The Oscars (I) (2023 TV Special)

Daniel Kwan: Self - Winner

Quotes 

• Self - Co-Winner: Best Original Screenplay/Best Director/Best Picture : Oh my god! All right. Okay, I had a fantasy as a kid of winning an award and going up and telling off all the teachers that gave my brother and I detention. So here goes... I'm just kidding. These are teachers that changed my life, most of them public school teachers. Ms. Dummier, Mr. Toole, Mr. Hudson, Mr. Chambers, Madame George, Ms. NFL, Ken Cheeseman, Mirta Tocci, Joan Darling and Edith Hallman, you guys educated me, you inspired me, and you taught me to be less of a butthead. Your turn.

  Self - Winner: Best Original Screenplay/Best Director/Best Picture : All right, my fast spiel. I never thought of myself as a screenwriter or a storyteller. I never thought I was good enough. I have self-esteem problems. I have to thank all the people, yes, so -- thank you

  [pointing up] 

  Self - Winner: Best Original Screenplay/Best Director/Best Picture : . Oh god, guys! My imposter syndrome is at an all-time high. I need to thank the people who made me the storyteller that I am, starting with my mom who protected me as a child, protected the inner storyteller. My mom is sitting here somewhere, I don't know where she is, thank you for all the sacrifices you gave me. My wife, who protects me every day from the most negative thoughts I have, especially when I'm writing. And especially, I need to thank Daniel Scheinert, who is my confidence. He is the person who told me I was a storyteller and a filmmaker before I could even say that myself, and I would not be here without him. So thank you guys, thank you so much. And to my fellow nominees! Thank you so much guys. Thank you.

• Self - Co-Winner: Best Original Screenplay/Best Director/Best Picture : Our fellow nominees, you guys are our heroes. This is weird. We want to dedicate this to the mommies, all the mommies in the world. To our moms. Specifically my mom and dad, Ken and Becky, thank you for not squashing my creativity when I was making really disturbing horror films or really perverted comedy films or dressing in drag as a kid, which is a threat to nobody. And, yeah, thank you to everybody who worked in our movie.

  Self - Winner: Best Original Screenplay/Best Director/Best Picture : I know every director agrees with me when I say a director is nothing without their incredible cast and crew. This, it's my family, my friends. If our movie has greatness and genius it is only because they have greatness and genius flowing through their hearts and souls and minds and they gave that precious gift to our film. The world is opening up to the fact that genius does not stem from individuals like us on stage, but rather genius emerges from the collective. We are all products of our context. We are all descendants of something and someone and I want to acknowledge my context. My immigrant parents: my father who fell in love with movies because he needed to escape the world and thus passed that love of movies onto me. My mother, who is a creative soul, who wanted to be a dancer, an actor, and singer but could not afford the luxury of that life path and then gave it to me. My incredible brothers and sisters, who helped me survive the chaos of childhood. My friends from high school, who taught me the, that, the -- sorry, I'm just going to keep going. The RCCC, you taught me the liberating freedom of creativity and joy and your DNA is in this film, as well. My incredible son Gio, you rearrange my DNA every day and it's awful and beautiful every single time. If you ever watch this, I hope you know that you should never have to live up to this standard. This is not normal. This is kind of crazy. I will love you no matter what. And last thing, I just want to go back to my original point. There is greatness is every single person. It doesn't matter who they are. You have a genius that is waiting to erupt, you just need to find the right people to unlock that. Thank you so much to everyone who has unlocked my genius. This means so much to us. Thank you to the Academy.

• Self - Co-Winner: Best Picture : This feels incredible. There is no movie without our brilliant and big-hearted cast and crew. But not just these beautiful souls here

  [pointing behind him] 

  Self - Co-Winner: Best Picture : , also, up there

  [pointing to the balcony] 

  Self - Co-Winner: Best Picture : and in Little Tokyo

  [pointing to the camera] 

  Self - Co-Winner: Best Picture : , we see you. So this award, it's ours. I really, it is -- it's intimidating speaking up here, let me just tell you that. I never thought I would get to say this, so I say it with one voice with all these people: thank you to the Academy. A24, thank you so much. You saw our weirdness and supported us for a year theatrically. That's incredible, thank you. To my brilliant and beautiful wife Anni, if all this shiny stuff and tuxedos goes away I would just love to do laundry and taxes with you for the rest of my life. But this is for my dad, who like so many immigrant parents died young. And he is so proud of me not because of this

  [holding forward the Oscar] 

  Self - Co-Winner: Best Picture : , but because we made this movie with what he taught me to do, which is no person is more important than profits and no one is more important than anyone else. And these weirdos right here supported me in doing that. Wang Dazhang*, memory eternal. Daniels, I don't know what to say. I love you guys. You just won Best Picture.

  Self - Co-Winner: Best Original Screenplay/Best Director/Best Picture : Hey!

  Self - Winner: Best Original Screenplay/Best Director/Best Picture : We've said enough tonight. I just want to say that, thank you so much to everyone here, you have all inspired me. I think one of the things that I realized growing up was that one of the best things we can do for each other is shelter each other from the chaos of this crazy world we live in. Thank you to the storytellers here who did that for me. The world is changing rapidly and I fear that our stories are not keeping at pace. And I, sometimes it's a little scary knowing that movies move at the rate of years and the world on the Internet is moving at the rate of milliseconds. But I have great faith in our stories. These stories have changed my life. And they've done that for generations, and I know that we will get through this. Have a great night guys. Thank you so much.

  Self - Co-Winner: Best Original Screenplay/Best Director/Best Picture : Thank you and everyone have a good night. Thank you for watching.