Jamie Lee Curtis urges Academy to consider genderless acting categories after thanking transgender daughter in Oscar speech – despite fears it could ‘diminish’ wins for women
Jamie Lee Curtis reignited calls to consider using genderless categories after she won an Oscar at the 95th Academy Awards in Hollywood on Sunday.
The 64-year-old actress — who scored her first-ever Oscar for the massively popular Everything Everywhere All At Once, which also won Best Picture — spoke to reporters backstage about hoping to see more women honored by the Academy, even as she wants to find ways to support artists who don’t fit neatly on the gender binary.
The issue is near and dear to Curtis’ heart, as her daughter Ruby came out as transgender to her in 2020.
‘Obviously I would like to see a lot more women be nominated so that there’s gender parity in all the areas and all the branches, and I think we’re getting there,’ she said, according to People, though she noted that there was still a long way to go.
‘We’re not anywhere near there. And of course, the inclusivity then that involves the bigger question, which is, how do you include everyone when there are binary choices, which is very difficult,’ she continued.
Time for a change: Jamie Lee Curtis, 64, celebrated her first Oscar win for Everything Everywhere All At Once by simultaneously calling for more women winners and urging the Academy to consider gender-free acting categories
‘As the mother of a trans daughter I completely understand that,’ she said, referencing Ruby, who married her partner with the True Lies star officiating in 2022.
However, she noted that removing gender from the acting categories could have the unintended effect of significantly cutting down on women winners, as voters might be more likely to consolidate around men.
‘And yet, to de-gender the category, also, I’m concerned [that] will diminish the opportunities for more women, which is something I also have been working hard to try to promote. So it’s a complicated question, but I think the most important thing is inclusivity and more women.’
This year, the Film Independent Spirit Awards condensed their acting categories into just best lead and supporting performance categories, with Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan winning, respectively, for Everything Everywhere All At Once.
Other award shows have proposed giving genderless prizes to the top two winners in lead and supporting categories, in the hopes that at least one woman will win in each, though that wouldn’t be guaranteed.
Curtis added that she wants ‘more women anywhere, everywhere and all at once,’ referencing the title of her smash hit film, which earned an astounding $106.7 million worldwide against a reported budget of under $15 million.
Earlier in the evening, the self-admitted ‘nepo baby’ was in tears as she accepted her first Academy Award in the Best Supporting Actress category.
During her emotional acceptance speech, she referenced her famous parents, Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh.
‘And my mother and my father were both nominated for Oscars in different categories — I just won an Oscar!’ she shouted triumphantly.
Leigh, who died in 2004, was nominated in the same category as her daughter for Alfred Hitchcock’s classic horror film Psycho (1960), though Shirley Jones took home the honor for Elmer Gantry.
Tony Curtis, who died in 2010, scored his nomination for the 1958 drama The Defiant Ones, but it was David Niven who won that year.
Progress: ‘Obviously I would like to see a lot more women be nominated so that there’s gender parity in all the areas and all the branches, and I think we’re getting there,’ she said
Pluses and minuses: Curtis, whose daughter Ruby (L) is trans, urged considering genderless categories, though she also worried that it might decrease the number of women who are honored; seen in October 2022
The ceremony was hosted by late night chat show host Jimmy Kimmel and was held at its regular venue, the Dolby Theater in Hollywood.
Flying high: Top Gun: Maverick was nominated for six Oscars including Best Picture, in a sign that Hollywood is finally listening to audiences and honoring box office hits instead of arthouse favorites
Top Gun: Maverick was nominated for six Oscars including Best Picture, in a sign that Hollywood is finally listening to audiences and honoring box office hits instead of arthouse favorites.
The movie starring Tom Cruise was nominated for Best Picture, along with Elvis, Avatar: The Way of Water, All Quiet On The Western Front and Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans.
While Cruise missed out on a nomination for Best Actor, the nomination for Best Picture put him in striking distance of his first Academy Award, as he also produced the picture.
However, Everything Everywhere All At Once led the pack with the most nominations at 11, and The Banshees of Inisherin earned nine nominations. The two films swept the Golden Globes earlier this month, but EEAAO was the big winner of the night with seven awards.
Elvis, by Baz Luhrmann, had eight nominations, including one for Austin Butler.
