Frances McDormand howled like a wolf at the 2021 Academy Awards for a poignant reason. The actress, 63, did so after taking the stage last night (April 25) with director Chloé Zhao to accept the award for Best Picture for Nomadland. McDormand said: "Please, watch our movie on the largest screen possible. And one day, very, very soon, take everyone you know into a theater, shoulder to shoulder, in that dark space and watch every film that is represented here tonight. We give this one to our wolf." The actress then made the unusual decision to throw back her head and give a literal howl, no doubt to the confusion of many, but it turns out that she had a very good reason for doing so. [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/wongie1/status/1386518473514242051]] In an interview with <a href="https://twitter.com/Variety/status/1386532394497310722?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Variety</a> after the awards ceremony, Zhao explained that the actress was actually paying tribute to the movie's late production sound mixer Michael 'Wolf' Snyder, who recently died at the age of 35. Zhao said: <blockquote>"The howling is for our production designer Wolf who you saw in the In Memoriam - we, unfortunately, lost him recently, and his name is Wolf and he's the production sound mixer both on my previous film The Rider and Nomadland. He's part of the family. So, that howling to the moon is for Wolf."</blockquote> [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/Variety/status/1386532394497310722]] Wolf's father, David, took to Facebook to write a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/me.cathysnyder/posts/10225387097686075" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">message</a> shared by his Aunt Cathy to explain that he died by suicide after battling depression for years. The post read: "I'm sure it was difficult for Michael that he spent most of the last year alone in his small, Queens apartment, being responsible about dealing with the coronavirus. In spite of this, we all believed he was doing well, and for most of this past year, I think he was. "He seemed especially joyful and invigorated in these last few months since he was able to return to work on several different film projects. He was certainly thrilled about all of the accolades for Nomadland and told us many happy stories about his work on the film and the amazing people he got to spend time with." Wolf was nominated for best sound/effects at the CinEuphoria awards for Nomadland this year. The film was a huge success at this year's Oscars, receiving awards for Best Actress (McDormand) and Best Director (Zhao), and Best Picture. <h6>Featured image credit: Alamy / Lifestyle pictures</h6>

Here's why Frances McDormand howled during last night's Academy Awards

Top Stories

Entertainment

Viewers are divided over Gwyneth Paltrow's 'attitude' during ski collision trial

Entertainment

Fans left confused over Grimes’ recent tweet about daughter’s name

Entertainment

Johnny Depp confesses he prefers his new quiet life in Britain to his old life in Hollywood

Entertainment

Tekashi 6ix9ine's bodyguard challenges star's attackers to a fight for $10K

Entertainment

People are calling latest Keanu Reeves interview the most 'cringey interview ever'

Entertainment

Blac Chyna says she's been 'reborn' as she gets baptized, removes fillers, and goes by 'Angela'