83rd Academy Awards Wrap-Up

By Michelle McCue | March 1, 2011

For the category Best Motion Picture of the Year, the Oscar® went to “The King’s Speech” produced by Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin. Presenter Steven Spielberg poses backstage with Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, and Gareth Unwin. The 83rd Annual Academy Awards® were presented live on the ABC Television network from The Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, CA, last Sunday, February 27, 2011.

THE KING’S SPEECH took top honors at the 83rd Academy Awards on Sunday February 22, 2011. From the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, this year’s Oscars were hosted by Lead Actor nominee James Franco and Anne Hathaway. Leading the evening with 12 nominations, The Weinstein Co. film triumphantly won four Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director (Tom Hooper), Best Actor (Colin Firth), and Best Original Screenplay (Michael Seidler). In the end, I did prefer this film for its portrayal of service, honor and duty to others and one’s country.

INCEPTION also collected four Academy Awards for Best Cinematography, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing and Visual Effects. Critically acclaimed, THE SOCIAL NETWORK took home 3 Oscars for Best Adapted Screenplay (David Sorkin), Best Score (Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross) and Best Editing. See the full list of winners HERE.

WAMG was one of the many journalists backstage in the press room and it was one of those surreal experiences you only dream about. Sitting in the third row, I must say you notice all the aesthetic features of the winners that goes well beyond seeing them up on the big screen in their films. Yep, they are real people. I was fortunate enough to be among all the reporters and afforded one question to Oscar-winner director Tom Hooper by the room moderator. When I asked if he thought a sequel or part-two to THE KING’S SPEECH was at all possible, he replied, “I think you are going to have to look elsewhere for the next one.” Another Oscar memory was made. Once again I’d like to thank the staff at AMPAS for all their assistance and help in another smooth trip to the Academy Awards.

On a side note, THE KING’S SPEECH and THE BLACK SWAN did see some help from the Oscar show. As the Box Office Mojo article pointed out, THE KING’S SPEECH “did see a bit of an Oscar bump.” Isn’t that what the Academy Awards are for? To get people to go to the movies? Yes it is.

Below are excerpts from the Q & A that happened between the winners and journalists immediately afterwards backstage.

Q. You made it to the finish line, congratulations. I’m curious, I mean, this whole awards season is such a long marathon, and I mean early on when some of the earlier awards didn’t go your way, I’m just curious, did you guys lose any hope or did you know you had something special here?

A. I think we always, from the point where we invested in the project from its inception, from the point in the script we had faith in the story and David Seidler’s telling of it, and these campaigns run and they peak and they trough, but we never lost any faith in the film that we have.

A. We’re constantly stunned every Friday or Thursday or Wednesday when they released THE KING’S SPEECH, we didn’t think it was necessarily it wasn’t something they necessarily connected to. Because they did, we were all buoyed by the fact that the audiences were watching the films.

Q. Do you have anything to say about Harvey and his support of the film and the way he manages it?

A. Yeah. I mean, there’s no doubt we wouldn’t have been here without Harvey Weinstein. He did an absolutely amazing release of his film. The timing of the release was perfect, working with the campaign, and we owe him a huge amount. The film has worked incredibly well in America. It’s worked all around the world, but this awards season has been driven hugely by Harvey Weinstein, we know that.

Q. You have been around the world, as you say, with very personal stories and awards and people telling you what this meant to them. The Academy Award seems to be the most important award of all. Can each of you tell me in the most personal way how it affects you to win the Academy Award?

A. I’ll start with that. It’s the most amazing honor that we could ever imagine. I mean, there’s been incredible things that have happened throughout this film. The support and the response that we’ve had from the stammering and stuttering community, being able to tell David Seidler’s story is incredible as well. But to be honored in this way by our heroes, as much as anything through the Academy Awards, that has not sunk in yet, probably will be by April.

A. The buildup of this award is I think like none of the others, and obviously it’s the final award of the season, and there’s just something about it that left us absolutely speechless, in a sense, and to have won this award, I don’t think there’s anywhere else we can go. That’s clearly the most extraordinary moment in our lives.

