Ah, but the ultimate of Oscar reactions , the be-all and end-all, the alpha & the omega, the “one to top”, has to be Roberto Benigni’s win for Best Foreign Film for Life Is Beautiful. What surely made it even more sweet for him was that the presenter happened to be another Italian, perhaps one of the most famous of all time, Sophia Loren.
Benigni won again later that night, for Best Actor, and in his memorable second speech, said he wished he was Jupiter on the firmament and could just make love to everybody. Who doesn’t love a speech like that? Heck, I think somebody could get elected President with a speech like that!
That’s the kind of genuine emotion that makes the Academy Awards show great. We don’t want to hear you reading a laundry list thanking your agents, managers, hairdressers, personal assistants, producers, etc. — surely they deserve a thanks, but why not take out a full-page ad in Variety and print all their names there for the world to see? Save the good stuff for your actual speech. Something real. Something that touches you. That’s what we’ll remember, and that’s what we will love you for.