Great Acceptance Speeches: Halle Berry, "Monster's Ball"
We asked Team Experience to share their favourite Oscar acceptance speeches as we countdown to Hollywood's High Holy Night. Here's Chris Feil...
Would that all Best Actress years be as stacked and competitive as 2001. All major precursors had gone to a different performance (with Renée Zellweger’s Bridget Jones as a wildcard fifth nominee): BAFTA to Judi Dench, Globes for Nicole Kidman and Sissy Spacek, and SAG going to Halle Berry. But it would be the latter that would yield our ultimate momentous winner for her work in Monster’s Ball. It already felt like a showdown before her name was called, and this win would be the real event.
Berry was the first woman of color to win for a leading performance, and infuriatingly remains the only one. But you can see the passion in the room to overturn that embarrassingly legacy, the audience leaping to their feet as a stunned Berry initially collapsed into her seat. Denzel Washington would also win on a night that also saw a lifetime achievement prize given to Sidney Poitier - it’s a ceremony whose impact the Academy should consider chasing rather than pat itself on the back for...