A. For me the really amazing thing was receiving the award from Steven Spielberg. I almost forgot I won an Oscar. I was more shaking his hand, and if I can, picking this fellow up. The biggest thing, the award, apart from the success of the film in terms of box office is, as Iain said, just the letters and the comments and the support and love that we’ve had, not just from stammerers, but anybody with difficulties in their lives that can embrace a film like ours and (inaudible) friendship, but there always remains hope back, and that gives us hope for our future projects.

Oscar®-winning director Tom Hooper, winner for Achievement in Directing for work done on “The King’s Speech”, poses backstage during the live ABC Television Network broadcast of the 83rd Annual Academy Awards® from the Kodak Theatre In Hollywood, CA Sunday, February 27, 2011.

Q. Congratulations on the Oscar. I was wondering if you and the producers and Colin, with all the historical source material, have considered a sequel?
A. I think that will be a little difficult, as my film was about a man overcoming his stammering, and he definitely has overcome it. I think you are going to have to look elsewhere for the next one.

Q. Congratulations, sir. The King overcomes his greatest fear to seek speech therapy and ultimately give the speech. Since you’ve explored this subject, what advice do you have for service members who need to overcome their greatest fears on a daily basis in these wars?
A. It’s a very good question. I think, I think that the film is about the power of friendship. And I think the armed forces, more than many people, understand the importance of camaraderie, the importance of the friends you make on the frontline to get you through the fear, to get you through the anxiety. And I think what the film is saying is sometimes the way to conquer your fears is not by turning into yourself, it’s about turning out to others, it’s looking to those around you, finding that friendship in your team that allows you to share your burden. And I think the military have a great tradition of understanding that it is often through the group that you find power.

Christian Bale, Oscar® winner for Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role for his role in “The Fighter”; Natalie Portman, Oscar® winner for Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role for her role in “Black Swan”; Melissa Leo, Oscar® winner for Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role for her role in “The Fighter”; and Colin Firth, Oscar® winner for Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for his role in “The King’s Speech” pose backstage during the live ABC Television Network broadcast of the 83rd Annual Academy Awards Awards® from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, CA Sunday, February 27, 2011

Colin Firth, Oscar® winner for Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for his role in “The King’s Speech” poses backstage during the live ABC Television Network broadcast of the 83rd Annual Academy Awards Awards® from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, CA Sunday, February 27, 2011.

Q. I was wondering what you think of the new PG13 cut of the film?
A. I haven’t seen it. I don’t know anything about it. I got some secondhand information about it. Have they cut the scene? What’s the…

Q. That’s what I hear, but I hear that they’ll be screening it tomorrow, or some people are screening it tomorrow.
A. I don’t support it.

Q. Why do you not support it?
A. Because I think the film has its integrity as it stands. I think that scene belongs where it is. I think it serves a purpose. I’m not someone who is casual about that kind of language. I don’t relish I take my children to see football games, soccer. And I wouldn’t be able to, if I wanted to protect them from those kind of words at the expense of all else. I hate hearing that language around them, but I’m not going to deny them an experience of a live game. You know, it does distress me to, you know, to hear that language bawled in the ears of my kids. So I don’t take that stuff lightly. But the context of this film could not be more edifying, more appropriate. It’s not vicious. It’s not to do insult or it’s not in any of the context which might offend people, really.

It’s about a man trying to free himself through the use of forbidden words, and he’s so coy about it. I mean, I just can’t I still haven’t met the person who would object to it. So I think the film should stand as it is.

Natalie Portman, Oscar® winner for Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role for her role in “Black Swan” poses backstage during the live ABC Television Network broadcast of the 83rd Annual Academy Awards Awards® from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, CA Sunday, February 27, 2011.

Q. You made yourself bare for all the world to see in this film. Can you talk about how you put your trust in Darren and especially Benjamin, to pull off this physically demanding role?
A. Absolutely. Darren, I think it’s only possible to give yourself so freely when you absolutely 100 percent trust the person you’re working with as your director, because they are responsible for everything. In film it is absolutely a director’s medium and you are completely subject to their artistry, and Darren’s artistry is so extreme that I really felt free to try anything. And Benjamin similarly. You know, I think to be believable as a dancer, I just trusted in him fully to be honest with me, to choreograph in a manner that best flattered what I could do and best avoided what I couldn’t do, and really was catered to making it believable. And he was absolutely the key to credibility for the film, and that was fully on his shoulders.

