Daniel Kaluuya Making His Mum Cringe & 16 Other Incredibly British Oscar Moments

Daniel Kaluuya’s 2021 win was a proud moment for any Brit who has followed him from his time on Skins, through to his BAFTA Rising Star award, and now on to Oscar’s success. And his warm, celebratory, and – at times – downright hilarious acceptance speech made the moment all the sweeter.

Most Academy Award winners like to thank their parents during their acceptance speech, but Kaluuya took things one step further after winning Best Supporting Actor for his role in Judas and the Black Messiah.

“It’s incredible,” he said. “My mum met my dad, they had sex – it’s amazing!” Immediately the camera cut to London’s South Bank, where Kaluuya’s mum and sister both sat cringing (his sister, laughing, actually put her head in her hands). “What is he talking about?” his mum said and, with that, the greatest Oscars 2021 moment was born.

Unsurprisingly, Kaluuya was asked about this hilarious remark in the press room afterwards, where he said “It’s pretty obvious that all our parents had sex” and that, while he hadn’t talked to his mum yet, “she’ll be cool, she has a sense of humour.”

The fun continued later in the night when a clip emerged on social media showing Kaluuya celebrating with his friends – including two other British celebs we love, Dave and Damson Idris. The joy was so real.

Us Brits aren’t exactly the most confident when it comes to giving compliments, and Carey Mulligan is no different. When asked how she feels about Promising Young Woman director Emerald Fennel on the red carpet this year, the actor was hesitant. She explained, “Asking English people to be nice about each other in front of each other is incredibly difficult.”

However, Mulligan did of course find the courage to share her adoration, saying that she never wants to work in a film that Fennell isn’t directing. “I’m going to follow her for the rest of her life,” Mulligan said, adding: “I mean, truly. She’s just the greatest person, everyone can see how talented she is and what a brilliant writer she is and was a ridiculously amazing director.”

Emerald Fennell went on to have a very British moment of her own at the 2021 ceremony when she accepted the award for Best Original Screenplay for Promising Young Woman. During her speech, Fennell said “All I can say is — trying hard not to cry, which is difficult as an English person, who doesn’t cry, ever — this film was made by the most incredible people in the world who made it in 23 days, and they just brought their complete genius and love and humour to it.”

Journalist Amil Nizai summed the moment up perfectly on Twitter, writing: “Emerald Fennell is giving a classically British speech – self-effacing, mildly embarrassed, a nod to an American pop culture oddity and then serious turn with hint of tears.”

When nominated for an award like an Oscar, you’d expect your family to go wild with excitement. But when Riz Ahmed told his cousins about his 2021 Oscar nom for Sound of Metal, they were really not that fussed.

“My cousin Adnan legit didn’t know what the Oscars were,” the actor tweeted. “[He said] ‘Why all the gas? I won best client engagement award for the financial quarter.’”

There’s nothing more exciting for us non-celebs than finding out BTS Oscars gossip. During an appearance on the Late Late Show with James Corden last year, the two-time Oscar-nominated Cynthia Erivo revealed exactly what goes down at the private Oscar luncheons.

Eviro – who spent the lunch surrounded by nominees like Quentin Tarantino, Renée Zellweger, Charlize Theron, and Al Pacino – described it as “very surreal” and, in a thoroughly British throwback, likened it to “a photo day at school” where all the nominees have to line up to have their picture taken together at the end of the event.

Speaking of school throwbacks, did anyone else find Sandy Powell’s 2020 Oscars look was pretty reminiscent of the year 11 leavers book? Powell spent the ceremony asking celebs to sign her white lapel suit, which she then auctioned off in support of The Art Fund initiative to save Derek Jarman’s Prospect Cottage. A genius idea with a special meaning behind it, this one was surely inspired by the end-of-year book signing where we all said we’d “stay friends 4eva even when we go to college xoxox”.

There’s too much to cover on just how British Olivia Colman’s 2019 Oscar speech was but some highlights include her promising to give everyone she didn’t thank a massive snog, blowing a raspberry at the Academy for telling them to wrap her speech up, and telling everyone is “genuinely quite stressful” to be up on stage.

