Amy Madigan has won the best supporting actress Oscar for Weapons at the 98th Academy Awards,.
Madigan defeated a strong field to take the prize, including Elle Fanning for Sentimental Value, Wunmi Mosaku for Sinners and Teyana Taylor for One Battle After Another. In doing so she set a new record for the longest gap between nominations before a win; she was previously nominated in the same category 40 years ago, in 1986, for Twice in a Lifetime.
In an emotional and good-humoured speech, the actor said that she had been asked about the difference between the two nominations, saying: “What’s different is I got this little gold guy.”
In Weapons, a supernatural horror film written and directed by Zach Cregger, Madigan plays the malevolent Aunt Gladys, whose heavy makeup and large glasses became a popular internet meme, referenced by Oscars host Conan O’Brien in his opening skit.
Madigan has had a strong awards season, gaining best supporting actress nominations from the Golden Globes and Bafta awards, and winning the actor award earlier this month, yet her victory was far from certain, with Mosaku perceived to present especially strong competition.
“This is great,” she said. “I was in the shower last night trying to think of something to say as I was shaving my legs – I’ve got pants on, I don’t need to worry about that.”
The actor went on to thank her fellow nominees for bringing her into their fold, as – unlike them – she was the sole figure representing Weapons on the press circuit.
“Most of all, I want to thank my beautiful daughter, Lily,” she concluded, “her husband, Sean. And, of course, all the dogs. But the most important is my beloved Ed. You’ve been with me forever. And that’s a long-ass time, and none of this would mean anything if he wasn’t by my side.”
Madigan and her husband, Ed Harris, went down in the annals of Academy Award history in 1999, when they conspicuously failed to applaud the awarding of an honorary Oscar to On the Waterfront’s Elia Kazan, who testified at the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1952.
