Congratulations to Emerald Fennell, who has won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay on the same night that she debuted a baby bump, confirming that she is pregnant with her second child. Talk about having two reasons to celebrate.
We're not shocked at the win - she is an incredible talent - but Emerald was: she apologised for not writing a speech in advance, leading her to thank a very surprising individual: 90s heart throb Zack Morris, from US show Saved By The Bell.
'They said write a speech and I didn’t, because I just didn’t think this would happen, and I’m going to be in trouble with [producer] Stephen Soderbergh,' Emerald said as she picked up the gong on stage. 'So, the only speech I ever wrote was when I was 10, soI had a look to see if there was anything useful from it, but it mostly thanked Zack Morris from Saved By The Bell, my very supportive husband. Unfortunately, he hasn’t been as much a part of my life as I’d hoped, and so that speech is not that useful.'
Promising Young Woman, the incredible film that Emerald directed, wrote and even starred in - she pops up briefly on a TV screen - was nominated for five Oscars. Two of those Oscars were for other people: Carey Mulligan was up for the Best Actress gong, while Frédéric Thoraval was in the running for Best Editing.
Emerald, then, had three chances to personally win an Oscar. She was nominated for Best Original Screenplay and Best Director - the first British woman in history to be named in this category - and was part of a four-strong team of producers who could win jointly for Best Film.
Her Original Screenplay win is not a huge surprise: The Hollywood Reporter's award season expert Scott Feinberg fancied her chances, and thought she would walk away with the Original Screenplay award, seeing Aaron Sorkin as her main opposition.
'Trial’s Aaron Sorkin is widely regarded as today’s greatest screenwriter and could well win a second statuette a decade after The Social Network,' he writes. 'But Emerald Fennell’s Promising Young Woman beat Trial at the WGA [the Writers' Guild Awards] and BAFTA awards and, like numerous recent winners of this Oscar, feels inventive, quirky, daring and urgent.' The consensus seems to be, however, that Chloé Zhao and her film Nomadland have the strongest chance of winning in Emerald's other categories.
One thing's for sure: Emerald herself can't quite believe her luck. When Grazia asked her if she would have been able to comprehend the film’s success in the BAFTA's virtual winners' room, she said ‘I don’t think I’d believe it, honestly, if I went back to the first day of filming. You know, we did the film in 23 days: it is a labour of love for everyone who made it. We never dreamed it would come this far. It’s been completely incredible.’
Emerald has done us proud.
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