Oscars 2021: Frances McDormand howls to the sky after Nomadland wins Best Picture

Gesture was a tribute to the film’s late sound mixer, Michael Wolf Snyder

France McDormand surprised viewers at the 93rd Academy Awards by howling like a wolf while collecting Nomadland’s award for Best Picture.

McDormand served as a producer on Chloe Zhao’s independent drama, in which she also stars as a woman struggling to stay afloat on the fringes of society.

Accepting the prize, McDormand said: “Please watch our movie on the largest screen possible, and one day, take everyone you know into a theatre shoulder-to-shoulder in that dark space and watch every film represented tonight.

“We give this one to our wolf,” she added, before howling into the air like an animal.

The gesture was confirmed to be a tribute to Nomadland’s sound mixer, Michael Wolf Snyder, who died by suicide earlier this year.

Nomadland was the biggest winner during this year’s Oscar event, with the film also taking home awards for Best Actress (for McDormand) and Best Director (for Zhao).

The Best Actress win represents McDormand’s third in the category, with the actor having previously won for her roles in Fargo (in 1997) andThree Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (in 2018).

Also nominated in the Best Actress category were Andra Day (for The United States vs Billie Holiday), Carey Mulligan (for Promising Young Woman), Vanessa Kirby (for Pieces of a Woman) and Viola Davis (for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom).