While Call Me By Your Name didn’t receive a heaping of awards at the 90th Annual Academy Awards last night, it did make history with one award it did receive.
Out screenwriter James Ivory won the award for Best Adapted Screenplay for his work adapting the script from the original 2007 novel by André Aciman.
During his acceptance speech, Ivory got on stage, while wearing a shirt with Timothée Chalamet’s face drawn on it, and thanked the two man cast members. He also praised the film itself for its portrayal of first love.
“Whether straight or gay or somewhere in between, we’ve all gone through first love, I hope, mostly intact,” he said.
Not only is this a fantastic win for Call Me By Your Name, but its also a great win for Ivory because he is now the oldest Oscar winner in history.
Ivory also noted this when accepting his award, “Having won the Oscar seems like a hiccup after 90 years. It feels great.”
The 89-year-old also noted the many people who got him to this point. Most significantly, his late business and life partner Ismail Merchant.
Together, the two ran the production company Merchant Ivory. That’s how Ivory built experience producing adaptions to LGBTQ novels.
“I wouldn’t be standing up here without the inspired help I received from my life’s partners, who are gone,” Ivory said.
