Oscar Acceptance Speech

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Thank you. I was looking watching all the others and thinking back when I saw the performances. I’m thinking of how the Academy changed ‘The winner is’ to ‘The Oscar goes to,’ and if ever there was a category where the Oscar goes to someone without there being a winner, it’s this one, because I do not feel like being the winner.

You have Michael [Clarke Duncan]...who I’d never heard of, quite frankly...who is astonishing.

You have Jude [Law] who is going to be a big star no matter what happens.

You have Tom [Cruise], who, if you had won this, your price would have gone down so fast. Have you any idea what supporting actors get paid?

And we only get one motor home. A small one.

And Haley Osment, what an astonishing -- there he is. Haley, when I saw you, I thought ‘Well that’s me out of it’.

So, really, I’m basically up here guys, to represent you as what I hope you will all be, a survivor.

I've got to hurry up. I wasn’t here last time, so give me a bit with my speech, the last time I won.... Do give me a bit extra time, okay?

I want to thank Harvey and Bob Wienstein at Miramax. Lasse Hallstrom, an extraordinary director, and Richard Gladstein. The wonderful actors I worked with: Tobey Maguire, Charlize Theron, Jane Alexander, Kathy Baker, all people who inhabit, rather than act. And the wonderful children that I acted with there.

And last of all, I want to thank my two daughters, Dominique and Tasha, and my wife.

Thank you.

Notes

Michael Caine won his second Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor at the 72nd Academy Awards on 26 March 2000. He was nominated for his role as Dr Wilbur Larch in The Cider House Rules.

The other nominated actors were: Tom Cruise [Magnolia], Michael Clarke Duncan [The Green Mile], Jude Law [The Talented Mr Ripley] and Haley Joel Osment [The Sixth Sense].

Sir Michael had previously won the Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Hannah and Her Sisters at the 59th Academy Awards on 30 March 1987. He did not attend the ceremony as he was filming Jaws The Revenge.