WINNER: DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECT) – HEAVEN IS A TRAFFIC JAM ON THE 405, Frank Stiefel
FRANK STIEFEL: My kids are hosting an Oscar party which I think probably just got a lot louder. This is amazing for so many reasons. The source of this film is the source of everything that’s gone well for me for the last forty years, it’s my wife BJ Dockweiler. To Ting Poo, Casey Price, Paul Maroon, Masaki Yokochi, Ben Marias, thank you for giving the film what I couldn’t. To Mindy, who’s somewhere up there. Mindy, I’m really proud of this, but I always knew, but I always knew that the only reason people would care about it is because we all care about you. Thank you.
WINNER: SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION) – THE SILENT CHILD, Chris Overton and Rachel Shenton
RACHEL SHENTON: Oh god, hello. I made a promise to our six-year-old lead actress that I’d sign this speech but my hands are shaking a little bit so I apologize. Thank you. Our movie is about a deaf child being born into a world of silence. It’s not exaggerated or sensationalized for the movie. This is happening, millions of children all over the world live in silence and face communication barriers. And particularly access to education. So, deafness is a silent disability. You can’t see it and it’s not life-threatening, so I want to say the biggest of thank you’s to the Academy for allowing us to put this in front of a mainstream audience.
CHRIS OVERTON: This was such a team effort so I’ve got to say thank you to our parents for making and selling cupcakes so we could…
RACHEL SHENTON: Thanks, Mum.
CHRIS OVERTON: for helping us finish the film. Thanks to everyone who backed our Indiegogo campaign. Thank you Vannessa Johnstone, Terry Murphy, all our executive producers, Danny Ormerod, everyone at Slick Showreels, and Slick Films. All our incredible cast and crew, Maisie Sly, Julie Foy, Rebecca Harris, Ali Farahani, we couldn’t do it without you. But lastly, my fiancée, Rachel Shenton, it’s really your hard work for the last 12 years that has really made this project authentic. Thank you so much, guys.
WINNER: VISUAL EFFECTS- BLADE RUNNER 2049, John Nelson, Gerd Nefzer, Paul Lambert and Richard R. Hoover
JOHN NELSON: Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Thank you so much Academy members of the Academy for this great honor. Thank you, Denis Villeneuve, whose, you know, guts are seen in every frame of this film, especially the visual effects. Thank you Andrew Kosove, Broderick Johnson, Roger Deakins, Joe Walker, Dennis Gassner, Bill Carraro, Karen Murphy, Richard Clegg, Habib Zargarpour, up there in the rafters, Deak Ferrand, Victor Muller, Cynthia Yorkin, DNEG, Framestore, MPC, BUF, Rodeo, UPP, Atomic, Weta, Alcon, Warner Bros., Sony, Sean Young, Deb and Miles.
PAUL LAMBERT: I’m up here, this is so surreal. I share this with my incredible team led by Michelle back at Double Negative, my family, especially for putting up with the crazy hours of the last 22 years. Hopefully, my boys Boston(?) and Jackson are watching right now. And to all the people who’ve had such a big influence on me and my career. Thank you.
RICHARD R. HOOVER: To all my friends in Montreal, merci beaucoup, this is for you.
LEE SMITH: I just want to say, this is THE most awesome thing that can happen to a guy like me. I really just want to start by thanking Christopher Nolan who, [he points to Nolan] they moved me from over there to sit with him. Because Chris is an editor himself. I mean, he doesn’t handle the actual equipment and I’m very, very happy for that. His fabulous wife Emma, always supportive, great producer. Incredible, I mean, “Dunkirk” was truly the most amazing film and I’m very fortunate to have worked on it. I’d also like to thank my beautiful wife, sitting over there, Kimberly. My daughter up in the nosebleed section, wherever. I’m wrapping up, I’m wrapping up. Melanie Ramsayer, John Lee, my editorial assistants, Warner Bros., the Academy, cannot talk any quicker. I’m an editor, I should be able to this very quickly. Matthew McConaughey, awesome. Thank you.
