thank you. I'd like to thank Mike Leigh and all the people who worked with
me to make such beautiful costumes. and I'd like to thank all of you for
giving our little film such a brilliant start. thank you. 

there's too many to thank individually. but, we do want to thank the
Wachowski brothers and Joel Silver for giving just a wonderful
experience. they're a lot of fun to work with, and Joel, we truly
appreciate all your trust and support. thank you very much. 

wow. what can we say? Mike Leigh, top guy. you are so brilliant. thanks to
the rest of our team. and thanks. thank you. 

I'm surprised nobody's ever fainted up here. I'm -- I'm in shock. and I'm
so in love with my brother right now. he just held me and said he loved
me. and I know he's so happy for me. and thank you for that. and thank you
to Columbia. Winona, you're amazing, and thank you for supporting all of
us through this. and all the girls in this film are amazing. and Whoopi,
everybody, and my family for loving me. Janine Shrier and your sister
Michelle. we love you. Eric, my mom who is the most brave, beautiful woman
I've ever known. and my dad. you're a great actor, but you're a better
father. and Jamie, you're just -- I have nothing without you. you are the
strongest, most amazing man i've ever known. and I love you. and thank you
so much. 

the subject of this film, my mother's in the audience, and I think she's
probably fainted. we'd like to thank our cinematographer Chris Manley, Rex
Pickett for his wonderful screenplay. our lead actress Helen Stenborg. my
deepest thanks goes to our executive producer and my husband John Martin
for helping me think straight and making everything possible. and to my
family and friends whose support has been so unwavering. I've dreamed of
giving something in return. this is for my mom and dad and for all the
talented people who helped us make this film. thanks also to the bikers
who helped us out. and I'd like to thank my family, Bob and Pat Tiehel, my
sisters, my grandmothers, everybody who's watching me, my husband Bill
Stedman. 

sorry. I no speak English. but, thank you very much. I am proud. very
happy. thanks to members of the Academy for your choice. [ SPEAKING
RUSSIAN ] thank you. 

oh. now my life can go on, I think. it's been hell i'll tell you. you
don't know what this means to me. you don't know what this means to my
kids. it's fantastic. i got some people to thank, I'll do it quickly, I
promise. my friends at Disney who helped, did all the work on
"Tarzan". Bonnie Arnold, Kevin Lima, Chris Buck. producer and director,
Chris Montan who is an incredible guy. music producer Peter Schider, Tom
Schumacher, brilliant minds. Mr. Glennain and all the animators who do
such a wonderful job. Mark, who did a wonderful job on the score. my
manager Tony Smith, my agent Hillary Shaw, my family. my lovely wife
Arianne man, this is tough. I didn't think it was going to be this
tough. my wife Arianne. and my kids, Hillary, Joely and Simon who wrote
this song for me. the academy, thank you for making all the films I've
watched and enjoyed. 

we have followed Dan Keplinger for thirteen years. an amazing spirit in a
body that society may not have included, but tonight he is included, and
he's honored as an artist,and we thank the Academy, and for giving him
this honor. and we thank Sheila Evans at HBO for transforming the world of
documentaries, and for nurturing us and giving us wings and in exchange we
give her "King Gimp." we thank the University of Maryland, where we
work. we thank Nancy at HBO. my friends and family, I'm here because of
you tonight. Linda, supermom who made Dan's independence possible. and
Dan's spirit that touches us all in his writing and his art and inspired
Michael Bacon's music, and the sensitive editing of Jeff Barts. our
crew. wow. thank you, all. thank you. 

my friends at the Academy, first of all I would like to say that this
Oscar goes to the terrific team which made "One Day in September." Kevin
MacDonald, John Batsek, Justine Wright and above all, last not least Mike
Douglas. I want you to know that in contrast to all the films we are
honoring tonight, this film, which took two years and four months in the
making, was only completed in October. consequently, the film "One Day in
September" hasn't been released anywhere in the world. and as a result,
with this Oscar you members of the Academy have given a terrific sign to
members of all the world and the filmmakers, that the Academy in its
judgment is not basing itself at all and is not influenced by box office
success but it is helping and insisting only on the outstanding quality of
a film which can be remembered for a long time. thank you so much for
this. 

