The 91st Academy Awards were this past Sunday and it was the same old boorish event it is every other year.
A bunch of privileged millionaires get together to hand each other gold statues and then act surprised when they win so they can pretend to have humility while the world is watching.
But one Oscar winner left everyone shocked with this win.
Bohemian Rhapsody shocked the studio with its eye-popping numbers at the box office. They thought it would make money, sure, but nobody thought it would gross over $860 million worldwide and that’s not including the video-on-demand and secondary market sales.
It is the story of one of the greatest bands of all time and the years leading up to Queen’s legendary set at Live Aid at Wembley Stadium in July of 1985.
The movie stars Rami Malek – known for Mr. Robot – as Queen’s frontman, Freddie Mercury, and also stars Mike Meyers in a sort of “meta” role considering he made Bohemian Rhapsody a very popular song with that infamous gag where they sing that song in Wayne’s World.
But other than that, it wasn’t star power from actors that drove it to such incredible success. It was all about the band’s music.
And that’s why everyone was shocked to see Malek take home the coveted Best Actor award at the Academy Awards.
In his speech he reflected on his journey to the stage, “I think about what it would have been like to tell little bubba Rami that one day this might happen to him and I think his curly-haired little mind would be blown. He was struggling with his identity, trying to figure himself out. And I think to anyone struggling with theirs, and trying to discover their voice: Listen, we made a film about a gay man, an immigrant, who lived his life just unapologetically himself. The fact that I’m celebrating him and this story with you tonight is proof that we’re longing for stories like this.”
The 37-year-old actor was photographed tumbling off the Oscars stage and into the audience all while safely holding the statue aloft.
Luckily, he wasn’t injured.
Surprises happen all the time at the Oscars. In fact, Malek’s wasn’t the only one of the night. Olivia Colman won Best Actress for her role in The Favourite when everyone predicted that it was Glenn Close’s year to win.
Even when Green Book won for Best Picture, it wasn’t necessarily surprising.
Playing Freddie Mercury certainly has Oscar bait written all over it, literally.
The script has been around for nearly a decade in Hollywood with a bunch of different actors and directors attached to the project at different phases that included Sacha Baron Cohen in the title role.
Malek was perfect for the part though and you will be wowed by his performance during the Live Aid part at the end when you see how his movement synced up with the actual concert. It’s remarkable.