WINNER: ANIMATED FEATURE FILM – COCO, Lee Unkrich and Darla K. Anderson
DARLA K. ANDERSON: Thank you to the Academy. We are so happy. “Coco” is proof that art can change and connect the world and this can only be done when we have a place for everyone and anyone who feels like an “other” to be heard. This is dedicated with enormous love to my gigantic, interwoven family and most especially, my wife, my rock Kori Rae.
ADRIAN MOLINA (co-director and writer): Love and thanks to my family, my Latino community, to my husband Ryan. Each for expanding my sense of what it means to be proud of who you are and where you’re from. We hope the same thing for everyone who connected with this film.
LEE UNKRICH: We share this with our immensely talented cast and crew as well as the executive teams at Disney and Pixar. Thanks for the support of my wife Laura, my three kids, Hannah, Alice, Max. My entire family, I love you. And the biggest thank you of all to the people of Mexico. “Coco” would not exist without your endlessly beautiful culture and traditions. With “Coco” we tried to take a step forward toward a world where all children can grow up seeing characters in movies that look and talk and live like they do. Marginalized people deserve to feel like they belong. Representation matters.
ANTHONY GONZALEZ (voice of Miguel): Muchísimas gracias a todos y que viva México!
WINNER: SHORT FILM (ANIMATED) – DEAR BASKETBALL, Glen Keane and Kobe Bryant
GLEN KEANE: Thank you, thank you, Academy. Thank you Gennie Rim, Max Keane, our entire crew for your incredible talents. My wife Linda for your years of love and support. And to Kobe, for writing “Dear Basketball”. It’s a message for all of us. Whatever form your dream may take, it’s through passion and perseverance that the impossible is possible.
KOBE BRYANT: I don’t know if it’s possible. I mean, as basketball players we’re really supposed to shut-up and dribble but I’m glad we do a little bit more than that. Thank you, Academy, for this amazing honor. Thank you, John Williams, for such a wonderful piece of music. Thank you, Verizon, for believing in the film. Thank you, Molly Carter, without you we wouldn’t be here. And to my wife Vanessa, our daughters Natalia, Gianna, and Bianka. Ti amo con tutto il mio cuore. You are my inspiration. Thank you so much, guys, thank you.
BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW
Q. Kobe, hello. Look at the number. 81. Congratulations. Congratulations.
A. (Kobe Bryant) Thank you.
Q. After winning five NBA championships, now holding an Oscar, how do you feel?
A. (Kobe Bryant) It’s a ‑‑ it’s ‑‑ I feel better than winning the championship, to be honest with you. I swear I do. It’s ‑‑ it’s, you know, growing up as a kid, I dreamt of winning championships, you know, and working really hard to make that dream come true, but then like to have something like this seemingly come out of left field, you know, and like ‑‑ I heard a lot of people telling me when I started writing and they would ask me, “What are you going to do when you retire?” And I’d say, “Well, I want to be a writer; I want to be a storyteller,” and I got a lot of, “That’s cute. That’s cute. You’ll be depressed when your career is over, and you’ll come back to playing,” you know. And I got that a lot. And so, to be here right now and to have like a ‑‑ like a sense of validation is, dude, this is ‑‑ this is crazy, man. It’s crazy.
A. (Glen Keane) Not only that, after ‑‑ after the win, you don’t have to sit in a tub of ice, right?
A. (Kobe Bryant) I know. Yeah, that’s true. That’s true.
Q. We actually met at the White House, at the opening of the African American Museum.
A. Yes.
Q. You were telling me about this career. Talk to us about how different a skill it is, what’s harder about it, what’s easier about it, and what have you learned, and what’s next.
