While the Irish might not have had the winning streak they hoped for, only taking home two awards out of 14 nominations at last night’s Academy Awards, there is still plenty of reason to be celebrate.
Doing us proud last nigh, An Irish Goodbye took home the Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film while Tallaght man, Richard Baneman won Best Visual Effects for Avatar.
Needless to say they all deserve a massive congratulations on their victories. And lucky for us, we can relish in these Irish wins. Which is particularly easy, considering how fantastic their work was, and brilliant their post-win celebrations were.
The cast of An Irish Goodbye were particularly impressive, with their heartfelt gesture during their acceptance speech winning over the audience.
Taking to the stage to accept the Oscar were directing and writing duo Tom Berkeley and Ross White, along with the film’s star James Martin.
With Ross beginning: “Deary me, thank you so much to the Academy for this incredible, incredible honour. Thank you to our fellow nominees, all the nominees, for your work that inspires us so very, very much.”
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Making sure to thank Northern Ireland, he continued: “Thank you to everyone back home in Northern Ireland, you helped us make this film.”
“We wish we had the time to list you all here, but you know who you are.”
Passing the mic to his co-writter/director, Tom didn’t jump into a speech but instead a song! Honouring their star James as it was his birthday on the big night.
Telling the audience: ““This award is actually the second most important thing about today, because it’s this man’s birthday,” he said, throwing his arm around James.
“He’s out here in Hollywood wearing a leopard print suit jacket. We’d love to use the rest of our time up here to sing for James,” Tom explained.
And so, the star-studded Oscar’s audience, which included the likes of Rihanna, Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Nicole Kidman, and Lady Gaga to name a few, belted out Happy Birthday during the award ceremony.
It was an incredibly sweet moment, which captured hearts around the globe.
the guys who made An Irish Goodbye used their Oscar acceptance speech to have every A-lister in Hollywood sing Happy Birthday to their star, James Martin. iconic! pic.twitter.com/J4LLHwMla3
— Spencer Althouse (@SpencerAlthouse) March 13, 2023
An unexpected moment of wholesomeness at the #Oscars: The entire audience singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to James Martin from ‘An Irish Goodbye’ moments after the film won an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film pic.twitter.com/m3gKt7XStS
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) March 13, 2023
Every A-Lister in Hollywood has just sang Happy Birthday to James Martin as An Irish Goodbye picks up Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film 🎉🤯 @BelTel https://t.co/EdTmiUBn2E pic.twitter.com/9BGpbLvKCZ
— Kevin Scott (@Kscott_94) March 13, 2023
A massive congratulations to everyone on their big win.