There are two people I have to thank very, very specially - Kerry Thompson and Silvana Azzi Heras and, of course, my incomparable husband, Baz Luhrmann, he makes it all possible. He dreams the dream.

Achievement in directing

“Gravity” Alfonso Cuarón

Wow, thank you. Thanks to the Academy. Like any other human endeavor, making a film can be a transformative experience, and I want to thank Gravity because for many of us involved in this film, it was definitely a transformative experience. And it’s good, because it took so long that if not, it would be like a waste of time. What really sucks is that for a lot of these people, that transformation was wisdom; for me, it was just the color of my hair. I want to share this with all these wise people who made this movie happen: my amazing son and co-writer Jonás Cuarón. Sandra Bullock. Sandy, you’re Gravity. You are the soul, the heart of the film. You’re the most amazing collaborator and one of the best people I ever met. George Clooney, for your absolute trust. David Heyman, Chivo and Tim Webber for making this film happen. The wise guys of Warner Bros., the wise people at Warner Bros., Kevin Tsujihara, Sue Kroll, [unintelligible], Greg Silverman, Lynn Harris, Chris De Faria. And the film took so long that we went through two different administrations, so I have to honor as well Alan Horn and Jeff Robinov. Alejandro González Iñárritu and Guillermo del Toro et Gabriela Rodriguez et Steve Rabineau, Henry Holmes et Jim Berkus, Tracey Jacobs, Cristina, [Spanish] Sheherazade, Bu, Olmo. [Spanish]. Bye guys.

Best documentary feature

“20 Feet from Stardom” Morgan Neville, Gil Friesen and Caitrin Rogers

Morgan Neville: Thank you. I first want to thank, along with my producer, Cait, our other producer Gil Friesen. This was his idea and it was his baby. And when I first met with him I remember he said, “I want to win an Oscar.” I remember thinking, “You’re crazy… that will NEVER happen.” Gil passed away just weeks before we premiered the film at Sundance. And tonight I know he’s celebrating with us along with his wife, Janet, and his son, Theo. I just want to thank my backup singers… my wife, Jennette, my kids, Sadie and Cameron. I want to thank our amazing distributors, RADiUS and the Weinstein Company. And lastly, these incredible singers like Miss Darlene Love.

Darlene Love: Lord God, I praise you. I am so happy to be here representing the ladies of 20 Feet from Stardom. Singing: “I sing because I’m happy! I sing because I’m free. ‘Cause his eye is on the sparrow and I know he watches me.” Alton, I love you.

Best documentary short subject

“The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life” Malcolm Clarke and Nicholas Reed

Malcolm Clarke: Thank you. When I met Alice Sommer I was struck by two things, her extraordinary capacity for joy and her amazing capacity for forgiveness. For those of you who don’t know it, the amazing Alice Sommer died one week ago today. She was 110. She died quietly. And so this really is, and that (pointing to second Oscar), they’re both for Alice. She was a woman who taught everyone on my crew to be a little bit more optimistic and a little bit more happy about all the things that were happening in our lives and, see the film, she’ll help you live, I think, a much happier life. Thank you so much. Thank you, Nick.

Nicholas Reed: Thank you to the crew, Chris Branch, Phil Goldfine, Frederic, Tim, Kieran, [unintelligible] and Carl.

Achievement in film editing

“Gravity” Alfonso Cuarón and Mark Sanger

Mark Sanger: Thank you very much, a great honor. I’d like to thank our amazing team, headed by Tania Goding, Debs Richardson, Steve Pang, Steve Mates, Alastair Grimshaw, Alex Fein, and Ruth Antoine. I’d like to thank my lovely wife, Mrs. Sanger, over there, and all I can say is…And the unsung hero in all of this, our executive producer Nikki Penny. There is no greater accolade than to be recognized by those who inspire you, and by that I mean, you sir, my fellow nominees and the Academy, thank you very much indeed.

Alfonso Cuarón: And bye.

Best foreign language film of the year

“The Great Beauty” Italy

Paolo Sorrentino:  Okay, thank you to the Academy. Thank you to Toni and Nicola and all the actors, producers and the crew. Thank you to my sources of inspiration: Federico Fellini, [unintelligible], Martin Scorsese, [unintelligible]. And thank you to Roma and to Napoli and to my personal great beauty, Daniela, Anna and Carlo. And thank you to my brother, Marco, my sister, Daniela and this is for my parents [unintelligible]. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Achievement in makeup and hairstyling

“Dallas Buyers Club” Adruitha Lee and Robin Mathews

Robin Mathews: Thank you so much to the Academy. My goodness, you all fought for the hair and makeup of this film. You fought for it and even fulfilled every dream we’ve ever had. To our friends and family, thank you. To Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto, thank you so much for letting us transform and torture you through a million, bazillion hair and makeup changes a day. And for your support with our makeup.