The British treasure carried this energy into her 2020 presenting gig, where she informed the audience that her Oscar win was “the best night of her husband's life ... and I’ve given birth three times.” Dead.

Attending the 2017 red carpet, Patel revealed that, while he likes to focus on aspects like cinematography and the score, he often ends up “cringing” while watching himself. Classic.

Patel’s mum also makes a sweet appearance on the red carpet, with Patel holding her hand. Cuteness overload.

Introduced by Brad Pitt, who described him as “indomitable”, acclaimed British director Steve McQueen started off his acceptance speech with a very sweet moment: reaching for a folded up piece of paper that he then preceded to apologise for.

What follow was one of the most powerful speeches in Oscar’s history – and one that makes you very proud to be a Brit. “Everyone deserves not just to survive, but to live,” McQueen said. “This is the most important legacy of Soloman Northup. I dedicate this award to all the people who have endured slavery and the 21 million people who still suffer slavery today.”

Whether the rhyme was intentional or not, Helena Bonham Carter turned up to the 2011 Oscars in a Union Jack garter and was not afraid to show it off while walking down the red carpet. No one quite got to the bottom of Bonham Carter’s reasoning for wearing a British flag on her leg (some think it may have been a nod to the film she was nominated for, The King’s Speech, which tells the story of a British monarch), but the actor’s posing was pretty iconic.

Feeling that his career “just peaked” Colin Firth was his usual awkward self accepting Best Actor for his role in The King’s Speech. And while he felt like breaking out into a dance, he warned the Academy that “it would be extremely problematic” if he did so before leaving the stage.

In a charming moment during the 2007 Oscars, Helen Mirren didn’t quite know what to do with her purse or her earring as she walked on stage to give her acceptance speech. Eventually figuring out how to hold them both along with her Oscar, Mirren dedicated the award to Queen Elizabeth, who she portrayed in The Queen.

“For fifty years and more, Elizabeth Windsor was maintained her dignity, her sense of duty, and her hairstyle,” Mirren said. She proceeded to hold her Oscar high, declaring “ladies and gentleman, I give you, the Queen!”

Hugh Grant was in full Grant mode at the 2002 Oscars. Presenting the award for Best Original Score with Sandra Bullock, Grant struggles to read from the teleprompter and proceeds to slyly retrieve his glasses from his suit pocket once the nominees are being shown. Such a Will Thacker move.

You know how British people cannot accept a compliment no matter how brilliant they’ve been? Well, that’s kind of Michael Caine’s 2000 acceptance speech in a nutshell. After receiving the golden statue for his role in The Cinder House Rules as Best Supporting Actor, Cain said he “didn’t feel like being the winner” as the other nominees were too fantastic in his eyes to ever be losers.

Caine took the time out in his acceptance speech to highlight the performances of Michael Clarke Duncan, Tom Cruise, Jude Law, and Hayley Joel Osment. “I’m basically up here to represent you as what I hope you will all be – a survivor,” the actor said.

In her notable succinct and stoic speech, Judi Dench – much like Michael Cain – spent much of her speech speaking about how little she deserved the Oscar. Dench said she should only be able to take home “a little bit of him,” speaking about the golden statue, as she only spent eight minutes on screen in Shakespeare in Love.

Also, a quick shout out here to Robin Wiliams for the best introduction in Oscar’s history.

Emma Thompson began her 1993 acceptance speech with an iconic “good grief” – and things only got better from there. The actor to deliver some excellent deadpan quips – including one about giving back to money she was paid for the film – and to thank Anthony Hopkins (who presented her with the award) for being the “night of my life.”

Three years later, Hopkins again presented Thompson with the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for Sense and Sensibility. The actor thanked Jane Austen, mentioning that she’d recently paid her respects to the writer at Winchester Cathedral, where she also told her about how much the film earned. “I don’t know how she would react to an evening like this, but I do hope she knows how big she is in Uraguay,” she added.

Julie Andrews’s 1965 win for Mary Poppins was as British as it gets, with the actor describing the moment as “lovely” and bringing out some of that good old English humour. “I know you Americans are famous for your hospitality,” the actor said, “but this is really ridiculous.”