Oscars 2017: Moonlight wins Best Picture, not La La Land, after Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway gaffe
IT’S definitely not a joke. PwC has issued a second apology 24 hours after the epic Oscars gaffe, as the accounting firm’s boss cancels a TV appearance.
- Hugh Jackman’s verdict on Jimmy Kimmel
- Jimmy Kimmel’s incredible roast of Matt Damon
- Casey Affleck wins Best Actor
- Emma Stone wins Best Actress
- All the best bits of Oscars 2017
- Highlights from the Oscars red carpet
IT’S definitely not a joke. PricewaterhouseCoopers has issued a second apology 24 hours after the epic Oscars gaffe in which La La Land was mistakenly awarded Best Picture.
“PwC takes full responsibility for the series of mistakes and breaches of established protocols during last night’s Oscars,” said the statement, which represented a much more fulsome mea culpa than the initial version issued several hours after the onstage fiasco.
“PwC partner Brian Cullinan mistakenly handed the back-up envelope for Actress in a Leading Role instead of the envelope for Best Picture to presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway,’’ continued the detailed second apology.
“Once the error occurred, protocols for correcting it were not followed through quickly enough by Mr. Cullinan or his partner.”
PwC’s 83-year tenure as official Oscar vote counter is clearly under threat.
The sense that heads are going to roll was reinforced by the Academy’s own statement, which followed quickly after PwC’s second apology.
“We deeply regret the mistakes that were made during the presentation of the Best Picture category during last night’s Oscar ceremony,” it said, adding that following an investigation, the Academy would “determine what actions are appropriate going forward.”
Few people would want to swap places with Cullinan right now. The PwC partner was mentioned by name twice in his company’s recent missive, suggesting that he might be the first to go.
The Academy’s displeasure was also evident in an eleventh hour no show by a PwC executive on prime television.
US Chairman and senior partner Tim Ryan cancelled a scheduled CNN appearance less than an hour before he was due to go on.
“The chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers, the accounting firm that’s in charge of the Oscar envelopes, was actually booked to be on the program tonight,” said CNN host Anderson Cooper.
“He cancelled a short time ago — like 45 minutes ago — apparently on orders from the Academy. So the plot thickens.”
TRUMP: OSCAR BLUNDER WAS ‘SAD’
It comes after President Trump said the Academy Awards ceremony “focused so hard on politics that they didn’t get the act together at the end”.
He said it was “sad” the awards ceremony botched the crowning of Moonlight as the Oscar-winning best picture after initially giving the top prize to La La Land.
Trump said that the mistaken announcement was due to producers focusing too much on politics.
“I think they were focused so hard on politics that they didn’t get the act together at the end,” President Trump told Breitbart.
“It was a little sad. It took away from the glamour of the Oscars. It didn’t feel like a very glamorous evening. I’ve been to the Oscars. There was something very special missing, and then to end that way was sad.”
Trump made the comments in an interview with Breitbart News, noting that for the Oscars “to end that way was sad”.
More: Inside the Oscars blunder, and the secret processes breached
The president was attending a Governors Ball at the White House during most of the ceremony.
The annual Oscars ceremony had a political edge, with many winners, presenters and host Jimmy Kimmel taking digs at Trump.
Trump said the Oscars ceremony “didn’t feel like a very glamorous evening”, adding: “there was something very special missing.” In the final award of the evening, Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway presented best picture to La La Land.
LA LA LAND PRODUCER’S AWKWARD MOMENT
La La Land producer Jordan Horowitz has described the awkward moment he realised there had been a monumental mix up at the Oscars, and that his film had mistakenly been named Best Picture.
The final moments of the 2017 Academy Awards were rocked by arguably the biggest stuff-up in Oscars history when veteran actors Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway handed the golden statue to the stars of La La Land instead of Moonlight.
An accountant from PricewaterhouseCoopers, who oversees the ballot-counting process, stormed the stage to fix the mistake as the cast and crew of La La Land accepted the award.
“It was a surreal moment for sure,” Horowitz told Good Morning America the morning after the bungle.
“But I wanted to make sure the right thing was done. At that point it was not about me. I wanted to make sure Moonlight got the recognition it deserves.”
The producer added: “There was a lot of confusion on stage, and at a certain point it was clear the wrong envelope had been given. Then they kind of showed us the best picture envelope and it said Moonlight, and that’s when I sort of jumped to the mic and made sure everybody knew what was going on.”
As for what happened when the filmmakers behind both films met backstage, Horowitz explained: “We kind of shared a moment, gave each other a hug, said ‘Wasn’t that surreal?’ and congratulated each other on our work.”
Earlier, Horowitz told the Hollywood Reporter he was standing on stage at the Dolby Theatre as his colleagues made their acceptance speeches when he knew something was shockingly amiss.
