We asked Team Experience to share their favourite Oscar acceptance speeches as we countdown to Hollywood's High Holy Night. Here's new contributor Eurocheese...
If you were a Julianne Moore fan in the 2000s and the 2010s, you had learned to live with disappointment. After four nominations years, ending on a double nomination for the one-two punch of her performances in Far from Heaven and The Hours (2002), her momentum suddenly stalled. Her Golden Globe nomination for A Single Man (2009) didn’t translate to an Oscar nod, and when Best Picture nominee The Kids Are All Right (2010) began to break out, it was clear co-stars Annette Bening and Mark Ruffalo would be getting the lion's share of accolades. So why was an actress who had received so much acclaim coming up short?
There was was an inkling that she could still have a shot at major trophies when she received an Emmy for Game Change in 2012. Of course, as it often is with the Academy, it proved to be all about timing...
The Toronto Film Festival in 2014 not only brought news of Julianne’s magnificent performance in Still Alice, but finally had the press asking what her fans had wondered for years – why doesn’t Julianne have an Oscar yet? What followed was a season that most fans could only dream would happen, a coronation of one of our great modern talents in cinema. Interviews turned into fawning sessions, used as an excuse to praise past performances as well. The Actress nominees posed in a lovely picture with her in the middle, and its radiant joy warmed the internet’s heart. Finally, it seemed, everyone had decided it was her time.
As the names were finally read on the night of the Oscars, and Matthew McConaughey paused to open the Best Actress envelope, the expectation on Julianne’s face was palpable. The joy in the room was just as palpable when her name was read, and as she approached the mic for her speech, the standing ovation erupted. What a glorious moment it must have been to see that room respond to her.
The speech was well thought out and movingly referenced both victims of Alzheimers and her director's failing health from ALC. Married co-directors Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland couldn't be there that night due to Glatzer's health and Glatzer would pass away only weeks later, thankfully he got the chance to hear Julianne's tribute to their work.
In the final moments of Julianne’s speech, with her husband’s face beaming with pride from the audience, she ended with a gorgeous tribute to her family:
Thank you for my life. Thank you for giving me a home.”
One of the things that I love most about this win is the idea that putting in the work, and continuing to build a legacy based on consistently impressing, really does pay off in the end. We’ve seen it in recent years with Nicole Kidman, who’s been vocal about being grateful to have ongoing opportunities and loving her craft. We may see it from the stage this year, as Glenn Close has been very aware in her speeches of what this moment in time means. For all the frustrations the Oscar night can sometimes bring, moments like these remind us that these awards matter to people who seek the respect of their peers, and they matter to those of us who have so much respect for the talent that most moves us on screen.