Film

Olivia Colman’s Acceptance Speech Proves She Is All Of Us (If We Were All Oscar-Winning Actors)

by Joseph Earp  25 February 2019
Olivia Colman winning the Oscar for Best Actress for The Favourite

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Despite the fact that she was nominated for her work in a film called The Favourite, Olivia Colman was something of a dark horse in the Oscars race for Best Actress.

After all, she was up against Lady Gaga, whose performance in A Star Is Born has long been an awards contender heavyweight, and Glenn Close, whose nomination for The Wife was widely seen as an opportunity for the storied actress to finally take out an Oscar.

But, to the surprise of Oscar-watchers everywhere, Colman picked up the gong and gave one of the most deeply relatable speeches of the night.

“I have to thank a lot of people,” Colman said, crying. “If by the way, I forget anybody I’ll find you later and give you a massive snog, and feel bad about forgetting you up here.

“Emily [Stone] and Rachel [Weisz], the two loveliest women in the world to go to work with every day,” Colman continued. “You can imagine. This wasn’t a hard job.

“And to be in this category in this extraordinary women… Glenn Close: you’ve been my idol for so long. And this is not how I wanted this to be,” she joked, to Close’s delight. “I love you all.

“My kids are at home and watching,” Colman said, crying. “Well, if you’re not then, well kind of…” She shrugged. “Well done. But I kind of hope you are. Because this is not going to happen again.”

Then, Colman moved on, and directed the speech outwards, to aspiring actresses.

“To any little girl who is practising their speech [for] the telly: you never know.

“I used to work as a cleaner, and I loved that job. And I did spend a lot of time imagining this.”

And then, as though the whole speech hadn’t already knocked it out of the park, Colman ended it with the best imaginable sign off: the words, “Lady Gaga”, murmured in a tone of astonishment.

It was proof, if any was needed, that the actress is the most relatable in Hollywood, and should win every award forever, for the rest of time.