A. (Kobe Bryant) Well, I think the hardest part about it is, you know, in playing basketball, the hardest thing to do is to get out of the way of yourself. Right? Try to disassociate, you know, any sense of ego that you have to be able to perform. In writing, it feels like you have to get in a deeper connection with yourself and better understand the fears and insecurities and things that may be going on below the surface, so that, in turn, you can better communicate those. And so, those are really the two major distinctions between playing and writing or creating.
Q. What’s next?
A. (Kobe Bryant) More. More. John Williams, it just sounds crazy to even say that, but after he scored the film, he ‑‑ he looked at me and Glen goes, “Okay. That was way too short. You got to give me something longer.” And I was like, “Oh, oh, oh, okay. We’re working on it. We’re trying.”
Q. Obviously you’ve won championships, Olympic gold medals and now this. I want to know, you talked about this meaning more to you, but at the same time can you talk about the struggles that you may understand now about someone who’s achieved fame trying to find a new outlet for their talents? And, obviously, you feel you found something here. Would you like to make a feature film one day?
A. (Kobe Bryant) Yeah. We’ve ‑‑ we’ve actually been hard at work over the last two years focusing on novels, and we’ve been able to create five novels, each novel going out in a series of five books. And we look forward to bringing that to the market within the next couple years. But, you know, the hardest thing for athletes to do is when you start over, you really have to quiet the ego and you have to ‑‑ you have to begin again. You have to be a learner all over again. You have to learn the basics of things. And, you know, that’s really the hardest part. So my advice to athletes is to first and foremost find the thing that you love to do. You know, I wake up in the morning, I can’t wait to write. I can’t wait to get to the studio, you know. So when you find the thing that you love to do, then everything else tends to make sense.
Q. I want to ask you about how much this project puts you out of your comfort zone, and what was it like working with John Williams?
A. (Kobe Bryant) All of it put me out of my comfort zone. My daughter gave me the best piece of advice. I was a little worried about turning this into a film. I’d never done that ‑‑ something like that before. And we’re in a house and we’re talking about it as a family, and my little 11‑year‑old, Gianna, goes, “Well, Dad, you always tell us to go after our dreams, so man up.” She’s 11. “Man up.” So I had to man up and go for it.
And then working with John was incredible. You know, John speaks about music as if there ‑‑ they ‑‑ each key has its own soul. And it was amazing to sit with John and to sit with Glen throughout this entire process and hear the same attention to detail that we each have for our craft. It’s just ‑‑ it’s just an amazing experience to be able to work with John. I can’t even ‑‑ the guy’s like ‑‑ he’s a real life Obi‑Wan Kenobi to me, you know.
A. (Glen Keane) John had written the score. He’s, what, 85 years old? And wrote the whole thing out by hand, in pencil. Just like the film itself is in pencil. He’s an old‑school craftsman, and with 80 instruments, he wrote that. And the day that we were recording it, he was like this little kid, just so energized.
A. (Kobe Bryant) Super charged.
A. (Glen Keane) What is going on with John?
A. (Kobe Bryant) He gave me a hug, almost knocked me over. I was like, “Damn, I know I’ve been retired, but I haven’t been retired that long, man.” He almost knocked me over.
A. (Glen Keane) And he stood up in front of the orchestra, and Kobe and I sat there and I suddenly realized he’s never heard the music. He’s just been hearing it in his head and he wrote it with 80 instruments and recording it, and he lifted his arms and it was this beautiful score, the score that you hear. And Kobe ‑‑ Kobe wanted to shout, and I was like, “The red light.” And when it was done, John turns to us and says, “I promise you it’s going to get better.”
A. (Kobe Bryant) Man, I thought we were done. I thought we were done. And John was incredible, man.
Q. I saw this at the Tribeca Film Festival under EGOT winner Whoopi Goldberg shorts. It was impressive and amazing.
A. (Kobe Bryant) Thank you.
Q. You’re very welcome. Now, a lot of people talk about their heroes, but I have a question for you: Can you share the heroes in your life?
