Screenwriter Graham Moore won his first Oscar in the recent Academy Awards adapting the screenplay of The Imitation Game, a film about the life of Bletchley Park codebreaker Alan Turing.
His touching acceptance speech has already been hailed as one of the highlights of an otherwise dull Oscars. Moore first thanked the cast of the film, before bringing up his suicide attempt from when he was 16 years old, as shared by i100.
“Alan Turing never got to stand on a stage like this and look out at all of these disconcertingly attractive faces. I do. And I think that’s the most unfair thing I’ve ever heard. In the brief time here what I want to do is say this: when I was 16 years old, I tried to kill myself because I felt weird and I felt different and I felt like I did not belong.
And now I am standing here, so I would like this moment to be for that kid out there who feels 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 when it’s your turn, and you are standing on this stage, please pass the message on to the next person who comes along.”
Moore adapted Andrew Hodges’ book Alan Turing: The Enigma for screen, and he is now working on a screenplay starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