Jean-Marc Vallée, you are a visionary. You are so amazing. And thank you for choosing the two of us to take this crazy journey with you. And finally for all the victims of AIDS, we are so lucky and blessed to be able to bring your story to the forefront of the younger generation today that doesn’t understand AIDS `85. We’re very blessed. Thank you.

Adruitha Lee: Thank you. Hello, Alex and Nathan.

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)

“Gravity” Steven Price

Thank you. Thank you, Academy. Thank you so very much. Alfonso, I share this with you. You inspired every frame of this film and certainly every note that I ever wrote. Thank you for this remarkable opportunity. To all the musicians and friends who lent their talents to this score, thank you. I get to stand here, but this really belongs to all of us. Thank you to all at Warner Bros. and thank you to GSA, everyone on this film for their incredible support. One of the amazing things about working on this film is that in telling the story of Ryan Stone we got to ultimately bring her home and celebrate life and this is dedicated to the people with whom I share my life—my family. Thank you, Mum, Dad, Jenny—sorry I made so much noise when I was growing up.

My wife, Gemma, our lovely children, Amy and Eva. Thank you so much.

Achievement in production design

“The Great Gatsby” Production Design: Catherine Martin; Set Decoration: Beverley Dunn

Beverley Dunn: Thank you. Thank you to the Academy. Thank you to our fellow nominees. We were among a great group of people. I accept this award on behalf of the truly many technicians who fall under the umbrella of the art department. And believe you me, on Gatsby, there were many, many very talented technicians who worked on the film.

Catherine Martin: I’d like to thank Karen Murphy, my associate production designer. Neither Bev nor I would be standing here if it wasn’t for you. Our supervising art director, Ian Gracie. You rock and you swear a lot. Thank you and I’ve just got to shout-out to my children or they’ll never forgive me. Hi, Lilly. Hi, William. Thank you.

Best animated short film

“Mr. Hublot” Laurent Witz and Alexandre Espigares

Laurent Witz: Sorry, lot of emotion. I have to take a paper. Thank you, the Academy, for this award. Thank you for supporting shorts and new talents. It’s my first movie as director and producer. The first movie of Alexandre as co-director. I feel it’s an American dream. Thank you Stéphane Halleux, your fantastic [unintelligible] and artwork, you deserve an Oscar, my friend. Thank you, Mickael, Pascal, David [unintelligible], Li-Lo and the rest of the team. Their work was [unintelligible]. Many thanks to Film Fund Luxembourg, Guy, here, the CNC [unintelligible],ARTE. Thank you to my family and especially Audrey and my children. Thank you. I love you. And finally, thank you Mr. Hublot for making this dream become reality. Thank you very much.
Merci.

Best live action short film

“Helium” Anders Walter and Kim Magnusson

Anders Walter: Wow, this is crazy. I want to thank the Academy. And I want to thank the Short Branch for keeping this category in the show.

It’s amazing. It’s an amazing window for new talents to show their film. I want to thank an amazing cast. A fantastic crew who did this film for no money at all, who just showed up and fell in love with this… this film. And I want to thank my family, I want to thank my beautiful wife, Ana, and my beautiful daughter, Clara. And I want to thank two great producers who’s always behind me. One is Tivi Magnusson and the other one is his son, this guy, Kim Magnusson.

Kim Magnusson: I just want to take a quick note and thank everybody who keeps on making the shorts. Our fellow nominees, thank you, congratulations to all. And then I would like to thank my wife, Rebecca, my four kids, and for my mother… this is for you. Iknow you’re watching at home, sick. So this is for you, Mom.

Achievement in sound editing

“Gravity” Glenn Freemantle

Glenn Freemantle: Wow, my heart’s beating faster than Sandra’s. Obviously I’d like to thank Alfonso Cuarón for an amazing film, absolutely amazing film. Then the reason why I’m here is because he gave us such a great opportunity, all of us, and he brought us all together and he pushed us and he pushed us right into the middle of the night, sometimes longer, but it’s brilliant. And also I’d like to thank my crew, obviously, they worked so hard. And David Heyman and Warner Bros., they were 100% behind us and we couldn’t have done it without that commitment from everybody [unintelligible]. We were such a team on this film, and sort of had a big bond. And I’d like to thank everybody else on the film. I’d like to thank my wife Allison and my boys Danny, Nick and Ollie, and my crew. Thank you very, very much.

