At the Governors Ball after the Oscars on Sunday night, writer-director Christopher Nolan and producer Emma Thomas stepped off the dais after having their multiple Oscars engraved and were greeted by chef Wolfgang Puck. In honor of the evening’s biggest winners, Puck served a number of British dishes: the couple were treated to roast beef with Yorkshire pudding and fish and chips, each of whom were delighted with the taste of home.
On stage during the ceremony, Thomas she said she had dreamed of winning an Oscar her whole life. When Nolan was asked at the party if he had the same dream, he exclaimed, “Absolutely.”
The normally reserved Nolan said he became emotional during the scene, although he remained calm. “People who know me know when I get emotional,” he said. “Just ask Emma.”
True to form, Thomas added: “If he hadn’t left at the right moment, he would have started crying profusely.”
“We’ll leave it at that,” Nolan said before he was taken away to greet more well-wishers.
America Ferrera was still vibing after Ryan Gosling’s performance of “I’m Just Ken” and Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas O’Connell’s performance of “What Was I Made For.” Both performances “were just stunning,” she said. “I think Ryan is brilliant and really created something unique and special with his performance.”
Simu Liu, who participated in the song, said: “It was an amazing, surreal moment to be on stage. What’s more, it was all created extremely quickly.” When he got a call from interlude choreographer Mandy Moore, he said, he and his colleagues Ncuti Gatwa, Scott Evans and Kingsley Ben-Adir got into group chats “and they were like, ‘Oh my God, you’re doing this?’ ? We must do it”.
Liu added that that evening, “we were very nervous. It’s stressful doing any kind of live TV and then doing it in this room? There are not many rooms more intimidating.”
“When we finished, there was a moment of elation,” Liu said. “I think we succeeded.”
Anita Hill, for instance, won’t soon forget the film that inspired her. Hill stopped Greta Gerwig on Gerwig’s method to see her husband, Noah Baumbach, to inform her how essential “Barbie” was to her. Gerwig, embarrassed by the remark, said with a smile, “We just make movies here.”
But Hill had more to say about it. “She undoubtedly did an outstanding job, and I hope this serves as a guide for the industry to open up more opportunities for women and people of color,” she said, also mentioning her screenplay win for “American Fiction.” “It’s still not enough,” she said, “but I think it’s an important time.”