A. (Kobe Bryant) Oh, yeah. That’s ‑‑ you know, when I had the idea of starting a studio ‑‑ I like cold calling people. And so, the first person I called was Oprah. And I didn’t understand the business at all, as you can imagine, but I ‑‑ like I loved writing, so I wanted to build a studio. So I called Oprah, and she was very gracious enough to spend about an hour and some change on the phone with me walking me through every step of the way of how she built Harpo from day one. And I cannot thank her enough for that. She’s a mentor then, a mentor now. Shonda Rhimes is absolutely amazing and I was ‑‑ she opened up the door for me to go down to Shondaland and sit in the creative room, writers’ room, and be on set. And so when you have mentors like that in your life, you know, it’s ‑‑ everything tends to work itself out. You just continue to learn from the best of the best of the best. So those are my ‑‑ those are two.
Q. Big win for me.
A. (Kobe Bryant) That’s awesome.
Q. You referenced the “shut up and dribble” comments in your acceptance speech. Why did you do that? And what do you think LeBron’s approach to handling politics and discussing them, which is so different from your hero, Michael Jordan’s, approach?
A. (Kobe Bryant) Well, man I think everybody must approach things as if, you know, from their position of whatever is comfortable to ‑‑ you know, for them. I think for us, not just as athletes, but as just people in general, we have the ability to speak up for what it is that we believe in. Whether you’re a professional athlete or not, whether you’re an actor or not, you still have the ability to speak up for what it is that you believe in. And ‑‑ and as well as people have the right to criticize it. I mean, this is ‑‑ this is a democracy that we live in. That’s what makes America beautiful. So…
WINNER: FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM – A FANTASTIC WOMAN (Chile)
SEBASTIÁN LELIO (director): Thank you so much. This is an amazing gift, thank you to the Academy. I want to, well, thank my dear friends and producers Juan De Dios and Pablo Larraín. I want to thank the cast of the film, especially the brilliant actor, Francisco Reyes, and the inspiration for this movie, Daniela Vega. This film was made by a lot of friends and artists; I share this will all of you tonight. I want to thank Eryn Brown and Sophie Dolan. Everyone from Sony Classics, Tom Bernard, Michael Barker, Participant Media, Setembro Cine, Komplizen Films. And my wife Virginia, I love you forever. I thank you so, so much.
BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW
Q. Everyone can agree that when I saw you getting the award I shouted, and everyone probably thought I was absolutely insane. I saw you a week ago, and I told you I was going to see you here picking up your award. So what does that symbolize for you? And what does it feel to give a voice to the unheard voices?
A. Well, I’m extreme ‑‑ I mean, I’m in Jupiter. You know, like, I don’t ‑‑ I can’t believe that this happened. I’m really surprised, even though I knew that the film was, you know, a frontrunner and everything, you never really ‑‑ you’re never sure until you have it in your hand. So I’m very, like, happy for the team, for the film, for what the film represents. And, as you say, because it is a film that has managed to contribute to a necessary and urgent conversation. I think that there no ‑‑ there’s no such thing illegitimate people. Period.
Q. Sebastian, congratulations on this historic win. With the ‑‑ you know, there’s been recently a lot of talk about Latinos not being represented on the screen and behind the scenes as well. You know, what can be done to bring more representation, both from Latin Americans and Latinos born in the U.S., into Hollywood?
A. Well, I guess include them in the stories, hire them for the roles, and you know, just understanding that stories come from so many different sources. And considering the ‑‑ I am ‑‑ I don’t live in the United States. I am not an expert of what’s going on here, but considering the amount of Hispanic population or Latino population, more stories should be out there. So I have the feeling that it’s a matter of time. Things seem to be changing, so I hope that’s the case.
Q. What can be the impact of such an award in Chile where they are now discussing the law for the transgender rights?
A. Well, it has been a long struggle to have the State recognizing or acknowledging the existence of transgender people. And now we are about to face the ‑‑ a new government, which is very right‑wing and very conservative, and I think it would mean a step backwards. And I hope this award and film and the awareness that the film has created, the amplifier that this means helps to, yeah, give more relevance to, again, a matter that is urgent. Because again, a transgender person is not a Class B person. It’s one of us.
