Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan won the Best Director for Everything Everywhere All at Once at the 2023 Oscars on Sunday — and made sure to shout out the moms in their acceptance speech.
Scheinert and Kwan (known collectively as The Daniels) beat out Martin McDonagh, nominated for The Banshees of Inisherin; Steven Spielberg, for The Fabelmans; Todd Field, for Tár, and Ruben Östlund, for Triangle of Sadness.
Kwan and Schienert's win for Everything Everywhere All at Once comes after their film won several other Oscars earlier in the awards ceremony. Ke Huy Quan won Best Supporting Actor and Jamie Lee Curtis also won for Best Supporting Actress, among other wins.
"We want to dedicate this to the mommies, all the mommies in the world, to our moms," Schienert said. "Specifically my mom and dad... thank you for not squashing my creativity when I was making really disturbing horror films or really perverted comedy films or dressing in drag as a kid which is a threat to nobody."
Kwan then took the mic, thanking his family and others that helped with the film. He concluded his speech with one final thought. "Lastly I want to go back to my original point there is greatness in every single person," he said. "It doesn't matter who they are, you have a genius that is waiting to erupt. You just need to find the right people to unlock it. Thank you to everyone who helped me unlock my genius," he said.
The film crossed $100 million at the global box office in 2022, making it A24's first movie to do so.
It has surpassed other top money-makers from the production company like Uncut Gems (2019), which made $50 million domestically, and 2018's Hereditary, which made over $80 million worldwide.
In Everything Everywhere All at Once, Michelle Yeoh stars as Evelyn Wang, a Chinese immigrant swept up in a wild adventure, where she's dropped into other universes on a mission to save her world.
The Daniels originally envisioned martial arts legend and actor Jackie Chan for the role and met with him. When Chan told them he was unavailable, the part was rewritten for Yeoh.
Everything Everywhere All at Once also stars Stephanie Hsu, Ke Huy Quan, Jenny Slate, Harry Shum Jr. and Jamie Lee Curtis.
The Oscars are airing live on ABC on Sunday, March 12, at 8 p.m. ET.
