Surprising absolutely zero people, Christoph Waltz won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his brilliant turn as Nazi Colonel Hans Landa, “The Jew Hunter” in Inglouious Basterds. Waltz has previously picked up the Golden Globe, the Screen Actors Guild Award, the BAFTA, Critics Choice, Cannes Film Festival’s Best Actor, and a slew of critics’ awards. Of course, this has inspired some unfortunate and hilarious headlines, stuff about Hollywood “having a love affair with Nazis,” et cetera. Throughout the awards season, Waltz has been giving some of the most unconventional acceptance speeches, and tonight was no different. But his speech was very brief and he didn’t name check every person in his life, he just thanksed everyone involed in the movie. He did have a good first line after being kissed by Penelope Cruz: “An Oscar and Penelope … that’s an uber-bingo!” He seems like such a sweet man.
In previous interviews, Waltz has revealed himself to be one of the more magnanimous actors working today. The Austrian – who has toiled away in films, but mostly television throughout his 30-year career – recently told USA Today, “What’s it like, after 30 years, to be an overnight sensation? It’s fantastic!” He also said, in regards to the possibility of winning an Oscar, “”It’s like the tip of the pyramid. What does it mean to me? The Oscar is like more than an award. It’s more than a statue. It’s like a whole concept of reality. It’s not something to necessarily be aspired to, because it’s beyond my reach. It’s something that descends on you.” Last week, Waltz told Time Magazine, “I take praise as not just a reward and a result but also as the beginning of a new process.”
Congratulations to Christoph! It’s always lovely to see such a nice, hard-working actor win big!
Stills from ‘Inglourious Basterds’ and Waltz at the BAFTAs, courtesy of WENN.
thats bingo
Hooray Herr Waltz !!!
Glad he won, he deserved it.
Stanley Tucci did a good job too.
Keeping fingers crossed for Colin Firth and Coranline or Fantastic Mr Fox.
(and District 9…. Ok, I know it’s not the best movie but I really loved it.)
He had Oscar buzz the weekend the movie came out. It was such a great performance. No surprise whatsoever.
While its no surprise, I’m still hugely ecstatic for his win.
He did such a good job that I was repulsed by his character and yet drawn in at the same time! Hooray for him!
@Ana
That was exactly what I was thinking . he had me hating and loving him at the sametime .
Well deserved. I do wish Inglorious had won more statues.
His was a great performance. And he does seem like the sweetest man. 🙂
No, that’s Numberwang!
(Mitchell & Webb Look reference) 😆
But, well done to Mr. Waltz – very well deserved. It’s always great to see someone enjoying their character so much. In fact, it would be a bloody travesty if he didn’t win!
Personally, I think Inglourious Basterds got the statuettes it deserved, Waltz’s performance was the best, although there were other good ones. It had good camerawork, lovely attention-to-detail and costume, but it was patchy overall.
On animation, there was no way any other animated film would win against “Up”. It was one of the better films of last year in its own right and was much better than Coraline (which was fine) and Fantastic Mr. Fox (which was very disappointing). Of course I was rooting for “The Secret of Kells” 😉
He looks like a young Gerard Depardeau in the face. Congrats!
His performance was the shitness. The way he persuaded the man to talk in the beginning was enough for me. He is the evil person that you’ll love to be under his command. Hope to see him in more movies, Congrats.
Some years ago, I saw a German film with a horrifying scene in a mental hospital. Because the whole thing seemed to weirdly authentic, I got the idea that maybe the doctor was real and the director had asked him to do a few lines because no one could do it better than that. When I told my friend after the movie, he laughed and said, that was Christoph Waltz.
Glad to know he finally finds the recognition he deserves.
he was the only good thing about that movie!so congrats,well deserved!
agree: he was about the only descent part of the flick.
I wanted to like it; I really did. Alas,
it blew. Slow & tedious. A total letdown
Well done, Mr. Waltz!
Admittedly, Bastards was the only movie I saw this season (student budget) – so I was really rooting hard for it.
I love how closely Waltz’s interrogation tactics mirrored actual Nazi psychological interrogation tactics – masterful!
I know it’s cliche, but between Waltz’s performance and the purposeful slow-crawl pace of the movie, Bastards had me at the edge of my seat the whole time.
Oh yes…I saw his role in this movie and he truly deserved this Oscar. Congrats!
Saw it last night, he was brilliant & I fell in love.
Yup. I second what everyone has said. He deserved it and ironically this 53 year old actor ( previously unknown to most people) has now become an overnight sensation with huge opportunities. That’s Hollywood !!