Q. First, I want to know, of course you are now residing here in the United States, but are you planning, you know, to go to Chile soon? Because I’m hoping that you want to celebrate with, you know ‑‑
A. Well, I’m ‑‑ I am from Chile. I live in Berlin. I’ve been here for a while because I made a film here, but I’m flying to Chile tomorrow. So I’ll be celebrating hopefully tomorrow night.
Q. And do you plan to meet our president to ‑‑
A. That would be amazing. I’m expect‑ ‑‑ well, if she wants to invite us, we’ll be there.
Q. I’m going to ask the question in English and Spanish and whichever you prefer to answer first. So the movie is very open about the misconceptions about the transgender community. Do you think Hollywood is ready to take ‑‑ give an award for best actress as someone who would have won for best actor before? [Speaks in Spanish.]
A. If that person is interpreting a transgender role? Is that the question?
Q. [Speaks in Spanish.]
A. [Speaks in Spanish.]
Well, whatever the gender identity is, you know. If an actress like Daniela, which is a woman, wins, then she should win as a woman. I don’t think we should add a transgender, you know, category. I felt that, for me, it was very instinctive and strong decision, the knowing that I was not going to make this film without a transgender actress in the main role. That was me. And I think it put the film in a different dimension because of everything Daniela brought to the film, her presence, her history. But that doesn’t mean that someone like Daniela cannot interpret a cisgender role. You know what I mean? So I think we’re not talking about freedom here, we’re not stretching opportunities; we’re opening them. And I hope this is not misunderstood, because I didn’t make the casting decision as a fascist decision, but as an act of freedom.
Q. I just want to ask, kind of going off of the last one, how important it was for you to cast the role of Marina authentically with a trans actress? And do you think that the film’s win will prove to other projects how important it is to cast authentically?
A. Well, casting is an art, and is probably ‑‑ well, if you’re interested in people like I am, casting is essential. And in this case, again, I think the presence of Daniela brought something, a quality to a story that add a layer of complexity and beauty that, I think in this case, a cisgender actor would have not been capable of bringing. She transitioned like 14 years ago in a country like Chile when there was no information about it. She was a pioneer, and she carries that history, and the camera announced that. And I think that generates resonances and, again, more complexity and beauty to the film. I never thought that it was going to be that important in the sense of how the film is perceived. I’ve been very surprised and happy to realize that that became one of the most important artistic gestures of the movie, and if it can contribute to, you know, again, keep opening the limits of what’s possible, keep expanding the horizons of our thinking, so welcome.
WINNER: ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – ALLISON JANNEY, I, Tonya
ALLISON JANNEY: I did it all by myself. Okay, nothing further from the truth. Thank you to the Academy, my fellow nominees, you represent everything that is good and right and human about this profession. You are all extraordinary. Steven Rogers, look what you did. Look what you did. You are a brilliant writer. Thank you for the gift of LaVona. I did not see this coming, you did. You give new meaning to the word “friend.”
To my “I, Tonya” family: the magnificent Margot Robbie, the fearless Craig Gillespie, a cast and crew and bird that elevated my work. To Tom and Bryan, NEON, 30WEST. My team Janney: Leslie Siebert, Chris Henze, Ilana Reiss, Karen Samfilippo, we’ve been together a long time. Thank you for all of your work. Joanne Woodward, I want to thank you for your encouragement and generosity that gave me the confidence to think I could pursue a career in acting. To my mother and father, Jay, my family, my family of friends, the staff at GADA, you know who you are, I love you. And this is for Hal. You’re always in my heart. Thank you very much.
BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW
A. I’m going to take my shoes off. Usually the dress looks like this. Oh, my feet. I’m freezing.
Q. So winning an Oscar by yourself with no one’s help, that’s an awesome feat. So now that you’ve won this big honor on your own, how are you going to change on a day‑to‑day basis?
