Transcript of EDDIE REDMAYNE
The Theory of Everything
EDDIE REDMAYNE: Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you to the Screen Actors Guild. This has been such an extraordinary year for performances, and to be included in this number, of Michael, Ben, Jake, Steve, but beyond that, to Bradley Cooper, to David Oyelowo, to Bradley Coop— Oh, I’ve said Bradley Cooper. [laughter] To, to, oh, Timothy Spall, what an extraordinary man. It’s a great privilege for me. These are all actors I’ve long admired.
I would like to dedicate this award, this very wonderful skinny man, to those people around the world living with ALS. To those who have lost their lives to this brutal disease… [applause] In preparing to play Stephen, I met many people fighting ALS, and I met their families fighting alongside them. And the courage and the bravery and the spirit, this triumph of spirit that I witnessed, blew my mind. That’s why I’m incredibly grateful to them.
To Stephen and Jane, back in Cambridge, thank you for allowing someone who gave up science when they were 14 years old, to enter your orbit. Thank you for entrusting this wonderful troupe of people on Table 2, with your formidable story.
And thank you for reminding me of the overwhelming power of the will to love, and the will to live every second of your life as fully and as passionately as possible. Thank you. [applause]
J.K. SIMMONS: Thank you. This is really beautiful to be acknowledged in a room full of peers, by a union full of peers. And, I feel like all of us actors are supporting actors, whether it’s Miles Teller, who’s in every scene of the movie – think about it. [applause] Or myself, or Paul Reiser, or Melissa Benoist, Damon Gupton, who is in one scene, Tarik Lowe, who has one line. Each of us is not only supporting the story, the movie, the play, the whatever it is that we’re doing. Each of us is essential, completely crucial to the story.Because if there’s one false moment, the train comes off the rails and our willing suspension of disbelief is gone and we have to earn it back.
So, I would like to thank the 49 actors who appear onscreen in “Whiplash” for realizing Damien Chazelle’s vision so beautifully. And I would like to thank… [applause] Yes, please.
I would like to thank my extraordinary wife, Michelle Schumacher. We met 24 years ago as actors together on Broadway, and 16 years ago she became a full-time mother to our above-average children. [laughter] And after many, many years of doing that, she’s now stepped to the other side of the camera, writing and directing and producing, which is awesome because it’s more jobs for me… [laughter] Because I’m sleeping with the director, so… [laughter]
Thank you to the Screen Actors Guild, and thank you, Mom and Dad. [applause]
PATRICIA ARQUETTE: Oh, my God! I can’t tell you what this means to me. I’m a fourth generation actor. My family has been committed to acting for over a century, through feast or famine. My father, Lewis Arquette, taught me to approach work with compassion and gratitude, and taught me also how hard it is to make a living as an actor.
Rosanna, Richmand, Alexis, David, you were my first scene partners and my most powerful coaches. To all my acting teachers and coaches. I’d like to acknowledge my fellow nominees for their beautiful and solid work. Our cast and crew, Ethan Hawke,for your fierce commitment; Ellar Coltrane for your purity; Lorelei Linklater for your strength and your vulnerability. Richard Linklater,for showing me the beauty of this human experience, and how we all matter.
Thanks to IFC, Josh Sapan, Jonathan Sehring, John Sloss, Cathleen Sutherland, David DiCamillo, Molly Madden, Eric White. To my kids Enzo and Harlow, you are both perfect, the perfect kids for me. To my mother, Olivia, you are my hummingbird, you’re always with me. Thank you. [applause]
