Weapons‘ Amy Madigan was giddy to have prevailed in the Best Supporting Actress race at the 98th Academy Awards on Sunday.
This year’s race has been a tight one with no clear frontrunner heading into the night’s ceremony. Madigan was up against Elle Fanning and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas for Sentimental Value, Wunmi Mosaku for Sinners and Teyana Taylor for One Battle After Another. But, having already snapped up the Critics Choice and Actor Awards trophies, Madigan seemed just a tad more likely to prevail.
After letting out a cathartic scream, Madigan giggled. “This is great!” she exclaimed as she collected herself on stage.
Her nomination for Weapons marked her first in 40 years, when she was nominated in the same category for Twice in a Lifetime. She told the audience that, during the press tour, she’s been asked often what feels “different” about this awards season compared to her last as a nominee.
“What’s different is I got this little gold guy!” she laughed, before turning the attention away from herself momentarily to acknowledge the others who helped make it possible.
“We were kind of advised, ‘Don’t say all these names because nobody knows who the hell these people are,’ but you’re not just rattling them off. They’re people that mean something to you, that you couldn’t be here without them,” she said.
In addition to thanking those involved with Weapons, including director Zach Cregger, and her family, she also acknowledged her fellow nominees in the category for embracing her as she participated in awards season largely by herself. While the acting categories are stacked with actors from just a handful of movies, hers is the single nomination that Weapons received.
“When I was doing all the Weapons [awards] stuff, I was traveling on my own, and people from One Battle and people from Sinners and all the films, they just kind of gave me a hug and said, ‘Yeah, come on in and let us know you, and you can know us.’”
Madigan set a new record for an actress with the longest gap between a first nomination and a first victory at the Oscars. The previous record holder amongst actresses was Geraldine Page who won for The Trip To Bountiful at the 1986 Oscars 32 years after her first nomination for Hondo.
Before she left the stage, she Madigan concluded with: “Thank you very much. I’m very overwhelmed!”