Much to most people’s dismay, Adam Sandler left the Academy Awards empty-handed, but the actor had his time to shine at last night’s Spirit Awards – and boy did he shine.
Sandler received a standing ovation as he went up to receive his Spirit Award for Best Male Lead for his role in Uncut Gems, and his acceptance speech definitely put the Academy in its place.
The 53-year-old joked about his Oscars ‘snub’ during his speech, comparing it to when he was passed up for ‘Best Looking’ in high school and losing it to some ‘feather-headed douchebag’.
As always, Sandler had the audience in stitches as he called the Spirit Awards the ‘Best Personality Awards’ of Hollywood.
In his speech, he said:
A few weeks back when I was, quote-unquote, snubbed by the Academy, it reminded me when I briefly attended high school and was overlooked for the coveted yearbook superlative category Best Looking. That accolade was given to a jean jacket-wearing, feather-haired douchebag by the name of Skipper Jenkins.
But my classmates did honour me with the allegedly less prestigious designation of Best Personality. Tonight as I look around this room, I realise that the Independent Spirit Awards are the ‘Best Personality’ awards of Hollywood.
So, when all those feather-haired douchebag motherf*ckers go to get their Oscars tomorrow night, their handsome good looks will fade in time… but our independent personalities will shine on forever.
You can watch his full speech here:
The other nominees for the Best Male Lead category were Matthias Schoenaerts, Chris Galust, Kelvin Harrison Jr., and Robert Pattinson.
Sandler recognised his fellow nominees in his speech, and joked how they will now be known as the people who ‘lost to f*cking Adam Sandler’.
He says:
I’d like to also give a shout out to my fellow nominees, who will now and forever be known as the guys who lost to f*cking Adam Sandler. How did that happen? Independent movie? Adam Sandler? To get my movie I had to live in my car outside of f*cking Ralphs, begging for nickels on f*cking kickstarter, and all Sandler had to do was get Ted Sarandos stoned.
Surely there’s an award for Best Speech too, right?
Uncut Gems went on to win two other awards for Best Editing (Ronald Bronstein and Benny Safdie), and Best Director (Benny Safdie and Josh Safdie).
Other winners of the night included Renée Zellweger for her feature in Judy, Willem Dafoe for his role in The Lighthouse, and Noah Baumbach for his screenplay for Marriage Story.
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Niamh Shackleton is a pint sized person and journalist at UNILAD. After studying Multimedia Journalism at the University of Salford, she did a year at Caters News Agency as a features writer in Birmingham before deciding that Manchester is (arguably) one of the best places in the world, and therefore moved back up north. She’s also UNILAD’s unofficial crazy animal lady.