‘The Oscar you received was given by mistake’: Sarah Polley’s child plays April Fools’ joke on Toronto filmmaker

Sarah Polley’s 11-year-old child has gone viral after pranking the Academy Award winner on April Fools’ Day this weekend.

The Toronto filmmaker, who won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay last month for “Women Talking,” shared a photo on social media of a letter written by her child, who, signing off as former Academy president David Rubin, said the Oscar that Polley received “was given by mistake.”

The letter, which includes Rubin’s forged signature, said Polley must mail the golden statue back to Los Angeles, where it will be given to the “rightful” winner: the German anti-war film “All Quiet on the Western Front.”

“We are sorry for your loss,” the sly note goes on to read, “but it is only fair that the play with the real best adapted screenplay gets the Oscar.”

Polley, whose Twitter post of the prank was viewed by more than 3 million users, wrote that her child “swung low” for April Fools’ Day this year.

Edward Berger, the filmmaker behind “All Quiet on the Western Front” who was nominated for the Oscar alongside Polley, appeared to play along with the prank.

“To save on mailing costs as I live overseas the Academy has asked me to provide you with my address so you can ship the Oscar directly. I will follow up shortly,” said Berger in response to the original post.

Polley replied: “My kid says to tell you that it’s already packaged and on its way.”

In the prank letter, Polley’s child explained why the Academy didn’t notify the filmmaker of the mistake earlier. “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,’” referencing the Oscar’s infamous blunder in 2017, when “La La Land” was accidentally given the Best Picture Oscar instead the actual winner, “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,” her child added.

The letter even goes so far as to assure Polley that the message is not an April Fools’ Day prank. “This is much too cruel to be a joke, ergo we deeply apologize for any inconvenience we may have caused you,” it stated plainly.

Polley, who wrote and directed “Women Talking,” based on Miriam Toews’s novel of the same name, was one of several Canadians to win big at the 95th Academy Awards.

After the ceremony, Polley told the Star’s movie critic Peter Howell that she plans to turn her Oscar experience into a limited TV series.

“It’s not a joke at all,” Polley said at the time, though it remains to be seen whether her daughter’s own practical joke will make it into the series.

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