Oscar winners always thank God, right?
Wrong.
The stars who win big at the Oscars aren’t looking to heaven during their acceptance speeches — they’re looking at Steven Spielberg.
The renowned American film director is thanked more often during Oscars acceptance speeches than the Good Lord Almighty himself, Vocativ reports.
With the 87th Academy Awards slated to air on Sunday, Vocativ mined through 1,396 acceptance speeches currently archived on Academy’s website to measure who got the most “Thank Yous” from winners.
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The first line of the book [The Color Purple] is, “Dear God, I’m fourteen years old…” And I had lived that life and couldn’t imagine that someone was able to put into words what I had already experienced. And so began this journey that I was able to really understand that God’s hand, or power greater than myself, “the forces,” as Sidney Poitier calls them, were engaged in leading my life to a plane and a level that I had not even imagined. But I released myself to those forces, and literally said inside myself, “Thy will be done.”
Winner: Matthew McConaughey
Year: 2013 (86th) Academy Awards
Category: Actor in a Leading Role
Film Title: Dallas Buyers Club
Presenter: Jennifer Lawrence
Date & Venue: March 2, 2014; Dolby Theatre
First off, I want to thank God, ’cause that’s who I look up to. He has graced my life with opportunities that I know are not of my hand or any other human hand. He has shown me that it’s a scientific fact that gratitude reciprocates. In the words of the late Charlie Laughton, who said, “When you’ve got God, you’ve got a friend. And that friend is you.”
Winner: Morgan Neville, Gil Friesen and Caitrin Rogers (Janet Friesen accepted for her husband; accompanied on stage by film subject Darlene Love)
Year: 2013 (86th) Academy Awards
Category: Documentary (Feature)
Film Title: 20 Feet from Stardom
Presenter: Bradley Cooper
Date & Venue: March 2, 2014; Dolby Theatre
Darlene Love: Lord God, I praise you and I am so happy to be here representing the ladies of “20 Feet from Stardom.” [Sings:] “I sing because I’m happy. I sing because I’m free. ‘Cause His eye is on the sparrow and I know He watches me.” Alton, I love you.