A. I have to be at a table read for MOM at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. So I am going right back to work, and I will ‑‑ I am so happy that I have a job to go to after something like this. Because it could go to your head, and then tomorrow to wake up and feel ‑‑ and have nothing to do and have this whole journey be over. Starting in September when we premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, and the whole journey we’ve been through is extraordinary. And it’s going to be ‑‑ I’m going to have a big crash down after this. So I’m happy that I have MOM ‑‑ the people at MOM to lift me up and keep me ‑‑ keep me going and keep me focused. And I’m just happy to have a job to go to tomorrow. But this is extraordinary. Thank you.
Q. Hi. So where did trophies ‑‑ I mean, you have a ton of Emmys. You’ve got every award leading up to this one this year. Now you have an Oscar. Was that ever part of your fantasy of what your acting career was going to be like? Or is this like this great side effect?
A. I certainly ‑‑ I kind of didn’t dare to dream of things like this, because I didn’t want to be disappointed. And I think at a certain point, I had given up thinking this would happen for me because I just wasn’t getting the kind of roles in film that would give me attention like this, and that’s what my very good friend Steven Rogers did for me. He says he did it ‑‑ wrote this for me to do just that, to show a different side of me and show that I could ‑‑ what I could do, and I will never be able to repay him. It’s an extraordinary gift he gave me. It’s kind of overwhelming. I think I’m going to get him a Rolex. I don’t know. What do you think? And engrave it on the back. I haven’t figured out what, but I’ve got to get him a good present. That’s a start at least.
Q. You’ve spoken about using your inner critic.
A. Yes. (Indiscernible cross‑talk.)
Q. But what is your inner voice saying right now?
A. “Bravo. Good going, girl. I’m proud of you.”
Q. We’re asking what makes a great story?
A. Oh, God. What makes a great story? Fully realized characters, characters with ‑‑ who have big needs, wants, desires that butt up against people who don’t want them to have them. Definitely great characters and great writing. Great writing is key. That’s why I’m ‑‑ when I read a script as an actress that I get excited about like I, TONYA or AMERICAN BEAUTY or JUNO, things that ‑‑ or WEST WING I’ve gotten to do. That just gets me so ‑‑ it makes me want to come alive, and I feel like I come alive when I do all different roles I’ve gotten to do. And it’s how I feel the most tethered to the earth, and I feel a communicator when I’m sit‑ ‑‑ telling others’ stories. And great storytellers are great writers, and I like telling ‑‑ I like telling stories.
Q. Can you talk us through a little bit of what it was like working with Margot Robbie and director Craig Gillespie?
A. Craig Gillespie? Yeah. I met them both ‑‑ well, I met Margot the day before I started shooting, and I really ‑‑ I only had eight days to shoot this role with them because I was doing MOM, and I was rehearsing for SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION, the Broadway play I did last spring. I’ve never been more busy as I was last year, so when this came together, I had no time to do it, and all of the producers made it happen, the producers of MOM and SIX DEGREES and Margot and Tom and Bryan, Bryan Unkeless and Tom Ackerley of LuckyChap. They made it happen for me, and they’re extraordinary.
Margot has ‑‑ she’s kind of a phenomenon. Because I have no head for business whatsoever. All I know how to do was be emote [sic] and do my act. But she’s got this great head for business and a beautiful heart and an artist’s soul and a heart. And she’s remarkable, and I cannot wait to see what she’s going to accomplish in her career. She’s, you know, 20‑nothing, and she’s done this unbelievable performance in I, TONYA, and she’s going to do extraordinary things. They’re both ‑‑ and Craig’s just ‑‑ he killed this movie. He just killed it. And I mean killed in a good way. He just nailed it. He knew how to ‑‑ he knew how to get just ‑‑ was a running freight train. We had no time to shoot it, and he had the best sense of humor and best attitude, and knew how to grab things on the fly. And he’s just ‑‑ remarkable man. They’re both ‑‑ I’ve never even been to Australia, but I’ve got to go now. Because, I ‑‑ yeah.
