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Last night (well early this morning) the Oscars were held in Hollywood. This is the film industry’s big night, the night when actors, directors, writers and everyone else involved gets to pat one another on the back. It truly does embody “Hollywood” and I have to say I love it. From the red carpet to the hours and hours of awards, it’s great fun.
You can see the full run down of winners here but the film I had my fingers crossed for was Milk and I was beyond delighted to see both Sean Penn (Leading Actor) and Dustin Lance Black (Writer) pick up the big prize. Both were well deserved and made my night. It wouldn’t be Oscar night without a few tears and I have to say that the acceptance speech by Dustin Lance Black was just beautiful, here’s a small section of it
I wanna thank my mom, who has always loved me for who I am even when there was pressure not to. But most of all, if Harvey had not been taken from us 30 years ago, I think he’d want me to say to all of the gay and lesbian kids out there tonight who have been told that they are less than by their churches, by the government or by their families, that you are beautiful, wonderful creatures of value and that no matter what anyone tells you, God does love you and that very soon, I promise you, you will have equal rights federally, across this great nation of ours. Thank you. Thank you. And thank you, God, for giving us Harvey Milk.
that brought a tear to my eye I must say. Also worth noting were the white ribbons worn by many attendees, this ribbon is worn in support of marriage equality and I was thrilled to see so many wear it.
Unfortunately there were protesters outside the event, Sean Penn put it best when he said
for those who saw the signs of hatred as our cars drove in tonight, I think that it is a good time for those who voted for the ban against gay marriage to sit and reflect and anticipate their great shame and the shame in their grand-children’s eyes if they continue that way of support.
I can’t remember an award ceremony that had gay rights so at it’s heart and it really was something to witness.
Of course the amazing Heath Ledger won Best Actor in a Supporting Role and when his father began to speak I got a lump in my throat too, wonderful.
The big winner of the night was Slumdog Millionaire, which won for Directing, Song, Score, Editing, Sound Mixing, Cinematography, Adapted Screenplay and of course, the big one, Best Picture. It’s hard to argue with any of those, as this is an amazing film and one of the best this year without a doubt.
There are a few films that were nominated that I have yet to see so I can’t really say who deserved to win but I’m happy with the outcome overall. You can see highlights at 9.00pm on RTE2.
It’s great to see a film like Milk get the votes from the Academy members, let’s hope this is a sign of things to come from them. I also hope that this means that, when the next screenwriter turns up with a script like this, they are taken seriously. This could be another step in getting “gay stories” out there and that can only be a good thing.
Conrats to Sean Penn, Dustin Lance Black and indeed Gus Van Sant.