Frances McDormand has won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of a grieving mother in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and she used her moment on stage to highlight the achievements of practically every woman in the room.
“I’m hyperventilating a bit,” the Oscar-winning actress began. “If I fall over, pick me up – because I’ve got some things to say.”
After thanking her co-stars and crew, McDormand put her Oscar statue on the floor. “And now I want to get some perspective,” she said.
“If I may be so honoured as to have all the female nominees nominated in every category stand with me in this room tonight. Meryl, if you do, everyone else will. The filmmakers, the producers, the directors, the writers, the cinematographer, the composer, the songwriters, the designers. Come on!”
“Look around ladies and gentlemen, because we all have stories to tell and projects we need financed,” she continued, to thunderous applause. “Don’t talk to us about it at the parties, invite us into your office in a couple days or you can come to ours, whichever suits you best, and we’ll tell you all about them.”
McDormand ended her speech with this: “I have two words to leave with you tonight: inclusion rider.”
According to Variety, an inclusion rider is a clause in the contract of a film’s top talent that requires a diverse crew to be hired around them.
This is McDormand’s second Oscar win; she first won Best Actress in 1997 for her role in Fargo.
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