Sarah Polley’s Child Pranks Her with Fake Letter from Academy Head: ‘Return’ Your Oscar

Oscar-winning screenwriter Sarah Polley‘s 11-year-old child took April Fools a bit far this past weekend, but at least her mom had a sense of humor about it.

The daughter gave Polley, who just won her first Oscar this year for Best Adapted Screenplay for “Women Talking,” a typed letter “signed” by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences president David Rubin. In it, the letter demanded that Polley return her Oscar and hand it over to the rightful winner, “All Quiet on the Western Front,” written by Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson, and Ian Stokell. (Probably the only other film that brought significant heat into the category.)

“Dear Sarah Polley, we say this to you with the deepest regrets: the Oscar you received was given by mistake — you must return it. 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, where we will give it to the rightful best adapted screenplay: All Quiet on the Western Front. We are sorry for your loss, but it is only fair that the play with the real best adapted screenplay gets the Oscar,” the letter states, shared in the tweet below by Polley.

Her daughter also shrewdly invoked one of the Academy’s worst PR fears: repeating a certain incident from 2017.

“In hindsight, we should have told you when we realized it, on the night on which the Oscar was given, but you must understand that we did not want another ‘Year of the Moonlight,’ and we also did not want it to get all over your local news, as the citizens of Toronto would probably be quite irritated,” the letter said.

“We feel it is wrong you get this note on April 1 … as you will probably think it is a joke, and we feel that is wrong, so another letter will be sent, probably in this week or the next, assuring you that this is not a joke,” it said.

Polley was one of the year’s most tireless awards campaigners — so much so that she’s hinted at making her next movie about awards season.

My eleven-year-old swung low for April Fools Day this year. #AprilFoolsDay pic.twitter.com/WvJxMIRBfL

— @realSarahPolley (she/her) (@realsarahpolley) April 1, 2023