Montrealer Sylvain Bellemare revelling in Oscar victory for Arrival
Montrealer Sylvain Bellemare was still buzzing from his Oscar win on Monday morning. In fact, the sound editor for Arrival still hadn't slept when he spoke to Radio-Canada and CBC Montreal's morning radio shows.
"There are so many emotions at once," he said in an interview from Los Angeles, where it was nearly 4 a.m. EST.
"I was the one who accepted the award, but there were so many people who worked on Arrival, so I felt a bit like a spokesman."
Bellemare gave a shoutout to his home city and expressed his fondness for Quebec director Denis Villeneuve in accepting the best sound editing Oscar on Sunday for his work on the science-fiction hit.
"This award, by far, is a collective award made by people from many countries around the world, led by the Quebec team. Salut, Montréal," he said in his acceptance speech.
On Monday, Bellemare said he was still processing the victory and the speech he made in front of millions.
"My goodness, everything goes pretty fast," he said.
"You need to remain calm and say a few words to the people you love."
Bellemare won in a field that also included teams from Deepwater Horizon, Hacksaw Ridge, La La Land and Sully.
Arrival stars Adams as a linguistics expert who tries to communicate with aliens that have landed on Earth. Jeremy Renner plays a theoretical physicist in the Quebec-shot film, which also stars Forest Whitaker as a military leader.
Villeneuve lost out in the best director category to Damien Chazelle for La La Land.
Bellemare, whose previous credits include Villeneuve's 2010 drama Incendies, praised the director for his vision and leadership on Arrival.