Best Actress at the Oscars was a toss-up between Cate Blanchett in Tár and Michelle Yeoh, who won the award at the Golden Globes for her performance in Everything Everywhere All at Once.
Ana De Armas also earned a nomination for her portrayal of Marilyn Monroe in Blonde.
Yeoh ultimately won, become the first Asian woman to ever win Best Actress.
While Cruise missed out on a nomination for Best Actor, Austin Butler (Elvis), Brendan Fraser (The Whale) and Bill Nighy (Living) all received nods.
Big favorite: However, Everything Everywhere All At Once led the pack with the most nominations with 11. It won seven
All Quiet On The Western Front, a German-produced film, earned multiple nominations, as did Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, including Best Original Song.
Angela Bassett was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and as was Curtis for Everything Everywhere All At Once.
Winners were voted on by the roughly 10,000 actors, producers, directors and film craftspeople who make up the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
The academy added more women and people of color to its ranks after the #OscarsSoWhite uproars of 2015 and 2016, and it increased membership from outside the United States.
This year, seven of the 20 acting nominees were people of color including Yeoh’s Everything Everywhere All At Once castmates Ke Huy Quan and Stephanie Hsu.
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences will surely celebrate a best-picture field populated with blockbusters; according to data firm Comscore, their collective domestic box office of $1.574 billion is the most ever at the time of nominations.
Last year’s awards had been looking like a comeback edition before ‘the slap’ came to define the ceremony. In the aftermath, the academy banned Will Smith from attending for the next 10 years.
Though he could have still been nominated, Smith’s performance as a runaway slave in Emancipation didn’t catch on with voters.
Notorious: Last year’s awards had been looking like a comeback edition before ‘the slap’ came to define the ceremony. In the aftermath, the academy banned Will Smith from attending for the next 10 years
But larger concerns are swirling around the movie business. Last year saw flashes of triumphant resurrection for theaters, like the success of Top Gun: Maverick, but less stellar results for most dramas.
Partially due to an inconsistent stream of major releases, ticket sales for the year recovered only about 70 percent of pre-pandemic business.
Stocks for streaming services, meanwhile, have plunged as Wall Street looked to streaming services to earn profits, not just add subscribers.
Last year’s Oscar broadcast drew 16.6 million viewers, according to Nielsen, up from the record-low audience of 10.5 million for the pandemic-marred 2021 telecast.
Oscars 2023: Full list of 95th Academy Awards winners
Best Picture
All Quiet on the Western Front
Avatar: The Way of Water
The Banshees of Inisherin
Elvis
Everything Everywhere All at Once – WINNER
The Fabelmans
TÁR
Top Gun: Maverick
Triangle of Sadness
Women Talking
Best Director
Martin McDonagh – The Banshees of Inisherin
Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert – Everything Everywhere All at Once – WINNER
Steven Spielberg – The Fabelmans
Todd Field – TÁR
Ruben Östlund – Triangle of Sadness
Best Actor
Austin Butler – Elvis
Colin Farrell – The Banshees of Inisherin
Brendan Fraser – The Whale – WINNER
Paul Mescal -Aftersun
Bill Nighy – Living
Best Actress
Cate Blanchett – TÁR
Ana de Armas – Blonde
Andrea Riseborough -To Leslie
Michelle Williams – The Fabelmans
Michelle Yeoh – Everything Everywhere All at Once – WINNER
Best Supporting Actor
Brendan Gleeson – The Banshees of Inisherin
Brian Tyree Henry – Causeway
Judd Hirsch – The Fabelmans
Barry Keoghan – The Banshees of Inisherin
Ke Huy Quan – Everything Everywhere All at Once – WINNER
Best Supporting Actress
Angela Bassett – Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Hong Chau – The Whale
Kerry Condon – The Banshees of Inisherin
Jamie Lee Curtis – Everything Everywhere All at Once – WINNER
Stephanie Hsu – Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson, and Ian Stokell – All Quiet on the Western Front
Rian Johnson – Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Kazuo Ishiguro – Living
Screenplay by Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, and Christopher McQuarrie, story by Peter Craig and Justin Marks – Top Gun: Maverick
