- Rami. - Wait a second.
Let's hold on.
Have we done, am I one of the last ones here?
Well I just want to say thank you guys for being here.
(audience applauding)
I will say this.
I don't think critically the decision on this film
was unanimous but I do appreciate everything you guys
had to write, as a kid, I read criticism of film
and I learned so much from it, so no matter what,
I still do very much appreciate you, thank you.
Who would like to begin?
(laughing)
- [Announcer] We're going to start with number seven
to your right. - I don't know how
I can follow that, Rami, over here to your right,
right side and the back. - There you are, number seven.
- Big guy, yes. - Give me a,
no I'm just kidding, go ahead.
- [Reporter] Congratulations, first of all,
and I know you've heard that a lot tonight.
- Yes. - But I have to ask,
please explain to us and describe for us
when you first got this role and what happened
exactly at that moment, and when did this role
become a reality for you, when did it really hit you
that you're playing Freddie Mercury?
- I really got blessed.
Last night, Mr. Spielberg sent, he had his daughter
come up to me and say, hey make sure you say hi
to Rami Malek, it would mean a lot to me,
it would mean a lot to him.
So I had a seminal moment in my life
where I knew some auteurs could influence my life.
Since then, I'm about to begin season four of Mr. Robot
with Sam Esmail and on the middle of the second,
was it the, no, the third season, while we were working
on that, I got a call from Graham King and Denis O'Sullivan
to meet them in Los Angeles.
And they were fans of Mr. Robot.
And they thought, I don't know how they thought
a young man who felt so alienated, profoundly alienated,
with such social anxiety could ever play Freddie Mercury
but the one thing that was beautiful about it
was I started to discover that in this audacious, present,
communicative, powerful human being,
there was a sense of loneliness and a sense of anxiety
and I could relate the two together.
So I thank them for discovering that in me,
but I do have to thank so many great auteurs
who have brought me to the point where I felt confident
in my work and Spike Lee's one of them,
Alfonso Cuaron is one of them, Paul Thomas Anderson
is one of them, Sam Esmail is definitely one of them.
The list goes on but it was the confidence
that they all imbued in me to be able to think
that I could take on this challenge.
Then, well that's a long story.
- [Announcer] We're going to go to 117.
- Here. - Over to 142.
- And Tom Hanks, let's not forget Tom Hanks.
- On your right, Rami, here. - Where, where?
There's so much, right, there you are.
- [Jessie] Jessie Al-Houri, MTV Lebanon.
So allow me on behalf of all the Arab world
to say congratulations, we're so happy that you won
with the participation of three nominees this year
from the Arab world, you have the trophy.
I read that you grew up loving Om Kasoom and Omar Sharif.
- Yes. - And there's plenty
of Arab young talents growing up now loving Rami Malek.
If it's not too much to ask, can we get your answer,
what would you say to these guys or ladies in Arabic,
if possible?
- Well I will begin by saying.
(speaking in foreign language)
- [Jessie] Thank you so much.
(speaking in foreign language)
- [Jessie] Thank you.
- I would say that as a young man, my sister's born
in Egypt, I think when I grew up as a kid,
I wanted, part of me felt like, I need to shed some of that,
wanted to, I didn't feel like I fit in,
I definitely felt like the outsider and as I got older,
I realized just how beautiful my heritage and my tradition
is and the wealth of culture and magic and music and film
and just pure art that comes out of the Middle East
and now I am so privileged to represent it
and to anyone from there and for that matter,
the entire world, we all got a shot at this, we really do.
(audience applauding)
- [Announcer] We're going to go to 80 down front
and then we'll go to 194.
- Hey Rami, over here. - 80, 80?
- To your left. - It's Silvia.
- Where are you, Silvia?
There you are, my love, hi.
- [Silvia] You gave a beautiful speech,
which, it seems like it talks a lot about what happened
tonight, there is a lot of inclusion, it seems,
a lot of films that have been talking about that aspect
and I wonder how much, in that respect,
that this Oscar of yours now, fits into that
and reflects that.
- It's a political question and I appreciate it.
- No no, I mean, I'm talking about all the inclusion
of the films. - I will say,
look, I mean.
I grew up in a world where I never thought I was going to
play the lead on Mr. Robot because I never saw anyone
in a lead role that looked like me.
I never thought that I could possibly play Freddie Mercury
until I realized his name was Farrokh Bulsara.
And that is the most powerful message that was sent to me
from the beginning, that was the motivation
that allowed me to say, oh I can do this.
And that man steps on stage and he moves people in a way
that no one else does, and he has the ability to look
everyone in the eye and see them for who they are,
and that's because he was struggling to identify himself
and all of that passion and virtue and everything
burning inside of him allowed him to look to everybody else
and say, hey, I see you.
Not right here in the front, I see you there in the back,
I see all of you, I will play to all of you,
and together, we will transcend.
Because it's not about being from one place
or looking like one thing, one race, any of that.
We are all human beings and forgive me for this,
but collectively, we are all the champions.
(laughing)
- [Announcer] I know this is going to upset the room
but I've been told I have to wrap this,
so 194 is going to be the last question.
- Rami. - Yes.
- [Harold] My name is Harold, I'm from Norway.
- Hi. - I just was wondering,
after you finished shooting the film,
how did you feel about your own performance?
Did you know that it was special and it might end up
in an Academy award?
- I never, I got to say, being on that stage,
I think I may have, I don't know how I looked on that stage
but I never thought this would happen in my life.
The one thing I can say about this is, as an actor,
and there are so many of us who only dream of one thing
and perhaps it's not this, it's just getting a job,
so the fact that I have this in my hand right now
is beyond.
Excuse me, any expectation that myself
or perhaps my family could have ever had.
And I'll just say that, I mean, this has been
a tough battle, I think you all know about it,
and the fact that I'm here celebrating with you
is proof that a lot of things can be overcome
and then anything is possible.
And tonight, I'm celebrating with all of you
and anyone who has a dream, it can happen, thank you.
- [Announcer] Congratulations.
(audience cheering)