Though we were all totally vying for Lupita Nyong’o to win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, and had every faith that in a just world she would win for her heartbreaking portrayal of Patsey in 12 Years A Slave, the actress herself was in total denial.
Yep, Lupita has finally spoken out about what went through her head when her name was called out at the Academy Awards, and it went something like this: ‘It was, “Did I say my name or did they say my name?”’All that time “The nominees are…” to “The Academy Award goes to…” is years! It’s just way too long. And then your head is just filled with your own name, because that’s all you can think of – either they’re going to say my name or they aren’t going to say my name,’ she told Women’s Wear Daily.
‘It’s a suspension of time, and the only thing that matters is “Are they going to call my name?” Then they said my name, and my brother was screaming and losing his mind.’
So were we, Lupita! We woke the neighbours with our yells!
And how has winning the award impacted on her life? ‘I was dazed and confused and I still am. It doesn’t feel real. I couldn’t believe I was climbing up the very same stairs that Jennifer Lawrence was climbing. It’s still very surreal. It’s changed a lot — more people know who I am, for example,’ says Lupita – before admitting she thinks there are bigger changes to come.
‘Right now I’m just too exhausted. It does have a psychological affect. But at the end of the day, the perceiver affects the perceived. So how people regard me will obviously change how I regard myself. Right now, it’s too soon. I feel like the Oscars really did happen yesterday. I don’t have enough time between the event and my reality to really fully analyse how it has changed me.’
No mention on how weird it was to be linked with Jared Leto just because they were photographed hanging out a bit during awards season, though. But plenty more brilliance about the responsibilities she felt about playing Patsey in *12 Years A Slave – *her ‘dream: to have a diverse career that asks me to go into scary new places within myself’, and how she wants to work with Pedro Almoldóvar, Ang Lee and Kathryn Bigelow. You can read the entire thing over here.
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Picture: Getty
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.