Mick Jagger Makes Surprise Oscars Appearance, Reveals ‘El Mal’ Wins Best Original Song Oscar

A surprise appearance from Mick Jagger had the Dolby Theatre audience on their feet and applauding Sunday (March 2) night at the 97th annual Academy Awards.

“You’re so kind. I’m greatly honored to be invited to give this award,” said the Rolling Stones frontman. “Much as I love doing it, I wasn’t the first choice. The producers really wanted Bob Dylan to do this. But Bob Dylan won’t do it because he said the best songs in a movie this year were in A Complete Unknown,” Jagger joked before adopting a pretty fair Dylan impersonation. “Bob said, ‘You should find somebody younger.’” Jagger laughed. “Hey, I’m younger than Bob Dylan!” For the record: Dylan is 83, Jagger is a sprightly 81.

After it was a revealed that the Emilia Pérez song “El Mal” had nabbed the trophy, Clément Ducol, Camille and Jacques Audiard took the stage, with Camille nodding to Jagger’s presence by singing out a bit of the “woo-woo” portion of the Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil.”

“We wrote ‘El Mal’ as a song to denounce corruption,” Camille said. The trio wrapped their acceptance speech with Camille and Ducol, who are married, blending their voices to sing one of the songs from the film, harmonizing together as they crooned the name “Emilia Pérez.” Folks in the audience offered some puzzled chuckles and applause.

The other songs nominated for the best original song Academy Award were: “The Journey” from The Six Triple Eight; Music and Lyric by Diane Warren; “Like a Bird” from Sing Sing; Music and Lyric by Abraham Alexander and Adrian Quesada; “Mi Camino” from Emilia Pérez; Music and Lyric by Camille and Clément Ducol; and “Never Too Late” from Elton John: Never Too Late; Music and Lyric by Elton John, Brandi Carlile, Andrew Watt and Bernie Taupin.