Winners' acceptance speech by Justin Hurwitz for La La Land in the Original Music category
JUSTIN HURWITZ: Thank you to the Academy, or Russia; either way, it's an honour.
I know it is technically a music award, but I wanted to share this as well with our incredible lyricists, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who wrote all of the words to the songs. I wish they could be here, mostly so they could be the ones talking; I wouldn't have to think of as much stuff to say.
I remember talking a couple of years ago to somebody who came to the BAFTAs as a part of a movie that had multiple nominations, and they were saying one of the coolest things was getting to know other people who worked on the movie who you may not have known. That is not the experience I'm having because this was such an unusually collaborative movie, where from the very beginning we were working under one roof and I got to see these other artists work up close. I got to see Mary Zophres designing the costumes and watch the Wascos work and watch Linus shoot it, and I was constantly inspired by the work of these other artists, which is a cool experience for a composer in general, but to see it under the direction of Damien, who is so masterful at what he does, was really something I will never forget.
So thank you to everybody who made the movie and thanks to the Academy, and this is a very cool trophy, by the way. I really like it. It's beautiful.
Thank you.