“Guys in headsets starting buzzing around. They took the envelope I had. It said ‘Emma Stone, La La Land’ on it. It was clear there was something wrong,” he said.
“They started looking for the best picture envelope. Nobody knew where it was. Then it appeared. They opened it next to me and it said Moonlight. And so I grabbed it. I had to fix the situation.”
Jordan Horowitz. Wow. I'm slipping slowly into reflection, perspective. Much respect to that dude
— Barry Jenkins (@BandryBarry) February 27, 2017
Horowitz’s graceful handling of a horrible situation garnered much praise from Moonlight’s director, Barry Jenkins.
“Jordan Horowitz. Wow. I’m slipping slowly into reflection, perspective. Much respect to that dude,” Jenkins tweeted.
The biggest mix-up in Oscars history saw La La Land announced the winner of the night’s greatest prize, Best Picture, by veteran actors Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway.
Accounting firm Pricewaterhouse Cooper later took responsibility for the blunder.
HOW THE OSCARS ENVELOPES WERE MANAGED
- The consulting firm PwC, formerly Price Waterhouse Coopers, tabulates the winners based on ballots cast by the academy’s 6,687 voting members. Unlike the nominations, which rely on a branch-specific, preferential-voting system, winners are chosen by popular vote.
- Two accountants are tasked with bringing the final results, inside sealed envelopes, to the Oscars ceremony. They are the people carrying briefcases on the red carpet, flanked by police protection. Each briefcase contains an identical set of envelopes for the show’s 24 categories. The accountants also memorize the winners.
- The two accountants are ostensibly the only people who know the winners before they are announced live on TV.
- During the telecast, the two briefcase-toting accountants are stationed in the Dolby Theatre wings, one stage left and one stage right.
- Most presenters enter stage right. They come backstage a few minutes ahead of time, and the accountant hands them their category’s envelope just before they walk onstage. The category is indicated both on the envelope and on the card with the winner’s name. The sealed envelope with the winner’s name inside is opened live onstage.
- On Sunday, Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway entered stage right, where PwC representative Brian Cullinan handed them the errant envelope.
- The previous award, best actress, was presented by Leonardo DiCaprio, who entered stage left. PwC representative Martha Ruiz handed him the envelope for the correct category.
- A duplicate, unopened envelope for best actress remained stage right, and apparently ended up in the hands of Beatty and Dunaway.
KIMMEL’S PERFECT SHOW UNRAVELS
The La La Land filmmakers were part way through their speeches when the real winner of the Oscar, Moonlight, was announced.
Kimmel said: “This is very unfortunate what happened. Personally I blame Steve Harvey for this — I would like to see you get an Oscar anyway. Why can’t we just give a whole bunch of them.”
Steve Harvey famously announced the wrong Miss Universe winner in 2015. Moonlight director Barry Jenkins looked gobsmacked at his swing in fortunes.
Pricewaterhouse Coopers, which counts votes and provides envelopes for the Oscars, apologised for the mix-up.
“We sincerely apologise to Moonlight, La La Land, Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, and Oscars viewers for the error that was made during the award announcement for Best Picture,” a statement from the company read.
“The presenters had mistakenly been given the wrong category envelope and when discovered, was immediately corrected.
“We are currently investigating how this could have happened and deeply regret that this occurred. We appreciate the grace with which the nominees, the Academy, ABC and Jimmy Kimmel handled the situation.”
La La Land’s producers gracefully handed over their Oscars — “I’m going to be proud to hand this to my friends at Moonlight,” said Jordan Horowitz — and held up the correct envelope proclaiming Moonlight the Best Picture winner.
Amid mass confusion — and host Jimmy Kimmel assuring everyone it wasn’t a joke — Warren Beatty, who had announced La La Land as the winner, returned to the mic to explain the stuff up.
“I want to tell you what happened,” Beatty said. “I opened the envelope and it said, ‘Emma Stone, La La Land’ — that’s why I took such a long look. I wasn’t trying to be funny. This is Moonlight, the Best Picture.”
The LA Times quoted Australian actress Nicole Kidman as saying: “I’m in shock. That was the craziest thing I’ve ever seen.”
When he finally got to the microphone, Jenkins said: “Very clearly even in my dreams this could not be true. But to hell with this dreams — I’m done with them — this is true.
“Oh my goodness. And I have to say — and it is true — it’s not fake. We have been on the road with these guys for so long and they have been so gracious and so generous. My love to La La Land.”
Moonlight producer Adele Romanski gave what might have been an inspirational acceptance speech — had everyone not been reeling in shock
“It’s very humbling to be up here and I hope even more than that it’s inspiring to little black boys and brown girls and other folks watching at home who feel marginalised and can take some inspiration from seeing this beautiful group of artists, helmed by this amazing Barry Jenkins, up on stage collecting this top honour,” said Romanski.
