The curse is finally over. Kind of.
I broke with traditional this year and actually caught bits and pieces of the Academy Awards telecast—live. Not on TiVo, not via clips on the local news, not on Oprah’s annual ultimate post-Oscar show, and not by navigating the Internet the day after.
I actually got to see nominees react in real time when their names were announced as Academy Award winners.
Thrillsville, right?
Not so fast.
Given that I’ve missed the last seven consecutive Oscar shows, I would say that last night’s accomplishment was one for the record books.
It’s interesting the way the Oscars look when you’ve taken a seven-year break… and no, my sabbatical didn’t make show hosts’ James Franco and Anne Hathaway any more entertaining.
Boring hosts aside, the thing that struck me the most about last night’s show was the sheer number of winners who took the time to thank their parents for helping them grip Oscar gold.
Best Actress winner Natalie Portman, herself a mom-to-be, jubilantly thanked her parents for “giving her life.”
Likewise, this year’s Best Director award recipient, Tom Hooper, thanked his beloved mother for leading him to the play that would eventually become the night’s big winner.
In his acceptance speech Hooper shared that his mom “was invited to a fringe theater play reading at an unproduced, unrehearsed play called The King’s Speech.” She almost didn’t go. “But thank God she did,” Hooper continued. Later she called her son and said “Tom, I think I found your next film.” Before walking off the stage Hooper added that the moral of the story is, “listen to your mother.”
Hooper did a great job with his speech, but my favorite parent moment at last night’s Academy Awards came courtesy of 73-year-old David Seidler. Upon accepting his award for Best Screenplay, Seidler tipped his hat to his dad, joking: “My father always said to me I would be a late bloomer. I believe I’m the oldest person to win this award.”
What was your favorite parent moment at the Oscars?