Sarah Polley fell for April Fools' prank after letter told her to return Oscar

In perhaps what could be the most heart-dropping April Fools' prank this year, Sarah Polley was well and truly caught out by her daughter with a convincing letter asking her to return her recently won Oscar.

Of course, many of us are super sceptical when it comes to the dreaded April 1st, but it seems some are just a bit more gullible than others.

And Canadian filmmaker, Sarah Polley, is most certainly one of them.

Polley, who is best known for directing award-winning flicks such as Away From Her, Stories We tell, and the 2023 Oscar-winning Women Talking, took to Twitter this weekend to reveal her 11-year-old daughter's savage April Fools' prank.

Writing: "My eleven-year-old swung low for April Fools Day this year," the actor shared a picture of a letter (supposedly from the Academy) explaining that the Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award she won a few months ago for Women Talking needed to be returned.

Brutal, right?

“We say this to you with the deepest regrets: the Oscar you received was given by mistake," the spoof letter read.

"We are giving you one more week to enjoy its presence in your home, but after that period of time you must mail it back to LA, where we will give it to the rightful best adapted screenplay: All Quiet on the Western Front."

The letter went on to explain that organisers had realised their mistake on the night, but were keen to avoid another La La Land/Moonlight blunder in front of the cameras. Fair enough... we suppose!

The letter then stressed how despite it arriving on April 1st, it is absolutely not an April Fools' joke and, as it quotes: "Is much too cruel to be a joke, ergo we deeply apologize for any inconvenience we may have caused you."

Of course, despite the assumed agony Polley must have experienced when reading the cleverly thought out letter, it soon dawned on her she had, indeed, been brutally roasted in aid of April Fools' Day.

REUTERS / Alamy Stock Photo

And most importantly, Women Talking - which is based on Miriam Toews's 2018 novel of the same name - has been able to keep its very well-deserved Academy Award for the Best Adapted Screenplay.

In her acceptance speech last month, Polley said: "I just want to thank the Academy for not being mortally offended by the words ‘women’ and ‘talking’ being so close together like that."

She added: "Miriam Toews wrote an essential novel about a radical democracy in which people who don’t agree on every single issue managed to sit together in a room and carve out a way forward together free of violence.

"They do so not just by talking, but also by listening."

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