Q. We’ve talked so much about dreams tonight and we’ve seen dreams come true. What is the next big dream you have and what is the dream that you have for your child?
A. The next dream I have in terms of very short term future is staying in bed, not having to do my makeup or hair, and keeping my sweats on, relaxing. And for my child, I mean, just to be happy and healthy I think is what every parent could ever wish for. Thank you.

Oscar®-winning actor Christian Bale, winner for Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role for his role in “The Fighter”, poses backstage with presenter Reese Witherspoon during the live ABC Televison Network broadcast of the 83rd Annual Academy Awards Awards® from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, CA Sunday, February 27, 2011

Q. A statue. So my question is, you have just won, arguably, the biggest award for this role. Is this your favorite role you’ve ever played as an actor? If not, what is?
A. You know, every single role we do is just sort of a cherished friend. There’s a point that I believe I made in the speech is, I was thanking David O. Russell for communicating our work in a way that it meant something to the audience, and that’s where you’re out of control because you can do something that really rips you apart on the set, but if the director and the editor don’t take it and make it mean something to the audience it ends up as nothing. And I was so fortunate that with David and with Pamela Martin, that they were able to take that and really make it mean something, you know. And so fortunate and it’s resulted in this.

Q. Now that you won the Oscar for this kind of movie, technically does that mean that no more Batman?
A. No. I mean, I’m in the middle of filming a movie in China right now. When I finish the movie in China it’s straight on to Batman. So absolutely, much more Batman.

Q. We all know how much you love acting but you hate dealing with the press. So what have you learned in these last couple months that you have to deal with more and more press leading up to this night?
A. Well, the beautiful thing about it is I’ve been in China for the last month. So I actually haven’t had to deal with any of it, you know, I’ve been out of it. I haven’t been campaigning. And I always felt like, you know, it really has to be the performance that stands by itself and should be merited upon that and if I would have lost, I would have still said the same. I wouldn’t have regretted anything. I would have just applauded whoever won and there’s so many wonderful performances out there

Oscar®-winning actress Melissa Leo, winner for Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role for her role in “The Fighter”, poses backstage during the live ABC Televison Network broadcast of the 83rd Annual Academy Awards® from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, CA Sunday, February 27, 2011.

Q. Well, I just wanted to ask you if you were in touch with the real life Alice Ward, and I know your character had a very extensive wardrobe. Did you take anything with you fashion wise from that character?
A. Well, the dress I’m wearing tonight I’d like to think that Alice would have liked it, and that was part of the choosing for it. She is a manager of her sons, was caught on camera quite a lot at the edges of the boxing ring, and I noticed a lot of the footage of Alice at the fights had her in white. Might not be so true anymore, but I think back in the days of black and white, it showed up well on camera. So that was some of the thought into it and into being here tonight. Alice, I did have the opportunity to meet. I could not have played her without having met her. I wouldn’t have even know where to begin in many ways. The external part of Alice was Mark Bridges, the costume designer, and David O’Russell encouraging the hair department to cut my hair shorter and shorter and dye it and all of that. But no, I don’t know that Alice’s sense of style and my sense of style are too similar in too many ways.

Q. Hi, right in front. From WEBN in Boston. I was wondering about your experiences working in Lowell and with the Massachusetts people?
A. I’ve worked in the Massachusetts area on a number of films, and it’s a great place to shoot, and I don’t know if that’s what you’re asking about. If you’re asking particularly about being in Lowell, because THE FIGHTER, it’s not just a story based on the lives of real people, but it’s their story. It most definitely is, and we were shooting it with the Wards around us at all times, I would have to say one or another of them. And it was an extraordinarily wonderful experience and I think a lot of what makes THE FIGHTER such an incredible film is that we were there in Lowell with the actual people, and cross referencing, you know, when somebody might say something about somebody and somebody else might say something else about that same somebody. And we were right there in the town hearing the gossip and hearing the language and the dialect and all, and it was very, very helpful to the process.

