Oscars ceremony 2024: Al Pacino bombs Best Picture announcement
Hollywood actor Al Pacino fumbled his presentation for the most important Oscars award, leaving the crowd wondering who actually won.
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And that’s a wrap on the 2024 Academy Awards.
Hollywood’s night of nights delivered on yet another star-studded spectacle this year, with Jimmy Kimmel returning as host for a fourth time, Oppenheimer sweeping the wins, and - in a moment that will be enshrined in Oscars folklore - Ryan Gosling performing his soft rock Barbie masterpiece I’m Just Ken.
After such a dazzling build-up to the big award of the night, Best Picture, festivities ended on a lukewarm note thanks to a truly odd presentation from Al Pacino.
Al Pacino botches big award moment
It was the moment Oscars attendees and viewers had been waiting for, but a bizarre flub by the Scarface star saw the coveted Best Picture announcement bomb. Hard.
After declaring there could only be one winner, the movie legend, 83, seemingly lost track of what he was meant to say next.
“And uh, I have to go to the envelope for that,” Pacino said.
Taking his time to open it, Pacino teased, “Here it comes”, before dropping a major faux pas.
“My eyes see Oppenheimer,” he preempted, with zero grandeur to his tone as the audience sat in silence.
“Yes, yes [it is],” he finished.
Claps built as the crowd slowly realised Oppenheimer did indeed take out the biggest award on offer in Hollywood.
Fans tuning in dubbed the moment “chaotic and confusing”, with one user writing on X, “Al Pacino announced Best Picture like this was the first time he had ever heard of a film called Oppenheimer.”
Another wrote, “Al Pacino gives the most anti-climactic Oscar win ever.”
John Cena ‘streaks’ onstage
Before presenting the award for Best Costume Design, Kimmel referenced the 1974 Oscars when a streaker infamously ran across the stage while David Niven was introducing Elizabeth Taylor.
“Can you imagine if a nude man ran across the stage today?” Kimmel asked, as actor John Cena could be seen slowly emerging from side stage without clothes on, prompting raucous laughs from the crowd.
“I changed my mind, I don’t want to do the streaker bit anymore,” Cena told Kimmel.
“I just don’t feel right about it. This is an elegant event.”
Kimmel told Cena he regularly “wrestles naked”, to which the WWE legend argued he “wrestles in jorts”.
“Jorts are worse than naked!” Kimmel said, before handing Cena the winning envelope to announce the gong.
Concealing his modesty with the piece of paper, Cena awkwardly ventured to centre stage as the audience exploded in laughter.
“Costumes … They are so important,” he said.
He’s way more than just Ken
Ryan Gosling has pulled off one of the most memorable moments in Oscars history.
The actor stunned with his genuinely impressive live vocals as he belted out a high-energy, bubblegum pink performance of Barbie original song I’m Just Ken, the set brimming with bright props and finale fireworks.
Gosling began by serenading co-star Margot Robbie in the audience, before bursting on to the stage where he was joined by dozens of ‘Kens’.
British-American musician Slash also made a surprise cameo on the electric guitar.
Suffice to say, the whole world could feel the Kenergy, with Gosling’s name trending on X shortly after he rocked the awards.
Kate McKinnon ‘sent tasteful nudes’ to fellow star
The Barbie actress delivered comedy gold as she hit the stage with co-star America Ferrera.
Presenting the documentary awards, McKinnon began falsely referring to the Jurassic Park movies as docos, and was left ‘shocked’ when Ferrera informed her the dinosaurs in those films were computer generated.
Shifting tune, McKinnon asked, “Jeff Goldblum is real, right?”, to which Ferrera answered, “No.”
“Then to whom have I been sending my tasteful nudes?” McKinnon asked as the crowd broke into fits of laughter.
The broadcast then flashed to famed Jurassic Park director Steven Spielberg, who hilariously played along as he pointed to himself.
All about Oppenheimer
Oppenheimer won the coveted trophy of the night, Best Picture, while Cillian Murphy won Best Actor.
“We made a film about the man who created the atomic bomb. For better or worse we’re all living in Oppenheimer’s world, so I would really like to dedicate this to the peace makers everywhere,” Murphy poignantly said.
Christopher Nolan also won Best Director, while the movie took home gongs for best original score, cinematography and film editing.
Oscars photo will make your day
There was a very good boy sitting in the audience at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.
Messi, a seven-year-old border collie, had a starring role in the now Oscar-winning film Anatomy of A Fall, and was a special guest at the Oscars.
Cameras keep cutting to Messi during the broadcast, who was enthusiastically “clapping” his paws in honour of all the winners.
We are not worthy.
Kimmel calls out Barbie snubs in opening monologue
The US TV host delivered somewhat of a dull monologue, which has traditionally been a platform for comedians to brutally roast A-list stars.
Kimmel kicked off festivities by addressing the controversial snubs of Robbie for Best Actress and Greta Gerwig for Best Director.
“Barbie, what a film. What an achievement. To take a plastic doll nobody even liked any more, now Barbie is an icon thanks to Greta Gerwig, who many people believe should be nominated for Best Director,” Kimmel began.
“I know you are clapping, but you’re the ones who didn’t vote for her, by the way. Don’t act like you had nothing to do with this.”
Kimmel then moved onto Robbie, crediting her for “putting this giant hit together” before delivering a flat joke about her appearance.
“Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling are here tonight. Look, kids, it’s Barbie and Ken sitting near each other,” Kimmel added.
“Ryan and Margot, I want you to know, even if neither one of you wins an Oscar tonight, you both already won something much more important – the genetic lottery.”
Cue awkward laughter and a very loud pin drop.
Elsewhere, Kimmel heaped praise on Best Supporting Actor favourite Robert Downey Jnr and his Hollywood renaissance, before asking, “Is that an acceptance speech in your pocket or do you just have a very rectangular penis?”
The veteran presenter finished on a sweet note, paying tribute to behind the scenes workers in the film industry.
“I’m gonna make sure this show goes really long tonight so you get a ton of overtime,” Kimmel finished.
This year’s Oscars marked the 96th annual celebration of film.
There was some controversy on the eve of the big night, with award-nominated comedy film The Holdovers becoming the subject of bombshell plagiarism claims.
Simon Stephenson, best known for working on popular movies Luca and Paddington 2, made the bombshell allegations in emails to the Writer’s Guild of America (WGA) that were obtained by Variety and published overnight.
The screenwriter alleges in the missives that The Holdovers director Alexander Payne likely read a script for his movie Frisco when it was floated around Hollywood in 2013 – but was never made into a film.
“The evidence The Holdovers screenplay has been plagiarised line-by-line from Frisco is genuinely overwhelming – anybody who looks at even the briefest sample pretty much invariably uses the word ‘brazen,’” Stephenson wrote in the email he sent to WGA.
Originally published as Oscars ceremony 2024: Al Pacino bombs Best Picture announcement
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