Frozen was a true collaborative effort between producer Peter Del Vecho and directors Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee, so they felt it was important to make their 2014 Oscar speech together.
When Frozen won Best Animated Feature at the awards show, the trio took the stage with pride. The win marked the first for Disney Animation in the category.
"Before we went in, we looked at each other and said, 'We had a great run on this movie. We should just be proud and happy no matter what happens,'" Del Vecho recalls in A.frame's "Behind the Oscars Speech" series.
"It meant so much," Lee adds of their win. "My heart was racing."
During their acceptance speech Buck thanked their "guardian angel," his late son, Ryder Buck. Six months after defeating cancer, Ryder tragically died in October 2013 at age 23, after being hit by a car. He was a budding singer-songwriter.
"You guys were very sweet. My son had passed away just before the movie came out. You guys said, 'You want to say something?' I said, 'Yeah, I think I would,'" Buck remembers.
The character Ryder Nattura in Frozen 2 was named after Buck's son.
In addition to Best Animated Feature, Frozen also won Best Original Song for "Let It Go" at the 2014 Oscars, with songwriters Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez accepting the award. The animated movie's score was composed by Christophe Beck, while Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff, Josh Gad and Santino Fontana voiced Frozen's main characters.
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