Oscar®-winning writer David Seidler, winner for Original Screenplay for work done on “The King’s Speech”, poses backstage during the live ABC Televison Network broadcast of the 83rd Annual Academy Awards® from the Kodak Theatre In Hollywood, CA Sunday, February 27, 2011.

Q. You said you felt this movie has now given stammerers a voice around the world. Talk to me a little bit more about that. Why do you think that is?
A. Well, I don’t want to give away privileged information, but you know, a fairly high ranking person called me the other day and wanted to talk ex stutterer to ex stutterer and expressed their guilt at the fact that for so many years they stayed in the closet because they felt it would hurt their career to be known as an ex stutterer because people still have the archaic notion that we stutterers are feeble minded simply because it is difficult to articulate our thoughts. And the fact that this film has come out has given so many people the courage to talk about their stuttering, and I’ve been flooded with the most wonderful e mails, phone calls, text messages from my fellow stutterers because I’m still a stutterer, all right. I know all the tricks; you don’t hear it. I don’t even have to think about it anymore, but I am still a stutterer. But to have these people tell me their personal stories, really moves me to tears.

I’ll give you one example. A speech therapist spoke to me just a few days ago, that one of her clients, a teenage girl, had come in and having been terribly bullied for being a stutterer, and what do most of these stutterers do when we’re bullied, we keep quiet because how can we talk back? That’s the very thing they tease us about. But this girl was determined not to take it. And the therapist said, “What made the difference? Normally, you just remain passive.” And she said, “Because I have a voice.

Q. Congratulations, Mr. Seidler. I know it was a long process for you to get here tonight, but hopefully for your next project it won’t take so long. I understand it’s a World War II related story. Can you talk a little bit about your next project? And also, you’ve gone through a long process to get here tonight. Can you talk a little bit about that as well?
A. Okay. My next two I think you’re really referring to my next two projects. The first the next project is the LADY WHO WENT TOO FAR and it’s about Lady Hester Stanhope who, during the Napoleanic Wars, went into the Middle East and became a female Lawrence of Arabia. She did exactly what Lawrence did a hundred years later. She organized the identical Bedouin tribes and was let down badly by the British at Whitehall and it all came to naught, just as it did with Lawrence. It’s a Laura of Arabia.

I think the World War II story you’re referring to is the games of 1940. The games of 1936, as you all know, were in Berlin were Hitler’s games. The games of 1940 were scheduled for Tokyo. They didn’t take place, but officially. Unofficially there were 150,000 prisoners of war, Allied prisoners of war in Stalag 13A in (unintelligible) outside of Nuremberg who were kept in appalling conditions to break their spirit, and they decided secretly to hold an international prisoner of war Olympic games in 1940 without the Germans knowing. It’s a true story, and I think that’s the one you’re referring to.

In terms of the long haul to get here, well, I’m just a very stubborn man, and it took awhile. I did want to respect the Queen Mother’s wishes not to do it during her lifetime, not realizing that she would have the good fortune to be with us for so long, but eventually I got to write it. Thank you.

Q. Congratulations, sir. Sergeant Connors, Armed Forces Network. One of the themes that I saw in the movie was leadership during war, King George VI was thrust into a position that he didn’t necessarily expect. What is your advice from exploring the subject that you would have today for leaders in these wars who are in situations they may not have been prepared for?
A. Absolutely. I’m sure in your uniform, you know all about suddenly having to take up leadership when you least expect it, which is what happened to Bertie. One of the themes of the film is the social contract, by which I mean with privilege and position and wealth comes responsibility and duty, and Bertie really understood that. His brother did not. But Bertie was a man who was not meant to be king, he didn’t think he would be king; he wasn’t really suited to be king. He had a speech impediment and he was a fragile man. But when his brother let the nation down, he knew it was his duty to try to make up for this. And it’s very interesting that at the ascension council when he first took over before his coronation he very humbly said, I’m paraphrasing now, I’m going to try my best to make up for all of this and do my job well, and he did. He bellied up to the bar and he delivered, just the way you guys do.

After winning the Oscar® for Adapted Screenplay for work on “The Social Network”, Aaron Sorkin poses backstage for the media during the live ABC Televison Network broadcast of the 83rd Annual Academy Awards® from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, CA Sunday, February 27, 2011.

