As expected, last night was a big night for Leonardo DiCaprio. After many years, and many nominations, the accomplished actor finally obtained the one prize that had been eluding him, the Academy Award. However, there’s another part of the Oscar process that has to feel special. Actually getting your name on the bloody thing. That part happened later in the evening. And now you can see it happen!
Since nobody, except the accountants, know who wins the Oscars until the envelope is opened, the statue itself is handed to the winner blank. They then need to have the Academy engrave their name on it later. Needless to say, there was a lot of press surrounding the engraving process, but Variety actually got video of DiCaprio's historic moment, which they put up on Twitter.
Apparently, the engraving actually takes place at the Governors Ball, the primary post-Oscar party for all of the nominees, which is a thing that we didn’t know happened. Of course, neither did Leonardo DiCaprio, who joked about that fact with the engravers doing the work. The engraver working on Leo’s statue seems to have trouble screwing the plate back into place. We can imagine working on such an historic Oscar could make one a little nervous. After the work is done on the nameplate, the actor receives a set of instructions for the proper care of the statue. Who knew winning an Oscar involved so much work?
It’s great to see Leonardo DiCaprio joking around and having a good time. It’s clear that above all else the actor is relaxed. He’s very happy to have won the award. He’d made it clear that he would always appreciate the recognition of his peers. What’s more, now that’s finally done it, people will stop asking him if it’s finally "his time." That had to get tiring after awhile. Whether his relief comes from the joy of winning, or simply the relief that it wasn’t another loss, DiCaprio is in very good spirits here.
Leonardo DiCaprio’s Oscar win was a big moment for a lot of people, not just him. It became the most tweeted about moment, not only of the show, but in the history of the social media outlet. Over 440,000 tweets per minute referenced the win once it occurred. After being nominated for four previous acting awards, he finally made it up on the Oscar stage for his role in The Revenant. In addition to DiCaprio’s award, the film also took home trophies for Best Director (Alejandro G. Inarritu) and for Best Cinematography (Emmanuel Lubezki).
We’re glad that Leonardo DiCaprio has finally achieved the pinnacle of success for his profession. Now we can move on to more important conversations, like why doesn’t Edward Norton have an Oscar?
