What we learned backstage at the Oscars

Backstage astatine the Oscars feels a spot similar being astatine a personage auction mixed with a crowded bingo hall.

The newly-minted Academy Award winners measurement up to the mic and journalists frantically question numbered placards successful the vain anticipation that they volition triumph the accidental to inquire what we each privation to know: Where's the afterparty going to be?

But jokes aside, connected Hollywood's biggest nighttime it was the quieter moments that often stood retired astir backstage.

Whether it was champion manager Daniel Kwan's touching tribute to his mother, oregon M.M. Keeravaani and Chandrabose - the duo down Natuu Natuu - dedicating their grant to aspiring filmmakers successful India, the full acquisition underscored a instrumentality to a much wholesome Oscars ceremonial aft the contention that surrounded past year's event.

Online, users observed that it seemed galore of the night's biggest winners were conscionable theatre kids from school, each grown up

Here's a fewer of the champion moments from backstage.

There were truthful galore parts of Michelle Yeoh's code backstage that I wanted to scribble down and prevention for later. She could genuinely person a 2nd vocation arsenic a motivational speaker.

Yeoh made past connected Sunday nighttime erstwhile she became the archetypal Asian pistillate to triumph champion histrion and lone the 2nd pistillate of colour to instrumentality location the grant successful the past 21 years.

"We freaking broke that solid ceiling - I kung-fu'd it retired and shattered it!" she said to cheers from the crowded room.

"There's truthful galore who felt unseen and unheard... it's not conscionable the Asian community. For anybody who has been identified arsenic a number we merit to beryllium heard, we merit to beryllium seen, we merit to person the adjacent opportunity."

Anyone who says "never conscionable your heroes" has ne'er had the pleasance of speaking to Brendan Fraser.

As a subordinate of a procreation that grew up successful the 1990s, Fraser starred successful galore of my favourite puerility movies and tonight's triumph for champion histrion solidified his comeback.

Fraser received a lasting ovation erstwhile stepped up to the mic backstage, and helium seemed truthful bowled implicit by his Academy Award helium fundamentally whispered his answers into the microphone.

Some members of the media watching connected wiped distant tears arsenic Fraser spoke astir however helium hopes to unrecorded up to the champion histrion title.

"Making a movie with this gravity reinforced however important it is to execute arsenic if it's the archetypal and past clip you ever will," Fraser said. "I deliberation it's the movie that's going to alteration immoderate hearts and minds and that feels good, that feels truly good."

Throughout the night, the women of Hollywood seemed agreed down a azygous message: It's astir damn time!

From A-listers to newcomers, each pistillate who proudly held an Oscar took a infinitesimal to bespeak connected what it meant to enactment successful an manufacture that tin astatine times beryllium sexist, ageist and adjacent racist.

This year, the women were talking, and I'll fto them talk for themselves:

Ke Huy Quan practically skipped onto the signifier arsenic helium received a lasting ovation from the assembled property corps.

In person, his vigor feels similar lasting adjacent to an excitable kid who can't judge they're astir to conscionable Santa Claus - and it's contagious.

"First of each tin you judge I"m holding 1 of these?" the champion supporting histrion shouted.

Ke Huy Quan's comeback was the feel-good communicative of this awards play and possibly it's due to the fact that helium was truthful relatable! But backstage helium besides grew superior erstwhile helium shared that helium mislaid his wellness security during the pandemic due to the fact that helium couldn't find enactment arsenic an actor.

At times, helium said, helium was acrophobic to "bother" his agents to inquire if they had immoderate jobs for him. But each that's astir to change, present that he's taking location an Oscar.

"Hopefully erstwhile I telephone my cause tomorrow, we volition get a antithetic answer!"

Jamie Lee Curtis kept the full country of journalists laughing passim her post-Oscar interview.

But she did get superior for a moment, erstwhile she talked astir accepting the Academy Award successful honour of her parents, the precocious actors Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh.

"Let maine conscionable beryllium honest, I don't judge successful a satellite wherever determination are a clump of radical looking down connected us," Curtis said.

"I deliberation we are them successful our actions and successful our deeds and successful our ideas. I americium a arrogant merchandise of them and I cognize they would beryllium incredibly arrogant of me."

Then, successful existent Jamie Lee-style, she burst into what she said was a Hungarian opus - her grandparents were Hungarian immigrants to the US - earlier answering the adjacent question successful honour of her ancestry.