Rami Malek Picks Up ‘Best Actor’ Oscar Award For Bohemian Rhapsody

Last night, Hollywood was the center of the world’s attention, as the A-listers of Hollywood gathered together in the glitziest awards show of all, the Oscars.

One of the most surprising – and also crowd-pleasing – awards of the night was the one awarded to Rami Malek, who picked up the coveted ‘best actor’ award for his leading role as Freddie Mercury in the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody.

Malek was up against a number of Hollywood icons for the award, including Christian Bale (“Vice”), Bradley Cooper (“A Star Is Born”), Viggo Mortensen (“Green Book”), and Willem Dafoe (“At Eternity’s Gate”).

Malek’s nomination for “Bohemian Rhapsody” was in one of five categories for which the film received nominations at the Oscars this year. The film also won the awards for Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing, and was nominated for Best Picture and Best Film Editing.

Its success at the Oscars is somewhat surprising, given that “Bohemian Rhapsody” was widely panned by movie critics upon release. Although most fans seemed to love it, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the movie an approval rating of 61% based on 355 professional reviews, with an average rating of 6.1/10.

However, fans all over the world responded really positively to the movie, which is why the film has grossed over $800 million USD, with a budget of around $50 million.

The movie’s chances of picking up major awards were also thrown into question when sexual misconduct allegations towards the movie’s former director Bryan Singer came to light last month. Singer was fired from the movie a few weeks before production wrapped because of unruly behavior, which allegedly included disappearing from set and engaging in fights with Malek. Singer was replaced by Dexter Fletcher, although Singer was still credited, in accordance with DGA rules.

When asked by the Los Angeles Times last month about Singer’s alleged history of abuse, Malek said, “As far as I knew, I was considered before Bryan was even attached. So I had my head down preparing for this for about a year ahead of time, and I never really looked up. I didn’t know much about Bryan. I think that the allegations and things were, believe it or not, honestly something I was not aware of, and that is what it is. Who knows what happens with that (…)but I think somehow we found a way to persevere through everything that was thrown our way.”

After looking genuinely shocked to scoop the award, Malek took the stage to give his acceptance speech, and it was genuinely something special. He began by thanking his family, in particular his mom, who was in attendance, and his late father, who Rami said was “looking down on me right now”

He went on to thank the Academy, as well as Queen members Brian May and Roger Taylor, who were in attendance. He thanks the band for “Allowing me to be the tiniest part of your phenomenal, extraordinary legacy. I am forever in your debt”.

You can watch the full speech below:

At the end of his speech, he gave special thanks to his girlfriend and Bohemian Rhapsody co-star Lucy Boynton, who played Mary Austin in the film. “Lucy Boynton, you are the heart of this film. You are beyond immensely talented, you have captured my heart. Thank you so much”

Immediately after his speech, Rami was involved in a mini-drama of his own, when he tripped on his way back to his seat. Luckily, he wasn’t hurt, and neither was his suit!

Congratulations, Rami. This is as good as it gets!

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