Q. Yeah, come on down.
A. Good on ya.
Q. Shrimp on the barbie?
A. Exactly.
Q. Congratulations.
WINNER: PRODUCTION DESIGN – THE SHAPE OF WATER; Production Design: Paul Denham Austerberry; Set Decoration: Shane Vieau and Jeff Melvin
PAUL DENHAM AUSTERBERY: First of all, thanks to all the Canadian crew who are partying right now at the Palais Royale in Toronto. This is for you. Thank you to the Academy. Guillermo, may you keep dreaming up your monsters and their wonderful stories so that people like us can help shape their worlds. Thanks to Miles Dale, David Greenbaum, Nancy Utley, Matthew Greenfield, everyone at Fox Searchlight, please keep making wonderful films like this. Luis Sequeira, Dan Laustsen, we would not be up here without your support. Nigel Churcher and all the amazing art department and construction and paint crew in Toronto. Thank you. And my wonderful people right here.
SHANE VIEAU: A big thank you to our amazing crew back in Toronto. Without you guys we definitely wouldn’t be here today, thank you.
JEFFREY A. MELVIN: I share this award with the people who put me here: my wife and kids, Sheila, Alex, Sarah. My coworkers who were inspired by Guillermo’s vision: Avril, Alexx, Angie, Carlos, Dominic, Toni, Jeff, Byron, Karl, Brenton, Nigel, William, Dave and David, Marc, Trace, Matthew, Marina and Donnie. Thank you so much for getting this for me.
BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW
Q. I’d love to hear a little bit about the process of how you arrived at what looks to be a kind of faded Piaf Parisian color palette mixed with that incredible noir sensibility. How in the world did you put those together?
A. (Paul Denham) Well, it all really started with Guillermo. You know, he has a real visual eye and lots of good reference, so he had already picked before we even started a building that we used for the exterior which set the tone as a late Victorian building, and from there referenced a movie, THE RED SHOES for an arch window, and then we all worked together to develop that, and these guys brought beautiful wallpaper, kind of like that, to bring the scales into the room, and the palette is a very Guillermo thing. The first thing we did was deal with the palette. So that’s why the movie is so color coordinated.
Q. You spoke about your Toronto team in your acceptance speech, and we’d just like to know how significant it was to have a team from Toronto working with you and how it feels right now.
A. (Jeffrey Melvin) I have 35 years in the business now, and worked in Toronto almost exclusively. So I’ve worked with and watched the business grow in Toronto and go from children’s television to Academy Award‑winning films. It started with GOOD WILL HUNTING, CHICAGO, now us. We have world‑class technicians, and we want to keep it that way and keep going. Build more studios, and we can do more.
A. (Shane Vieau) The other thing too is that what’s amazing about this year with trades is that Toronto, above and beyond with everyone in North America, with THE HANDMAID’S TALE and THE SHAPE OF WATER, we really came out on top. So it’s a really, really big thing for 873 and all of the other unions in Toronto.
Q. Congratulations. And in a way, this is a continuation, I guess, of the first question, but could you talk about some of the, sort of, the Cold War period aesthetic and the institutional aesthetic that you also used for the design?
A. (Paul Denham) Yes. To contrast the, sort of, romantic notion of her apartment, the late Victorian apartment, Guillermo and I talked about institutional architecture, and we chose Brutalist‑style architecture which was very prevalent in ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s. And the reason why we wanted to do it, we wanted heavy contrast with the hard, harsh materials of the concrete and then we introduced that teal green color that was very, very important. It was very important to have that very, very visual contrast between the two worlds, the worlds where she meets her lover and when she brings him back to that wonderful decrepit, but beautiful, old apartment.
