As Waymond Wang famously says in Everything Everywhere All At Once, “Please, be kind. Especially when we don’t know what’s going on.”
Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (aka “The Daniels”) certainly took that advice from their character when they accepted the award for best directing at the 2023 Oscars on Sunday (March 12). Dedicating the award to “all the mommies of the world,” Scheinert especially thanked his parents for supporting his passion throughout his life. “Thank you for not squashing my creativity when I was making really disturbing horror films, or really perverted comedy films, or dressing in drag as a kid, which is a threat to nobody.”
That final comment seemed to come as a shot at Tennessee lawmakers, who earlier this month passed a law banning drag performances from taking place on public property, claiming drag posed a threat to children. While Tennessee became the first state to enact such a ban, a number of other states — including North Dakota, Texas, West Virigina, Nebraska and South Carolina — are currently advancing similar legislation.
The Daniels were the big winners at Sunday night’s telecast, as Everything Everywhere All At Once took home a whopping seven awards out of the 11 it was nominated for, including best picture, best direction, best original screenplay, best film editing, and three of the four major acting awards (best actress for Michele Yeoh, best supporting actor for Ke Huy Quan and best supporting actress for Jamie Lee Curtis).
Check out the Daniels’ full speech following their best directing win at the 2023 Oscars above.
