Sally Field says she ‘wants to punch people in the nose’ when they misquote her 1985 Oscars speech

‘They don’t ever say the context of what I said before,’ said actor

Sally Field has reflected on her infamous Oscars acceptance speech.

The actor, who won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1985, took to the stage and said: “I can’t deny the fact that you like me. Right now, you like me.”

Field’s words are often misquoted as: “You like me. You really, really like me.”

In a new interview with Variety, when asked whether she finds the fact that her speech is misquoted “frustrating”, Field said: “Sometimes I want to punch them in the nose, but mostly because they don’t ever say the context of what I said before.

“When I’m there talking about it, I say I haven’t had an orthodox career, that this has been a struggle for me, but for this one moment in time, I have to allow myself to know and feel that you like me.”

She continued: “And I could’ve been more eloquent. I should’ve used a word like you ‘appreciated’ my work… To me, what mattered was for that one moment in time I did it. I did it. I landed it, and I thanked them for feeling it.”

Field won Best Actress for her performance in Places in the Heart, as a woman running a Texas farm during the Great Depression.

Of her detractors, she added: “A lot of people didn’t have a clue of what they were talking about. They didn’t know what it is to be a performer and have your nose and your ears and your legs out there to be ridiculed and criticised.

“They don’t know what that feels like. They’re not in the arena. They’re handing out the deodorant in the stands.”

Sally Field in ‘Places in the Heart’ (Tri-Star/Kobal/Shutterstock)

Field was mocked for what many perceived as the self-congratulatory nature of the speech for many years afterwards. But she was able to laugh at herself, too, repeating the line in an advert for Charles Schwab bank in 2000.

The actor can next be seen as Lakers owner Jerry Buss’s mother in the HBO drama Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, airing on Sky Atlantic and NOW in the UK.