Q. And now you stand up here with an Oscar in your hand. The experience has been nothing but incredible I’m sure, but can you tell me how this experience has maybe changed your perspective on how you’re going to approach your next film with Hollywood?
A. Well, I’ll be very candid with you. Lately, and really since the movie came out and it got the kind of critical reaction that it’s got and cultural reaction that it’s gotten, I feel like I’ve been hyper aware that whatever I write next is going to be the thing I wrote after THE SOCIAL NETWORK. I’m going to spend tonight enjoying this and tomorrow starting something new. I think that’s what I have to do. I just have to keep writing, keep doing what I’ve always been doing which is writing, trying to write something that I like, something that I think my friends will like, something that I think my father would like and then keep my fingers crossed that enough other people will like it that I can earn a living.

Q. Do you have any words for Mark Zuckerberg or about Mark Zuckerberg and maybe want to mention the Middle East too or maybe not?
A. Okay. Yeah, you have to talk with somebody a lot smarter than I am about the Middle East. As for Mark, I think he’s I don’t mean to diminish anything, I think he’s been an awfully good sport about this. You know, I don’t think there’s anybody here who would want a movie made about things they did when they were 19 years old. And if that movie absolutely positively had to be made, you would want it made only from your point of view, and you wouldn’t want to include also the points of view of people who have sued you for hundreds of millions of dollars and, you know, had a visceral emotional reaction to you. But that is the movie that we made.

And you know, with things like Mark’s appearance on SNL, the fact that he took his whole staff to see the movie the day that it came out in the US on October 1st and, however it might be related, his hundred million dollar gift to the Newark Public School District which was met with some cynicism in the press because it was felt that it was a move to deflect criticism, I’m sure that the kids in Newark and their parents and their teachers don’t care how the money got there. So, my hat’s off to Mark.

Oscar®-winner Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, winner for Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score) for work done on “The Social Network”, poses backstage during the live ABC Televison Network broadcast of the 83rd Annual Academy Awards® from the Kodak Theatre In Hollywood, CA Sunday, February 27, 2011.

Q. Just talk about what this means first and second, follow up, just talk about what your plans are after this musically?
A. [Reznor] Well, I can say that I am truly stunned by this. I mean, we kind of fell into this. David Fincher approached us to work on this film, he kind of bugged us to do it. I’m very glad he did. It was an incredible working experience and a lot of fun and very rewarding. We never even considered that we would be getting an award, certainly at this magnitude, but it’s been very, very flattering and it’s high praise. So, future projects, we’re both working on David’s next film, GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO

Q. I’ve been a huge fan personally for Nine Inch Nails and but what prompted you to shift to compose this type of music from such a rock and roll type of music?
A. [Reznor] Well, I kind of put Nine Inch Nails on the back burner for awhile, try to branch out, try some different things. Film wasn’t particularly what I was had any career trajectory aiming for that necessarily. But when David approached me to do that, a lot of the music he was using for a very temporary edit, was based on the Ghost records that Atticus and I both worked on with Nine Inch Nails. So, it wasn’t a side of my Nine Inch Nails nature that was soundtrack ish, so it wasn’t hugely, in terms of, it wasn’t a giant stretch for me to try this. So, it was interesting to have to work with a picture and actually serve the picture and that was the biggest challenge. David Fincher was very clear about what he wanted, and it was an education and, as I said earlier, it was a real pleasant one of the best experiences I’ve had from start to finish.

Q. Did you as a budding musician ever dream about holding an Oscar? Did that occur to you and if not, when did you realize that you may actually be an Oscar winner?
A. [Ross] I can’t say it occurred to me as a budding musician and even on this trajectory of the film, I think we’ve both been stunned as each nomination’s come in. And then when we won the Golden Globe, I thought possibly we would get an Oscar nomination, but still not sure. Really, the day that it, the nomination was announced, that I really considered, “Wow, this is a reality.” And then to win, again, came in here with no expectations. Everyone’s so great. It’s just been incredible.