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, who I'd never heard
of, quite frankly, who is astonishing. you have Jude who is going to be a
big star no matter what happens. you have Tom, 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 Weinstein at Miramax. Lasse Hallstrom, an extraordinary director,
and Richard Gladstein. the wonderful actors I worked with, Tobey Maguire,
Charlize Theron, Jane Alexander, 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. 

wow. so this is where the rabbit hole goes. I want to thank Larry and Andy
and Joel Silver, Zack, and everybody at Warner Brothers for trusting me
with such a terrific movie. it was a blast from start to finish. I want to
thank our mixers, John, Greg and Dave, and congratulations. I want to
thank my terrific crew led by Julia, Eric, and John. and thank my mother
and father, my wife Francine, my sons Jeremy and Ryan for being there for
me when we came back from being in "The Matrix." this is a great honor. thank you
everyone in the Academy. thank you. 

Andy and Larry Wachowski, this is their vision on the screen. these guys
made the decade. they gave my career a hand. I am most thankful. and they
are great friends of all of ours. they're very by the heart they're making
their films. I'd like to dedicate this to my son Skylar, this is
inspiration. I'd like to thank my wife Rose for standing by me through all
of this. I'd like to thank the executive producers Barrie Osborne, Andrew
Mason, ultra-producer Joel Silver. I'd like to thank Lorenzo D'Bonaventure
of Warner Brothers for standing behind a very risky picture, and really
making this film what the filmmakers wanted it to be. I want to point out
that there are some great visual effects companies that did this
picture. M.V. Effects, Rob, thank you very much for putting all of your
efforts behind innovation, behind the spirit of doing visual effects in
service to a story. I'd like to thank Animal Logic and D. Film for quality
work and a great experience. and most of all the
artists. whatisthematrix.com, go there. 

don't you think they are one of the more beautiful couples? at least
Spanish couple. you know, coming from out in the country, it is very
different than this. in that country, now is six in the morning. so let me
dedicate this to the Spanish people that are watching TV now, and they
scarificed to look at you and me with this. I mean, this is for Spain. I'm
going to be very quick. so if you have to applaud, you'll have to be very
quick. I also want to thank my sister Antonia for the amount of confidence
they've had in the last month. thanks to the Sacred Heart of Mary. I told
that we are from a different country. Harvey Weinstein, listen, Harvey one
idea, consider my sister's Oscar. recited by a paragraph of my mother with
Penelope and me. next, it brings good luck. so I think now I'm going to be
leaving all this. well, excuse me. thanks. thanks to Sony because they
believed a lot in our movie. I'm very quick anyway. and, of course -- to
my brother! and to all the Spanish people. bye-bye! 

I didn't think I was going to be here, up here, and I'm really
speechless. but I just want to tell you thanks so much. you know, I'm from
another world of classical music. and when I write my symphonies and my
concertos it's a very lonely profession. and one thing I've learned about
film writing is how communal it is. and the reason people give thanks is
because there are so many people that had so much to do with this film and
with the music. from Peter Gelb, from Sony Classics, who introduced me to
Frangois Girard the wonderful director of this film. but then you have to
go to the voice of the violin and say, you know, you could write all the
notes you want, but if someone doesn't play them like a god, they'll never
sound that way. and Joshua Bell, the great violinist, played them like a
god. thank you, Josh. to all my other friends, I would like to thank all
my other friends for that. thank you so much. 

our set decorator extraordinaire, Peter Young, was unable to come
tonight. and if I read the rule correctly I get to take home two of these
as a result of that. I hope so, anyway. I just hope you don't mind if I
brought this, the teleprompter doesn't work for me. I share this award
with an artist whose unique brilliance I got a glimpse of twenty years ago
in a wickedly funny short film about a demented artist. director Tim
Burton, whose compelling vision of "Sleepy Hollow" was the inspiration we
all keyed off of. I also share it with two gifted art directors Les
Tomkins and John Dexter and three wonderful art departments in London,
L.A. and New York. I'm grateful for the support and the prodding of
producer Scott Rudin, Adam Schroeder and Larry Franco and the backing of
Paramount Pictures, Sherry Lansing and Michelle Manning and Ed
Morales. and thanks for the patience and love throughout of my wife
Dawn. and thank you to my parents for having me. thanks. 

