For this year’s Best Actress acceptance speech at the Academy Awards, many expected one of two outcomes: an emotional Lady Gaga being recognized for her role as Ally in A Star is Born, or Glenn Close (and her adorable dog Pip?) finally winning an Oscar for The Wife after seven nominations without a win. In a stunning surprise, however, Olivia Colman’s name was called tonight,and she took the prize for her role as Queen Anne in Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Favourite. Based on her reaction, which you can watch in the video below, it seems that she was just as shocked - if not more so - than we were:
What a queen!! The actress’ win certainly made for an interesting development during the 91st Academy Awards that had, for the most part, fulfilled prophecy of prediction. The moment her name was called, the British actress was completely taken aback and was sandwiched with kisses by her husband Ed Sinclair, costar Emma Stone, and The Favourite director Yorgos Lanthimos before taking the stage.
She accepted her Oscar by saying “it’s genuinely quite stressful… this is hilarious” through happy tears. She thanked Yorgos Lanthimos and her costars Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone, who had received nominations for Best Supporting Actress - but they lost out on the prize to If Beale Street Could Talk’s Regina King.
The actress then turned her focus to fellow nominee and the night’s frontrunner, Glenn Close, saying “You’ve been my idol for so long. This is not how I wanted it to be, and I think you’re amazing, and thank you very much.” The 71-year-old actress wearing sparkly gold smiled at her fondly, though after being recognized by the Academy for 36 years, with seven nominations, many expected this was her night.
Olivia Colman's speech was completely genuine, emotional and funny – inciting roars of laughter among the audience throughout, as she thanked important people in her life, said “any little girl who's practicing her speech on the tele, you never know!” and blew kisses back and forth to Lady Gaga before leaving the stage.
The moment certainly wasn’t foreseen by most. Lady Gaga was certainly the popular pick for Best Actress this year with A Star Is Born. Her performance is still stuck in the heads of many, from her memorable moments singing “Shallow," to eher acting her heart out with Bradley Cooper.
The Favourite marked Olivia Colman’s first Oscar nomination, and now her first win. The movie led the field this year with 10 nominations, though Colman’s Best Actress victory was the only trophy the movie took home by the end of the night.
The Favourite is a dark comedy masquerading as a period drama about Queen Anne (Colman), who is struggling with loss and illness as two Ladies, played by Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone, fight for her attention. It’s a hilarious and unhinged look at the 18th Century English queen, and certainly deserves all of the recognition that it has received.
Olivia Colman’s win was no doubt the biggest bombshell of the night, but made for an energizing moment for the latter half of the show, and allowed for The Favourite to get earn some proper attention in a major category. Of course, it's not the only category of the night we're analyzing, so stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for more of our 2019 Academy Awards coverage!
