This year’s Oscars had a distinctly maternal tone as many stars either paid tribute to their mothers or brought them to the ceremony.
Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, the directors of Everything Everywhere All at Once, known collectively as the Daniels, dedicated their award to “all the mommies in the world”. Their film, which netted seven awards, the most of the night, is centred on a mother, played by Michelle Yeoh, struggling with her laundry business and marriage, but also her daughter’s sexuality.
Ke Huy Quan, who won an award early in the night for best supporting actor for the same film, tearfully said: “My mom is 84 years old, and she’s at home watching. Mom, I just won an Oscar.”
Michelle Yeoh, who won best actress for her lead role in the film, said her mother was also 84 and at home watching the ceremony from Malaysia. She thanked her and “all the mums in the world because they are really the superheroes and without them none of us would be here tonight.”
Many of the winners said that their talents were nurtured by their families, many of whom were immigrants to America. Daniel Scheinert said that his family had encouraged his creativity even when he was making disturbing horror films, “or dressing in drag, which is a threat to nobody” – a reference to the pushback against drag performances in some American states.
Ruth Carter, the first Black woman to win two Oscars when she took best costume design for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, paid tribute to her mother, Mabel, who had died the previous week. “This past week Mabel Carter became an ancestor. This film prepared me for this moment,” she said, invoking the late Chadwick Boseman, star of the first film: “Please take care of Mom.”
Volker Bertelmann also thanked his mother after he won the Oscar for best original score for All Quiet on the Western Front.
Paul Mescal, nominated best actor for Aftersun, took his mother, Dearbhla, as his date for the Oscars, as he had for the Baftas. He told ABC news: “She’s had that date booked in her diary for years. She had lots of confidence, probably more confidence than I did, that this was ever going to happen.” She is due to undergo chemotherapy for cancer.
Actor Jonathan Majors arrived on the red carpet – as he has at previous awards ceremonies – carrying a cup, which he told the Today show is a reference to his upbringing: “My mom’s a pastor, and she was very clear about safety. She would say, ‘No drinking, no drugs, no sex,’ every time I left the house.
“This has happened my entire life,” he added. “But the drinking was a thing, and she’d always say, ‘So baby, watch your cup. Watch your glass.’ And I kept that in mind.”
The emphasis on mothers also chimed with an Oscars in which older women were some of the biggest winners – or instance Jamie Lee Curtis, who is 64. Some of the nominated films also dealt with complicated family relationships – not just the best picture winner but also Aftersun, about a single father and his daughter.
Fathers also had their moment at the Oscars thanks to Colin Farrell, who brought his 13-year-old son Henry Tadeusz. However, the star of The Banshees of Inisherin went home empty-handed.