Q. What was the toughest part of working with Guillermo del Toro?
A. (Shane Vieau) You know, the really amazing thing about Guillermo is that he knows what he wants visually. So as long as you’re in there with him, the guy is with you. Like, he really ‑‑ you know, once you develop a language with the man, he lets you do your thing and lets you go above and beyond what he, sort of, has given you as a basic. But no one is more well‑read than that man. No one knows more about things than that man. He’ll reference everything and give it to you, and then you can go with it.
A. (Paul Denham) And he doesn’t forget anything.
A. (Shane Vieau) And he forgets nothing.
WINNER: SOUND MIXING – DUNKIRK, Mark Weingarten, Gregg Landaker and Gary A. Rizzo
GREGG LANDAKER: I’d like to thank the ladies and gentlemen of the Academy of Arts and Sciences. Thank you so much for bestowing this great honor upon this sound crew for “Dunkirk”. To my support team, Catherine Landaker, I love you. To my cheerleading squad: Carrie Cashman, Jim, Grace and Jake. To two gentlemen that bookend my career, Don Rogers, giving me flight and to Kim Waugh for giving me a safe landing. To Christopher Nolan, that entrusted us, encouraged us to try to make a difference in a soundtrack. Thank you so much.
MARK WEINGARTEN: Nancy and Oliver I love you. Chris Nolan, thanks for making such a great movie that everybody saw it and got to hear our work. Thank you everybody, thank you Academy.
GARY A. RIZZO: To my daughters, Luciana and Devon, I love you. Hang on to your dreams they are so, so valuable, and to everybody at Full Sail University. And my family waaaay up there, somewhere, I don’t know. I love you, I love you so much. Thank you.
BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW
Q. I’ll let you guys tackle this however you want to since you collaborated together. I was interested with the challenging timeline of this film, how that affected some of the sound editing decisions, foreground events becoming background events later. And also, with any war movie, especially an iconic battle like this, the authenticity of the actual sounds made by the actual devices and machines. So how did all those factor in?
A. (Richard King) Oh, I’m usually pointing it the other way, so I’m confused.
We went to great pains to ‑‑ to capture as much authentic sound as we could, recorded all the Spitfires, the bombs, guns, boats, but we wanted it to be an emotional experience. So it was all about investing the film in as much power and emotion and visceral, you know, feeling as we could, and we used every decibel that we had available to do that.
Q. You used a really interesting thing called the ‑‑ and whoever is appropriate to answer this ‑‑ the Shepard tone, that kind of continuously ascending tone, and I’m really curious how you, number one, achieved that, and number two, wedded it so beautifully with the visuals as well.
A. (Alex Gibson) Well, the Shepard tone is something that Chris has been playing with I think since THE PRESTIGE. So it’s been floating around for a while. What it is is it’s an ascending line, melody line, that when it hits a certain note, it starts over again and then it’s overlapping itself, so it always feels like it’s going up. It’s just an aural trick. Well, because the movie was fast paced, but still running out of time, that ascension, the continuous ascension played right into it.
Q. Did you work with Chris?
A. (Cross Talk) Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Yeah, they did, yes.
Q. Gregg, would you please comment on how it feels to win the Academy Award on your final film, unless Chris urges you back for one more?
And, then Alex, could you comment on the rare feat of your particular role being honored in this category?
A. (Gregg Landaker) This film ended up my career. It didn’t end my career, but I decided to put a period on it. And this was my 207th feature film, ninth nomination and fourth win for a soundtrack. My first win was for EMPIRE STRIKES BACK back in the ’80s. But Chris has always encouraged me to reach further into our art craft of mixing a film, to bring something completely different to the soundtrack that the audience would step up and notice. Thank you.
A. (Alex Gibson) And the reason I’ve said that the historic nomination from the sound branch was a music editor, this is ‑‑ they don’t get awards. There is no Academy Award for a music editor, and there never has been. I think one person was nominated years ago, but I’m now the first one to win. And it’s because of the intensity of the work I did and how it wove with Richard’s work. And a lot of luck. So that’s what it is. That’s how it happened. Thank you.
