Undoubtedly one of the best moments of last night's Academy Awards broadcast was Octavia Spencer's endearing and heartfelt acceptance speech, following her win for The Help. Her portrayal of Minny Jackson, the long-suffering maid of a racist Southern belle, was sassy, sharp, poignant and inspiring. So, when she took to the stage--practically glowing in that gorgeous gown and utterly overwhelmed by her victory--it was a moment in the sun that pulled the audience at the Kodak to their feet and made the rest of us cheer from our couches. This was the most thrilling win of the night and the one everyone's talking about this morning, and you can carry the celebration as long as you like thanks to Jon & Al Kaplan and their spirited and cheeky anthem:
Here, the Kaplans have captured Minny's irrepressible feistiness and The Help's scatalogical revenge plot in one hysterical gospel number, complete with a chipper and incredibly catchy chorus. As viral vids go, this is the total package. It's topical, deftly edited, and possesses a sense of humor that's smart yet coarse. Best of all, the Kaplans make full use of Spencer's full-bodied charisma, from her mesmerizing big brown eyes to her wonderfully smug grin and her serious swagger. It's brassy and bold as she is, and it's now available on iTunes.
The Kaplans are brothers and songwriters whose love of musicals has urged them to create mocking yet weirdly reverent song numbers for some of their favorite movies, from Star Wars, to John Carpenter's The Thing to Conan the Barbarian. Vids like these have garnered them a rabid web following, but they may be best known for their heralded, live stage show Silence!, a musical comedy inspired by Silence of the Lambs, which is now playing in New York.
