Sarah Polley woke up to a letter demanding she return her recently won Oscar, on Saturday. And then she realized she had been pranked by her own child for April Fools’ Day.
“My eleven-year-old swung low for April Fools’ Day this year,” the Canadian filmmaker wrote as caption to the note, which she posted on Twitter.
In March, Polley won the Best Adapted Screenplay award for “Women Talking,” but the joke letter requested she send the trophy back to Los Angeles, so it can be given to the rightful Best Adapted Screenplay, “All Quiet on the Western Front.”
“Dear Sarah Polley, we say this to you with deepest regrets: the Oscar you received was given by mistake – you must return it,” the opening line of the letter read. “We are giving you one more week to enjoy its presence in your home, but after that period of time you must mail it back to LA.”
Polley’s daughter cleverly joked that the powers that be knew the award was given in error, but they didn’t want another “Moonlight” and “La La Land” fiasco. The letter reassured this wasn’t a joke despite Saturday being April Fools’ Day.
“We feel it is wrong you get this on April 1 as you will probably think it is a joke, and we feel that is wrong, so another letter will be sent assuring you that this is not a joke,” the letter read. “This is much too cruel to be a joke, ergo we deeply apologize for any inconvenience we may have caused you.”
Those following Polley on Twitter played along. “Dear Sarah, to save on mailing costs as I live overseas the Academy has asked me to provide you with my address so you can ship the Oscar directly. I will follow up shortly. Ok with you? All best, Edward,” filmmaker Edward Berger tweeted.
“I think we just discovered a future Oscar winner for writing,” director Jon Cassar wrote.
“And to think that you spawned this level of snark…well done mama!!” another said.