Kimmel captured the bamboozled tone as he wrapped up the Academy Awards ceremony and telecast.
“I don’t know what happened — I blame myself for this,” the host said. “Let’s remember it’s just an awards show. We hate to see people disappointed but the good news is that we got to see some extra speeches ... We had some great movies.
“I knew I would screw this show up, I really did. Thank you for watching.”
During her winners’ interview backstage afterwards, a wide-eyed Emma Stone — who had been up on stage with the La La Land team as they accepted their Best Picture “win” — declared: “Whoo! You guys see that?!”
Asked her reaction to the mix-up, she certainly didn’t sound disappointed the Moonlight actually took the top prize.
“I f---ing love Moonlight,” Stone said.
“God I love Moonlight so much. I’m so excited for Moonlight. Of course it was an amazing thing to hear La La Land — I think we all would have loved to win Best Picture — but we are so excited for Moonlight. I think it’s one of the best films of all time, so I was pretty beside myself.”
Without naming names, she questioned Beatty’s “wrong envelope” explanation.
“I was also holding my Best Actress in a Leading Role card that entire time,” Stone said, “so whatever story — I don’t mean to start stuff — but whatever story that was, I had that card.”
Soon after the gaffe, social media users went crazy with their Oscar memes.
"I switched the 'Best Picture' envelopes." #Oscars pic.twitter.com/WeZbvQ91ha
— Wade Evans (@wadeevans26) 27 February 2017
You know Steve Harvey is sitting at the house like... 😂😂😂😂 #Oscars pic.twitter.com/6PTTW9F2aL
— Cory Aldridge (@aldridge32) 27 February 2017
Thank God that Moonlight won. Best movie I have seen in many years. #Oscars
— Hannah Hart (@harto) 27 February 2017
they got it wrong again #Oscars pic.twitter.com/6cszB7hAYK
— memes (@HilariousEdited) 27 February 2017
Welp..... #Oscars pic.twitter.com/EJ4ZiEND2z
— Michael Lyle, Jr. (@LyleMultimedia) 27 February 2017
Later in the evening, La La Land producer Horowitz told the Hollywood Reporter’s Scott Feinberg: “I got to thank my wife and kids ... to accept an Oscar ... and to present an Oscar — all within 10 minutes.”
OSCARS DISHES MORE SURPRISES
In the lead-up to the awards, industry observers were convinced short-odds favourite La La Land had the prestigious category in the bag.
Damien Chazelle’s popular contemporary musical, starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, was nominated for a record-equalling 14 nominations.
But in the end, it took home just six awards — including Best Director, Best Actress and Best Cinematography and Best Adapted Screenplay
Academy voters had clearly decided to share the love around.
As expected, Casey Affleck won Best Actor for Manchester By The Sea.
There were no surprises, either, for Best Supporting Actress (Viola Davis, for Fences) and Best Supporting Actor (Mahershala Ali for Moonlight).
When La La Land producer Jordan Horowitz interrupted the acceptance speeches to acknowledge that there’d been a mistake and that Moonlight was actually the winner, not La La Land, as Beatty and Dunaway had announced, everybody initially thought it was a joke.
Especially because the previous three and a half hours had gone so seamlessly, industry observers had already given Kimmel a resounding thumbs up.
“You’ve got this job for life,” tweeted former Oscars host Ellen DeGeneres.
La Land Land wasn’t the only film to perform below expectations.
After scoring a record 14 nominations, Australian films only won golden statuettes in two categories — Best Film Editing and Best Sound Mixing (both for Hacksaw Ridge.)
Lion, which was nominated for six Oscars, including Best Film, Best Supporting Actor (Dev Patel) and Best Supporting Actress (Nicole Kidman) missed out altogether.
But it’s certainly a popular favourite. The inspirational true story of a Tasmanian man who used Google Earth to track down his birth family to a small village in India is currently No 7 on the list of the top 10 Australian films of all time — and climbing.
There was one more jarring note for Aussies, earlier in the evening, when the Academy botched up a tribute to acclaimed costume designer Janet Patterson in the In Memoriam segment, using an image of producer Jan Chapman instead. The pair had worked together on The Piano.
Originally published as Oscars 2017: Moonlight wins Best Picture, not La La Land, after Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway gaffe
Nicole Kidman’s beauty secrets revealed
Gucci Westman has worked with the world’s most stunning faces, from Anne Hathaway to Nicole Kidman. Here, the Hollywood makeup artist debriefs on beauty trends post-Oscars.
Truth about ‘offensive’ Oscars moment
It was the jaw-dropping faux pas that overshadowed Hollywood’s night of nights and now the megastar responsible has spoken.
Star arrives late to Oscars shouting message
An Oscar nominee who was rushing to Hollywood’s night of nights shouted in support of the protesters who made him late.