Memorable quotes on the big night
The 91st Academy Awards gala on Sunday was full of moving speeches and pithy jokes. Here are some of the most memorable quotes from Hollywood’s biggest night:
“To have an Oscar for ‘Moonlight’ ... gets you into other rooms. I have been wanting to stretch my legs for a very long time and this is the first time I get to stretch my legs.” – Mahershala Ali, best supporting actor Oscar winner for “Green Book”, on how his first Academy Award for “Moonlight” created new career opportunities
“I think about what it would have been like to tell little bubba Rami that one day this might happen to him. And I think his curly-haired little mind would have been blown.” – Rami Malek, best actor winner for his portrayal of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury in “Bohemian Rhapsody”
“I’m an example of what it looks like when support and love is poured into someone.” – Regina King, best supporting actress winner for “If Beale Street Could Talk”
“I grew up watching foreign language films, learning so much from them, being inspired – films like ‘Citizen Kane’, ‘Jaws’. And there are no waves, there’s only the ocean. I think the nominees tonight have proven that we are part of the same ocean.” – Alfonso Cuaron, whose “Roma” won three Oscars, including his second for best director
“Without April Reign, #OscarsSoWhite, and the former president of the Academy [of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences], Cheryl Isaacs, I wouldn’t be here tonight. They opened up the Academy to make the Academy look more like America, more diverse.” – Veteran director Spike Lee, a winner for best adapted screenplay for race drama “BlacKkKlansman”
“Marvel may have created the first black superhero, but through costume design, we turned him into an African king.” – “Black Panther” costume designer Ruth Carter, accepting her award
“I’m snakebit. I mean, every time somebody is driving somebody, I lose.” – Spike Lee, drawing a parallel between how his film “Do The Right Thing” was snubbed in favour of “Driving Miss Daisy” in 1990, and then how “Green Book” bested “BlacKkKlansman” for best picture this year
“Just a quick update, in case you’re confused: there is no host tonight, there won’t be a popular movie category, and Mexico is not paying for the wall.” – Actress-comedian Maya Rudolph poking fun at controversies confronted by the Academy ahead of the Oscars, and a jab at Donald Trump
“I can’t believe a film about menstruation just won an Oscar!” – Rayka Zehtabchi, director of “Period. End of Sentence.”, the winning best documentary short film about fighting the stigma associated with menstruation in rural India. —
I’m an example of what it looks like when support and love is poured into someone