SPEECH BY: Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller
FILM: "THE FATHER"
Thank you, thank you so much. It's such a great joy and such a great honor, and I share these joys and this award with Christopher Hampton. We have worked together for years and I want to thank him for being such a great writer and such a wonderful friend. And I have to thank everyone involved in “The Father” and everyone who helped me to make that film, that's great becoming a film. My producers, of course: Simon Friend, who first produced the play in London, the great David Parfitt, Philippe Carcassone, Jean-Louis Livi, Christophe Spadone. The Sony Classics family: Michael, Tom, Melody. All my team at CAA: Bryan, sorry, so many names that I have to mention, Federica, Chris, Andrew, Laurent, Olivier and Suzanne, thank you for being so supportive.
And the crew of “The Father,” of course, and the wonderful cast: Olivia Williams, Olivia Coleman, Rufus Sewell, Mark Gatiss, Imogen Poots, and of course, Anthony Hopkins. I wrote the script for him. To me, he’s the greatest, the greatest living actor, and just the idea to work with him was like a dream. And I knew that it was not an easy dream to fulfill because I'm French, as you can hear. It was my first feature film, and you know, he's Sir Anthony Hopkins. But I thought until someone comes and proves that it was not possible, it means that potentially it is. And sometimes we are the one who close the door of what is possible and what is not possible, and for “The Father,” I really wanted not to close that door and to follow my inspiration, my desire and my dream. So thank you Anthony, for having said yes to that script and thank you for having given everything to that film, your energy, your grace and your talent. Sharing that journey with you was the most amazing experience of my life. And at last I want to thank my wife, Marine, for supporting me with love and patience. Thank you to the Academy.
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