thank you very much. it's really wild being up here. thank you Larry and
Andy Wachowski for your vision, creativity, intelligence, daily
inspiration and most of all your friendship. you accomplished the
seemingly impossible. a movie with action, suspense, and an intelligent,
provocative message. take the blue pill and stay where you are. or take
the red pill and see just how deep the rabbit hole goes. we had a great
team. quite a few of whom have been honored here tonight. they made my
work great. I'd like to thank Lorenzo D'Bonaventura and everybody at
Warner Brothers for the creative freedom and support. Joel Silver and
Barrie Osborne for fighting some good fights on our behalf. my entire
assistant editing team you all know who you are. thanks to my wife,
Bonnie, my son Robert. I love you. there is no spoon. 

oh, my god. feels like family night with the Burnhams and the Fitts. I'm
looking at somebody that I've got to say thanks to immediately, because he
happened to mention my name to a guy named Sam Mendes, and guess what huh?
this happened. I can't tell you what a great experience it has been
working with his team from DreamWorks. the producers. Dan and Bruce. from
a script that I didn't know how we were going to get made -- that anybody
liked, because they were such unusual characters. until like Sam pointed
out to me don't you ever have any unusual thoughts yourself Conrad about
sixteen year-old girls? that could accompany your daughter home? and I
thought, oh, well. so, I guess -- I guess we are all part of a wonderful,
wonderful, dysfunctional family called the human race. and the Fitts and
the Burnhams and everybody else partakes of my best family are here
tonight, they're my children, my grandchildren, whose love have supported
me all these years. and I know I'm going to forget something and I don't
know what it is. but it's the team that I had working with me, Eric and
Clyde and Susan, and my son Conrad who shot some -- Conrad W., who shot
some additional scenes for us. and David what a great time it was
working. Sam, you're the best, huh? when you showed up looking exactly
like Orson Welles i thought to myself, oh, my god. you know? and now i
know he's like Orson Welles. anyway, thank you to the Academy. it's a
great honor. 

well, you must be trying to get me to reconsider my day job. I want to
thank the Academy for this honor to a film on the abortion subject. and
Miramax for having the courage to make this movie in the first place. but
especially my Janet, my children Colin, Everett, and Brendan. thank you,
Brendan, for coming all this way. my best friend, David. the producer
Richard Gladstein, the director Lasse Hallstrom, with whom I would work
again in a second. and everyone at Planned Parenthood and the National
Abortion Rights League. okay. 

thank you so much. wow, this is heavy. Sam Mendes, I thank my lucky stars
for you every day. for your extraordinary talent, your tenacity, and your
friendship. and for getting it just right. Dan and Bruce, you made a
promise to me to keep me involved and kept it. what were you thinking? an
amazing cast in this movie that a screen writer can only dream about,
Kevin Spacey, you do indeed rule. Annette, you are astounding. Wes, Thora,
Mena, Chris, Allison Peter, Sam and Scott, you brought these characters to
life with depths and shadings I never even thought of. everybody at
DreamWorks for letting us -- for taking a chance on a bunch of
first-timers. for letting us make the movie and for marketing it so
brilliantly. to my agent Andrew. my family, especially my mom. all the
writers i have ever worked with for everything they taught me. and finally
that plastic bag in front of the World Trade Center so many years ago for
being whatever it is that inspires us to do what we do. thank you. 

thank you. thank you so much. we have come a long way. to think that this
movie wouldn't have been made three and a half years ago. and we made it
now for under two million dollars, and now this. it's quite remarkable. I
want to thank the Academy for their support in recognition of me and my
work in a movie that is so important. and I am so proud to be a part of
it. this movie would have never been made. I just on the off chance that I
got up here, I brought this piece of paper because I knew I couldn't
forget anyone because everyone put their heart and soul into this movie,
and god knows no one got paid. so first Kimberly Peirce, for her fierce
tenacity, and vision. Andy Bienin our co-writer. Killer Films. John Hart,
Jeff Harp, for being there for me every single minute. Jim, our
cinematographer, who was absolutely brilliant. Kerry Barden, Jennifer
McNamara for fighting for me, the casting directors. Chloe Sevigny. the
rest of the cast who portrayed their characters so brilliantly. Lee Percy,
our editor. I want to thank Michael Stremel, and everyone at Fox
Searchlight for putting their ring around this small little movie and
giving us wings Larry Moss, my acting coach, who without him I could have
never given this performance. thank you, Larry. my mom, who's up there
somewhere. it looks like living out of our car was worth it. Holly Hind
for keeping my head on straight. my publicist, Troy, who is a beautiful
human being. Cammie Putnam, I have to thank you for fighting for me. I'm
almost done, I promise. the Independent Film Channel for helping us finish
our movie. and Hilde, and David for their support. and last, but certainly
not least, I want to thank Brandon Tina for being such an inspiration to
us all. his legacy lives on through our movie to remind us to always be
ourselves, to follow our hearts, to not conform. I pray for the day when
we not only accept our differences, but we actually celebrate our
diversity. thank you very much. 

