SPEECH BY: Pete Docter and Dana Murray
FILM: "SOUL"
PETE DOCTER:
Wow, okay, I've been nominated, nominated to speak on behalf of Dana and Kemp Powers, our co-director. This film started as a love letter to jazz, but we had no idea how much jazz would teach us about life. Like we don't get to control what happens, but we can, like a jazz musician, turn whatever happens into something of value and something of beauty. And that was certainly true of our amazing cast: Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, you guys are amazing. Our brilliant collaborators: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, Jon Batiste, this guy over there [he points to Questlove, who waves back]. It was just fantastic, working with all you guys. Our cultural consultants, Dr. Johnnetta Cole. People who kept us honest and keep those characters truthful. We're really thankful to our partners at Disney who, when we said, “Hey, we want to do a film that explores the purpose of life,” they're like, “Okay, go ahead.” That's not your usual cartoon fare. And of course, to our family. Dana wants to thank…
DANA MURRAY:
My amazing husband, my parents. I'm here because of you. I love you so much. Hazel and Murray, my babies at home. You're everything to me. We obviously have to thank the crew who made this film and even finished it from home with seven weeks of production left. You are, you should be up here with us, and we are just the lucky speakers. I'm not supposed to be speaking actually.
PETE DOCTER:
So our main character, Joe, is a music teacher. We want to thank music teachers and art teachers everywhere. You, including my parents, Dave and Rita, and Dana's parents, Pam and Tom, you make the world a better place. And my wish for all of us tonight is that we could follow the example of jazz musicians that wherever we are, whatever we have, we turn it into something beautiful. Thank you.
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