Sarah Polley – Women Talking – WINNER
Best Writing (Original Screenplay)
Martin McDonagh – The Banshees of Inisherin
Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert – Everything Everywhere All at Once – WINNER
Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner – The Fabelmans
Todd Field – TÁR
Ruben Östlund – Triangle of Sadness
Best Animated Feature Film
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio -WINNER
Marcel the Shell With Shoes On
Puss In Boots: The Last Wish
The Sea Beast
Turning Red
Best International Feature Film
All Quiet on the Western Front – WINNER
Argentina, 1985
Close
EO
The Quiet Girl
Best Documentary Feature
All That Breathes
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
Fire of Love
A House Made of Splinters
Navalny – WINNER
Best Film Editing
Mikkel E.G. Nielsen, The Banshees of Inisherin
Matt Villa and Jonathan Redmond, Elvis
Paul Rogers, Everything Everywhere All at Once – WINNER
Monika Willi, TÁR
Eddie Hamilton, Top Gun: Maverick
Best Cinematography
James Friend – All Quiet on the Western Front – WINNER
Darius Khondji – Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths
Mandy Walker – Elvis
Roger Deakins – Empire of Light
Florian Hoffmeister – TÁR
Best Costume Design
Mary Zophres – Babylon
Ruth E. Carter – Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – WINNER
Catherine Martin – Elvis
Shirley Kurata – Everything Everywhere All at Once
Jenny Beavan – Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Heike Merker and Linda Eisenhamerová – All Quiet on the Western Front
Naomi Donne, Mike Marino, and Mike Fontaine – The Batman
Camille Friend and Joel Harlow – Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Mark Coulier, Jason Baird, and Aldo Signoretti – Elvis
Adrien Morot, Judy Chin, and Anne Marie Bradley – The Whale – WINNER
Best Production Design
Christian M. Goldbeck and Ernestine Hipper – All Quiet on the Western Front – WINNER
Dylan Cole, Ben Procter, and Vanessa Cole – Avatar: The Way of Water
Florencia Martin and Anthony Carlino – Babylon
Catherine Martin, Karen Murphy, and Bev Dunn – Elvis
Rick Carter and Karen O’Hara – The Fabelmans
Best Music (Original Song)
“Applause” from Tell It Like a Woman, music and lyrics by Dianne Warren
“Hold My Hand” from Top Gun: Maverick, music and lyrics by Lady Gaga and BloodPop
“Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, music and lyrics by Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler, and Ludwig Goransson
“Naatu Naatu” from RRR, music by M.M. Keeravaani, lyrics by Chandrabose – WINNER
“This Is a Life” from Everything Everywhere All at Once, music by Ryan Lott, David Byrne, and Mitski, lyrics by Ryan Lott
Best Music (Original Score)
Volker Bertelmann – All Quiet on the Western Front – WINNER
Justin Hurwitz – Babylon
Carter Burwell – The Banshees of Inisherin
Son Lux – Everything Everywhere All at Once
John Williams – The Fabelmans
Best Sound
Viktor Prášil, Frank Kruse, Markus Stemler, Lars Ginzel, and Stefan Korte – All Quiet on the Western Front
Julian Howarth, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Dick Bernstein, Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, and Michael Hedges – Avatar: The Way of Water
Stuart Wilson, William Files, Douglas Murray, and Andy Nelson – The Batman
David Lee, Wayne Pashley, Andy Nelson, and Michael Keller – Elvis
Mark Weingarten, James H. Mather, Al Nelson, Chris Burdon, and Mark Taylor – Top Gun: Maverick – WINNER
Best Visual Effects
Frank Petzold, Viktor Müller, Markus Frank, and Kamil Jafar – All Quiet on the Western Front
Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon, and Daniel Barrett – Avatar: The Way of Water – WINNER
Dan Lemmon, Russell Earl, Anders Langlands, and Dominic Tuohy – The Batman
Geoffrey Baumann, Craig Hammack, R. Christopher White, and Dan Sudick – Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Ryan Tudhope, Seth Hill, Bryan Litson, and Scott R. Fisher – Top Gun: Maverick
Best Animated Short Film
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse – WINNER
The Flying Sailor
Ice Merchants
My Year of Dicks
An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake, and I Think I Believe It
Best Live Action Short Film
An Irish Goodbye – WINNER
Ivalu
Le Pupille
Night Ride
The Red Suitcase
Best Documentary Short
The Elephant Whisperers – WINNER
Haulout
How Do You Measure a Year?
The Martha Mitchell Effect
Stranger at the Gate
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