this is the highlight of my day. I hope that it's not all downhill from
here. I first have to say that I would like to dedicate this to the man
who inspired my performance, a man who has been my friend and my mentor
and since my father died, a little bit like my father whose performance in
"The Apartment" stands as one of the finest we've ever had. Jack Lemmon,
wherever you are. thank you, thank you, thank you. to my friends for
pointing out my worst qualities, I know you do it because you love me. and
that's why I love playing Lester. because we got to see all of his worst
qualities, and we still grew to love him. and this movie, to me, is all
about how any single act from any single person, put out of context, is
damnable. but the joy of this movie is that it is real beauty. and I found
real beauty in this extraordinary script by Sam Mendes -- by Alan Ball. it
feels like he wrote it, though, doesn't it? I have -- I'm very proud to be
an actor. and I have tried very hard to protect my work. and I am -- I'm
stunned and I'm a bit speechless. Diane, thank you for teaching me about
caring about the right things. and I love you. and, my mother, I don't
care what they say about bringing you to award shows, I will always bring
you to award shows because I'm proud of you, and I love you. and thank
you, thank you, thank you. 

I'm a little bit overwhelmed. I want to say huge respect, first of all to
my fellow nominees. it's an honor to be in your company, genuinely. it's
an honor to be here. I want to say thank you to an astonishing young
studio, DreamWorks, for having the courage to hire a bloke from English
theater to do a movie about American suburbia and then trusting him. thank
you, Glen, William, David Geffen, Jeffrey, and especially thank you to
Steven Spielberg for handing the script to me in the first place, for handing
me this. and for being so generous with your wisdom. thank you to a
fantastic, fantastic cast of actors. I will be forever in your debt. thank
you for giving so much of yourselves to this picture, particularly Kevin
and Annette and Chris and the three younger actors. thank you Wes and
Thora and Mena. thank you so much to all the people, all my many, many
collaborators on this movie. to Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen the
producers. to Conrad, you're an artist and I love you. to Tom Newman for
your fantastic music. to the designers. to my personal heroes, Beth you're
fabulous. and the equals to be Russ, Tora Kirk. to my editor. to all the
people who work and have worked at the theater in London. to all my
friends at home watching at my flat in Primrose Hill. have a drink for
me. to my mom and dad watching back home in South London. to Alan Ball for
a truly original screenplay. and finally I'd like to say thank you to a
personal hero of mine who was a big influence on this movie. I want to say
thank you to Billy Wilder. and I want to say to him, if my career after
this amounts to one tenth of what yours has been, I will be a very happy
man. so to all of those people, and especially to the Academy, thank you
so, so much. 

thank you. it was almost exactly two years ago that Andrew Canava sent us
a screenplay called "American Beauty" by Alan Ball. it dealt with sex and
drugs, blackmail, homophobia, infidelity and suburban dysfunction. and in
the middle of all this was a character named Ricky Fitts who at one point
says "sometimes there's so much beauty in the world I feel like I can't
take it." and everyone in the audience knew exactly what he meant. Alan,
Bruce and I will forever be grateful to you for trusting us with your
beautiful words. Sam Mendes thank you so much for taking this script and
bringing it to the screen in such a brilliant way that audiences around
the world have been moved by the story of two American families. on a
personal note, I want to thank Larry, David, Michael, all of my friends,
my sister Laura and all of my parents who I am so thrilled are here with
me tonight. Bruce? thank you to Kevin Spacey, the incomparable Annette
Bening and our entire cast. you're all phenomenal and we share this with
you. we share this with our spectacular crew. two years ago when others
were passing on this wonderful script DreamWorks stepped up to the
plate. we cannot thank enough so many people there from Glen Williams and
Steven Spielberg for giving us the creative freedom to make the movie we
wanted to make and then working tirelessly to market it and distribute
it. thanks also to Allen, Greg, Jillian, Paul, the gang at Spagos, my
friend and family, mom, dad, Julie, especially grammy. and finally on
behalf of everyone associated with "American Beauty," Dan and I thank the
Academy. to receive this extraordinary honor for a film we are so blessed
to be a part of is truly the thrill of a lifetime. thank you. thank you.