By AP
NEW YORK – Filipino-American Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez have the Oscar touch: The husband-and-wife songwriting duo won their second Academy Award for best original song.
The pair picked up the honor Sunday for “Remember Me” from “Coco,” four years after winning the same honor for the massive hit, “Let It Go,” from “Frozen.”
Robert Lopez dedicated the win to his late mother. His wife said she was happy to see their category include a number of female nominees.
“I really want to take a minute to look at these incredibly talented songwriters tonight. Not only are we diverse, but we are close to 50-50 for gender representation. When you look at a category like ours, it helps to imagine a world where all the categories look like this one,” Anderson-Lopez said.
Their song beat out Mary J. Blige’s “Mighty River” from “Mudbound”; Common and Diane Warren’s “Stand Up for Something” from “Marshall”; Benj Pasek and Justin Paul’s “This Is Me” from “The Greatest Showman”; and Sufjan Stevens’ “Mystery of Love” from “Call Me by Your Name.”
“We were gonna go for the jet ski but we’re from Brooklyn,” Anderson-Lopez said onstage to laughs.
Singer and Golden Globe-winning actor Gael Garcia Bernal kicked off the performance of “Remember Me” with a soft version of the song, later followed by a festive and colorful performance featuring Grammy-winning R&B star Miguel and Natalia Lafourcade.
