When somebody wins an Academy Award it is customary to thank all of the people who aided and supported you in doing the thing that got you the award. Frequently, if there are multiple people winning the award, or just a lot of people to thank, there's just never enough time in the limited time given to thank everybody. The directors and producers of Best Animated Feature winner Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse got cut off giving their speech on Sunday, and it turns out two very important people got left out who one of the directors was going to thank, Spider-Man creaters Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.
Producer Christopher Miller tweeted out the final piece of the acceptance speech.
There were a lot of people who had something to say when Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse won the Oscar on Sunday. Producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller spoke first before handing the microphone over to the directors. Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman got to speak, but when the mic was turned over to Bob Persichetti, it had already been cut off and music had already started playing, meaning he never got to say a word.
It's certainly frustrating whenever any winner gets "played off" at an awards show. While it's understandable from a broadcast standpoint that you don't want the show to go on forever, seeing people win the awards and give their speeches is literally the point of the event in the first place. If the show runs over because people got to give more of their speech, that seems like a perfectly reasonable trade.
If anybody was a little upset that the creators of Spider-Man were not thanked for help in the success of a movie about Spider-Man, it seems the plan had been to end with that, but the people in charge of the pace of the Oscars had other plans.
We lost both of the great comic creators Steve Ditko and Stan Lee in 2018. Steve Ditko passed away in June and Stan Lee followed in November. Lee had lent his voice to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, as part of his regular cameos in nearly all Marvel theatrical projects, but he died before the movie hit theaters.
Sunday's win for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was actually one of the more closely watched races at the ceremony. Into the Spider-Verse had been a massive hit with fans and critics alike, many believing the film was worthy of a Best Picture nomination as well. At the same time, with the frequency with which Disney and Pixar tend to win the animated category, there was always the possibility that one of those films could have jumped in and played spoiler.
Luckily, that didn't happen and the film that was clearly the best animated movie of the year won the award, even if not all the directors got to speak.
