Hannah Beachler, the first African American woman to take home an Oscar for production design, said backstage that she was having a hard time processing reporters’ questions due to the euphoria she felt after winning for “Black Panther.”
“I’m like this is so yellow,” she said Sunday night while holding up her statuette after admitting she forgot the second part of a question.
“So you’ll have to excuse me because I am literally losing my mind.”
Beachler shared the award with Jay Hart, who won his first Academy Award on his third nomination in the production design category.
When asked what she would say to a young Black girl who is inspired by her win, Beachler said: “Don’t ever let anybody tell you that you can’t do this craft. You are worthy and you are beautiful and this is something for you.”
Beachler said that the enormous production had many challenging moments, but she got through it by leaning on the people she worked alongside.
‘That’s how you get through it. It’s like eating an elephant, one spoonful at a time, because ‘Panther’ was just so ginormous,” she said.
“There was a lot to do and a lot of research, and a 500-page bible and previously before that a 400-page bible, it was just non-stop. You lean on the people that you love and that are family.”
