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Fil-Am Bobby Lopez and wife Kristen winning an Oscar, and more proud Pinoy moments at the Academy Awards
Los Angeles — Fil-Am composer Robert “Bobby” Lopez and his wife Kristen Anderson-Lopez won their second Oscar for their original composition “Remember Me” for the Pixar/Disney animation “Coco” at the 90th Academy Awards held at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
The couple first won an Oscar in 2013 for the song “Let It Go” for “Frozen” which also won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.
The Oscar nod made Bobby, who just turned 43 last February 23, the youngest of only 12 people to win all four major annual American entertainment awards or EGOT (the Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony).
He is also the only person, as of this year, to do so twice. Bobby is known for doing such famous musicals as “The Book of Mormon”, “Avenue Q” and “Frozen.”
The Lopezes attended the awards show with their two daughters, Katie and Annie, whom Kristen thanked in her onstage speech. “Your love and creativity inspire everything we do,” a portion of Kristen's message read.
Bobby, on the other hand, added, “But this is not for you, this is for my Mom who passed away. Everyone who knew her will always remember her.”
Backstage, when we asked Bobby the significance of their win and his dedicating it to his late mother, he said, “Well, my mother passed away in August of this year, Kathy Lopez. She was the main force in my childhood who encouraged me to play the piano and to write music and to go for my dream. And she pushed me as hard as she could.”
Kristen added, “She told him if he didn't practice she would make him eat the piano.”
Bobby continued, “The song is about leaving the people you love, and that's what happened to me this year. She was taken from us, and so this song became an expression of that. It was already written. It wasn't about her, but we sang it at her funeral and it was very helpful for me in healing.”
Asked how it felt to win for a second time in a few years, Bobby said, “We didn't dare to dream that we would ever be nominated or win again. It's very, very nice to be back. It's four years later. It was raining yesterday just as it was four years ago.”
“If it rains in L.A. and the Winter Olympics have happened, that's the two things that are our good luck signs now,” Kristen explained.
“I guess so,” agreed Bobby. “It feels great to win again. It's wonderful, it's a great honor and a great recognition for people who have worked really hard, not just us but the people who worked on the song, Germaine Franco who arranged it and wrote many other songs in the film, and many other folks who have poured their love into this thing.”
Kristen continued, “The incredible Mexican musicians who recorded the bulk of the music down in Mexico City. So it's a wonderful thing for us to be a very small part of.”
“And Mexico is not the only country that has ancestor honor celebrations,” Bobby revealed. “The Philippines, as you know well, they celebrate the holiday too, China and Japan. And I think it's something that we need a little bit more of in this country. And we actually celebrated Day of the Dead in November and had a picture of my mother and a lot of grandparents.”
“It's a really healing, wonderful ritual that we're going to put as part of our family tradition every year,” Kristen disclosed. “It's a wonderful way to feel connected with the people who came before you, but not in a sad way, in a wonderful storytelling way.”
When another journalist backstage asked Bobby if he spoke Spanish, Bobby replied, “I don't. I'm Filipino. My grandmother spoke Spanish. My dad didn't. He was born on a boat on the way from Manila, and so I never learned and it's one of the great regrets of my life.”
Asked what he would like to say to immigrants and people who look up to him, Bobby said, “I've always felt ‘other’ in this country, even though I was raised very assimilated. If our success can help someone pursue their dream, I know that examples play a huge role and I want to encourage every brown kid to pursue their dream just like my mom did to me.”
As for the most amazing gift that this adventure gave to him, Bobby disclosed, “From now on, we will always celebrate Day of the Dead in our family, like Christmas, like Hanukkah, like Halloween. Day of the Dead has become part of a healing process in our family because loss is inevitable and this year was a very hard one for us. It was so healing. I want to pass that tradition on to our daughters.”
In their acceptance speech, Kristen also joked, “We were gonna go for the jet ski, but we're from Brooklyn.” (Host Jimmy Kimmel was giving away a jet ski to the nominated person who gave the shortest speech.)
She continued, “Thank you, guys, thank you, Academy. I really want to take a minute to look at this category of incredible nominated songwriters tonight. Not only are we diverse, but we are close to 50/50 for gender representation. When you look at a category like ours, it helps us imagine a world where all the categories look like this one.”
Bobby, for his part, also thanked Pixar “for letting us be a part of this important celebration of Mexico, music and family. Thanks to everyone who worked on and performed this song. And a shout out to our ‘Frozen’ Broadway family on Broadway that just finished some previews.”
More proudly Pinoy moments
On the fashion side, Rita Moreno, who won Best Supporting Actress in 1962 for “West Side Story” wore again the original gown that Filipino fashion czar Pitoy Moreno made for her and she looked so elegant on the red carpet and onstage. In fact, she even proudly disclosed when interviewed about her gown, “This gown is from the Philippines!”
RELATED: Rita Moreno re-wears Pitoy Moreno gown to the Oscars
In an interview, Rita Moreno disclosed why she decided to wear the Pitoy Moreno gown again. She said, “It was not a last minute decision to wear the dress again. When I learned that I was going to be a presenter, I was thinking what am I going to wear. And I thought, why not wear my dress again which I wore 56 years ago when I won. And why not? It was a historic moment and it is a historic dress. So I did this. I am so proud that I could still wear the damn thing.”
The 86-year-old feisty Puerto Rican actress said the fabric is made out of obi, which is a sash that the Japanese women use on their kimonos, she told E! on the red carpet. “They are usually folded over and over and over. This is one piece of fabric.” She was in the Philippines filming “Cry of Battle” at the time she got the gown made.
Another proud Pinoy moment was when Keala Settle sang the nominated song “This is Me” from “The Greatest Showman.” Filipina singer-actress Marie-France Arcilla sang and danced with the group that performed with Keala. She is an actress known for “Gamitan” (2002), “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” (1999) and “Gossip Girl” (2007).
On the red carpet, English host–model Louise Roe of BBC’s The Clothes Show, E’s fashion police, E’s Perfect Catch, the MTV Europe Music Awards’ Red Carpet Show, The CW’s TV show Plain Jane, and Star World’s reality TV show, Fit for Fashion, was wearing an elegant blue and white flowery Monique Lhuillier halter gown. — LA, GMA News
