‘Stay Weird, Stay Different’
To everyone who feels like they never fit in
Thank you so much to the Academy and to Oprah for this. I need to shower my love and kisses on everyone who is a part of our Imitation Game family: Morton, Nora, Ido, Teddy, Keira, Benedict, Billy, Alexandre, and our entire cast. Maria, who is back there somewhere — I love you guys so much. Thank you for this film; I am so indebted to you for it.
So, here’s the thing: Alan Turing never got to stand on a stage like this and look out at all of these disconcertingly attractive faces, and I do and that’s the most unfair thing I think I have ever heard. In this brief time here what I want to use it to do is to say this: when I was 16 years old I tried to kill myself because I felt weird and I felt different and I felt like I did not belong. And now I am standing here, and I would like this moment to be for that kid out there who feels like she’s weird or she’s different or she doesn’t fit in anywhere. Yes, you do. I promise you do.
Stay weird, stay different, and then when it’s your turn and you are standing on this stage, please pass the same message to the next person who comes along.
Thank you so much! I love you all.
Graham Moore won the 2015 Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Imitation Game.