Achievement in sound mixing

“Gravity” Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead and Chris Munro

Skip Liev say: Thank you Academy members and thank you very much to our fearless leader, Alfonso, wherever you are. We want to thank you for your amazing, incredible vision and also for your incredible patience. We’d also like to thank David Heyman, Nikki Penny, Warner Bros., and our fantastic team of production sound people and post-production people who worked very hard on this movie. And I would like to thank my wife Elizabeth and my children, Miranda and Henry, wherever you are. I love you very much.

Chris Munro: And, of course, Sandra and George for bringing reality to the unreal. Chris and Niv would like to thank their families for bringing us all down to Earth. And right now, we’re over the moon.

Achievement in visual effects

“Gravity” Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk and Neil Corbould

Tim Webber: On behalf of all of us, thank you so much to the Academy, for this honor in a year with such amazing visual effects. Visual effects and filmmaking is all about the team and there’s far too many to mention properly but I’d like to mention David Heyman, Nikki Penny, Emmanuel Lubezki, all of the shooting crew, RSP, and the incredible team at Framestore. It seemed like a crazy project so thank you to Warner Bros. and in particular Chris De Faria for believing in it. To George Clooney and especially Sandra Bullock for filling our visual effects with life and with emotion. But most of all, to Alfonso Cuarón for having, with Jonás, the vision of this breathtaking film, the audacity to make it happen and the courage to trust us to have such a big part in making it come to life. And finally, thank you to our families and the families of all visual effects artists. Thank you very much.

Adapted screenplay

“12 Years a Slave” Screenplay by John Ridley

Thank you, all. I started writing in sitcoms a long time ago. And at that time I was very fortunate to meet a script coordinator who was gracious enough to read everything I wrote. And when she thought it was ready, she put a smiling face at the end and I knew that it was job done. And, Gayle, seeing you here tonight, smiling, you take away all that soul-crushing inadequacy. All the praise goes to Solomon Northup.

Those are his words. That is his life. All the thanks goes to the entire crew, the entire cast, to everyone at Fox Searchlight, at River Road, at New Regency and Plan B, Mr. Pitt, most especially to Dede and Jeremy Kleiner, you made this film happen. Jeremy, you made it happen.

Thank you so much. Mom, Dad, Lisa, Beth, John, Jason…all my love. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Original screenplay

“Her” Written by Spike Jonze

Wow. Thank you. Thank you very much. This is an amazing moment. I appreciate it. I have 42 seconds to speak, so I better hurry. I’m not up here alone. I’m up here with all of my friends and family who support me and help me make what we make. Everybody… Many of them in the room. But they’re all up here in this room, up on the stage with me right now. And I appreciate everyone. There’s Hoyte, he’s over there laughing next to Robert De Niro. There’s Natalie crying, Bryan smiling. Megan Ellison, who’s very shy. She’s hiding in the back. It’s all of my friends. Everyone that I love. We made a movie about relationships and intimacy and that’s what we share together, and so this is for all of us up here. And thank you guys for this.

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)

“Let It Go” from “Frozen”
Music and Lyric by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez

Robert Lopez: Wow, thank you Academy

Kristen: And to our fellow nominees, you are all rock stars.

Both: Literally

Kristen: We have so many people to thank, luckily, everybody’s name rhymes.

Robert: Idina Menzel

Kristen: Kristen Bell

Robert: Jennifer Lee

Kristen: Peter Del V.

Robert: Chris Buck

Kristen: Chris Beck

Robert: John Lasseter

Both, singing: Happy Oscars to you. Let’s do Frozen 2.

Robert: Tom MacDougall

Kristen: Chris Montan

Robert: Oremus

Kristen: Metzger

Robert: Besterman

Kristen: The Anderson

Robert: And the Lopez Clan

Kristen: Jon Groff

Robert: Josh Gad

Both: Mom and dad

Robert: John Buzzetti and our team back East

Kristen: and Kate…Brooklyn. And last but not least

Robert: Our girls

Kristen: Katie and Annie. This song is inspired by our love for you and the hope that you never let fear or shame keep you from celebrating the unique people that you are. Thank you, we love you.

Robert: We love you. Thank you.