Though before today the name Graham Moore might only have been known to the more voracious users of IMDB among you (which includes this particular scribe), he’ll certainly be far more well known now.
Moore took out the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for his work in penning the script for The Imitation Game. But it’s what he did when he accepted the statue that’s really floored us.
Moore used his acceptance speech to bare his soul to the world, revealing that at the age of sixteen he attempted suicide after many torturous years of being perceived as weird or somehow different, and the all-consuming isolation that breeds.
“When I was sixteen, I tried to kill myself, because I felt weird, and I felt different, and I felt like I did not belong. So I would like for 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, pass that message on.“
Seldom do you see such raw, genuine honesty at these award ceremonies. And this is particularly true of acceptance speeches, which have a tendency to fluctuate from the heavily controlled and thoroughly bland, to reeking with all the affected dignity of the truly arrogant.
But this little piece of footage – at barely a minute and a half long – roars with power.
Thank you, Graham. Not only for penning a terrific movie, but for absolutely flooring me, to the point of tears, with this kind of brutal, magnificent honesty and humility that, frankly, we do not see anywhere near enough of in this day and age.
Photo: Robyn Beck via Getty Images.