Q. You said David Fincher gave you specific direction or really knew what you wanted; was there kind of an overwhelming or over arching theme he had for you guys?
A. [Reznor] Well, we had read the script and David called us in and said, the only immediate direction was, “I don’t want to use an orchestra. I would like it to feel kind of electronic.” He referenced a couple films. BLADE RUNNER was one of them. Not to sound like BLADE RUNNER, but to inhabit the to have a score that felt like the same iconic quality that the music BLADE RUNNER had in its time. Not something that sounds like that or sounds dated like, but might today. And the thing with David though, and I think this is where we we hit the mark right from the start, is David is never making things up on the fly. And it was difficult at first for us to see a film or read a film and read a script that was a bunch of people talking in rooms. It was no great sweeping landscapes or battle scenes or anything like that and it wasn’t obvious to us what flavor or kind of shape the music was going to have.

And knowing that David what I am trying to say here is David had a very I knew he had an idea of what would make this picture special and that kind of rested on the music. We just generated blindly with no picture. We wrote almost two hours worth of music, just to give him, say, “Hey, it feels to us like the emotional temperature of this film,” and what could be interesting and a little darker than I thought he was going to react to it. And that became 90 percent of what you heard in the picture, so.

Randy Newman, Oscar® winner for Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song) for “We Belong Together” from “Toy Story 3″, music by Randy Newman, lyrics by Randy Newman, poses backstage during the live ABC Television Network broadcast of the 83rd Annual Academy Awards® from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, CA Sunday, February 27, 2011.

Q. The writing for these songs, do they come easier for you over time or is it difficult or just something that just came on and you just crank out?
A. They have always, compared to everything else I have to write, songs for myself, scoring for the pictures, they come easiest because there’s information they tell me; it should be happy, and it should be fast, it should say this in general, and I can usually do it fairly easily and fairly quickly. I don’t want them to know that, so don’t print it, but it’s true.

Q. As a musician, what comes next? What’s the next challenge, and what do you hope to achieve?
A. Well, I would like to still get better, you know. What I have been doing since I was 15 is writing songs and making records. There’s a lot of evidence that people do their best work before they’re 25, you know. These pants are 25. And my last record I thought was good and not inferior to anything I’ve done. I like to get better at that, at what I am doing. And writing music is difficult, I find. And there’s a lot of challenges to it just inherent in the field. It’s just not easy for me.

Q. So, how practical do you think it is for college kids to actually major in music? Do you think they should just maybe major in business or something practical and realistic and just do music on the side?
A. No. Keep doing it. If you stayed in it that long, you must love it. I am the only person I ever heard of that just never loved it but just kept going because I was sort of good at it in some ways. But, I mean, you keep doing it. The Juilliard graduates, 50 percent of them or more don’t go into music, and that’s as high as you can go in promising musical people. It’s a really tough living to make, but, no, you shouldn’t. If you love it, do it and see what happens. It’s not going to hurt you. It’s a very complicated thing. You can study it for the rest of your life and to your benefit.

Oscar®-winning producer Lee Unkrich, winner for Best Animated Feature Film of the Year for work on “Toy Story 3,” poses backstage during the live ABC Television Network broadcast of the 83rd Annual Academy Awards® from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, CA Sunday, February 27, 2011.

Q. I noticed you thanked for grandmother first off.
A. I did.

Q. And I think it would be cool if you told us the story that you told the animation symposium (unintelligible).
A. Sure. Well, my grandma was always very supportive of me, and once she knew I wanted to make movies, she was always the first to say that she would see me. She would say, I am going to live to see you get an Oscar, and unfortunately, that never happened, but she’s always been with me in my heart. And there’s a moment in TOY STORY 3 that’s very inspired by her. When I was making the first TOY STORY which I edited, she got cancer, and I rushed home to see her because it was clear she was not going to be around long. And there was a moment where I looked at her for the very last time, and I knew that that was the last time I was seeing my grandmother alive, and I took kind of a mental snapshot at that moment before I turned away and left.

And I always carry that with me now, and when we were making TOY STORY 3, there’s a moment at the end of the film where Andy gets back in his car, and he kind of looks back at his toys one last time before he drives off to college, and I told this story to my animators, and Mike Arndt, my writer, everybody, and I would like to think in my heart that the moment is infused with just a deeper level of emotion because of that because I told that story.

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Photos: Rick Salyer and Todd Wawrychuk / ©A.M.P.A.S.