2 Days Till Oscar. Speech! Speech! Speech!
Friday, February 24, 2012 at 7:46PM If you've been wondering what sent me into such a flashback mode these past two weeks prior to Oscar night, the answer can now be revealed.
I've been in my gold plated Oscar Laboratory crunching a ton of data for this Acceptance Speech Analysis at Slate. It's my first piece for Slate and it's even got fancy interactive infographics courtesy of Natalie Matthews-Ramos. Fun that they found a Natalie to accompany me, yes?
It’s my firm belief that what comes out in the moment—or doesn’t—is a true reflection of feeling, whether the speech feels rehearsed and polished or immediate and spazzy. And in Hollywood—and what’s more Hollywood than the Oscars?—billing matters.
I'm so proud of it I think somebody should give me a trophy so that I can cry, shake, tremble and forget who I should be thanking on Oscar weekend. Well, all of you reading daily, for sure.
Go read it and share with everyone you'd thank on the big night.
Acceptance Speeches, Oscar Trivia, Penélope Cruz
Reader Comments (8)
Yeah. Yeah. Wonderful... Inspiring.... Now, where are your final predictions? My Oscar Pool Ballot is due tonight by midnight and I need you to break the tie on the key tech categories you are so fabulous at! ; ) (Mainly Visual Effects and Cinematography this year) Seriously... you have the best record out of all predictors in six categories.... and for that I am eternally grateful.
Didn't Nicole Kidman end her speech with her mother and daughter?
Great work Nate. I found it all fascinating and interesting. Thanks for all the effort that must have gone into that.
Nathan how many actors kiss someone who's not their partner while going up to the podium? I know Daniel Day-Lewis did it to Clooney and Kathy Bates did it to Anjel.
Clooney concluded his acceptance speech by thanking the Academy for his Oscar ("I'm proud to be a part of this Academy. Proud to be part of this community, and proud to be out of touch. And I thank you so much for this").
Suzanne & RM -- Slate was real sticklers about "actual" thanking so if someone said something like "i hope i make my mom proud" for example, that wasn't considering "thanking"... Clooney's thank you was as you typed but all purpose.
anyway i gave Slate all my research and wrote my piece but they made the final calls on the stats and whether something counted as a thank you. :)
Hahaha, Nathaniel, good job!
(In Penélope's speech it's Robert Garlock, agent and close friend fo many actresses like Cruz, Uma Thurman or Kate Winslet who also dedicated her Oscar to him that night.)
Only just now looked at this and it was neat.