I want to talk to you about Amy Pascal, the legend, the genius, and my cherished friend and filmmaking partner. But I only have three minutes and I can't do her near justice in that amount of time. And also, I know that Amy wants to go home. She doesn't like dressing up or events or even restaurants. She's probably already taken out her hair extensions. She is honored, she is excited, and she also wants to leave so she can go back to work.
Going to the Oscars one year, I was in the traffic jam and waiting to get there when my stepson Ror said, 'There's a lady in a gown walking the wrong way up Highland carrying her shoes.' And as I lifted my head, I just knew it was Amy. And it was. She hated waiting in that line of cars and was thrilled to be nominated, but really wanted to get there so that she could leave and get back to what she truly loves: movies. Making movies. As we bundled her into our car, I thought, 'You are my favorite person. You are the person I dreamed I would meet when I came to Hollywood. A gorgeous, wild, genius woman.'
When I met Amy Pascal, I had never directed a film. I sat in her office with her with nothing but a burning desire to make Little Women and a very specific take on it. And at first, I was pitching her just as a writer, and at some point she said, 'Who do you think should direct it?' And I said, 'Oh, I'll be directing it. I've seen the future and that's what I'm doing.' And she didn't laugh at me and she didn't flinch. She liked the song. She simply believed in me. And I knew that it was amazing when it happened. But looking back, that was amazing. I am floored by the faith she placed in me. And I also know how many people have that same story. How many of them she backed and backed their dreams and willed the films into existence. That is why Amy is who she is.
There is nothing in this world that gives me more joy than when Amy loves something. When she loves the film, she loves it with her whole being completely. Her face lights up and she hits me affectionately and then she tucks her feet up under her like a little kid and lets the movie wash over her. I love that response. I live for that response. She always believes in the most beautiful version of the film that you're making and it makes you want to make it for her. Directing can be lonely and I'm always looking for someone to be in it with me and to care about it as deeply as I do. And she is without a doubt that person.
When we were making Little Women, she had broken her foot at the very beginning of production in a dramatic and terrible way, and her ankle was literally shattered. But she didn't leave Massachusetts. No, she got surgery there and set herself up a hospital bed in her rental house. And then she held a welcome to Little Women party for the cast and crew, which she hosted from the hospital bed with her legs suspended like Sigourney Weaver in Working Girl, but not evil. Laura Dern and Meryl Streep both laid down with her, laughing and talking. It was the best party, and she did it from her damn bed.
Later, she recovered enough to be on set, but she was in a motorized wheelchair. She rolled around the fields of Massachusetts like Doctor Strange Love. No one could stop her from being there. She said, 'I'm not going to miss this. It's my favorite book, and I'm named Amy Beth. My mom named me after the mean one and the dead one, and I'll be damned if I have to be at home.'
When we were shooting on stage, we were building ramps for her, but she couldn't wait for the ramps to be built. So, she wheeled herself at speed onto the lip of the set, thus using the momentum to turn her body into a projectile. And then, army crawled through forearm over forearm, dragging her bum leg behind her, shouting, 'This is not Christmassy enough. I am the most Jewish person ever and I even know that this is not Christmassy enough.' This is a 100% true story and it was brilliant and it was hilarious and the thing about it was she was right and that's who she is. She is all in it with you.
Here are just some of the terrific things that she said that I repeat all the time: Never let your ego get in the way of your ambition. Everyone is as great as their best movie. And in show business, you're only allowed to be angry at somebody for one year. I am blessed to call her a friend and partner. I don't know what movies would be without Amy Pascal. And I loved her before I knew her, just sitting in the audience of the worlds that she created for me. I'll let Amy have the last word of this speech, which is only fitting. She sent me this text in a mild panic about this evening, and it's better than anything I could ever write. It's a run-on sentence, by the way. Try to capture that. 'Gret, I want to remind you when you do the intro at the PGA before the reel, I want you to say something like, Amy made me be sure to mention she didn't produce all the movies in this reel, that some of these movies she had the good fortune to pay for or greenlight or something. I don't want people to think I think greenlighting a movie is the same as producing it.' Okay, enough about me.
Please welcome the 2026 recipient of the David O. Selznick Achievement Award, Amy Pascal.
