Oscars 2017: accountants were behind awards’ worst blooper

It was one of the great film plot twists — and when the villain was revealed, it was an unlikely culprit whodunnit.

It was one of the greatest plot twists Hollywood has ever produced — and when the villain was finally revealed, it was the ­accountant whodunnit.

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At the conclusion of the 89th awards, in front of a worldwide television audience in the millions, the wrong winner of the best picture award was announced. And it took minutes for the mistake to be rectified.

Martha L. Ruiz, left, and Brian Cullinan from PricewaterhouseCoopers. Picture: AP

Warren Beatty, reunited on stage with Faye Dunaway 50 years after starring in Bonnie and Clyde, hesitated as he opened the envelope, seemingly milking the moment for suspense.

Instead, the Hollywood legends were to become unwitting victims in the biggest envelope stuff-up in awards history, embroiling PricewaterhouseCoopers, one of the world’s largest accountancy firms — it was the job of PwC partners Brian Cullinan and Martha Ruiz to ­ensure the correct envelope was handed to the presenters.

Beatty, 79, handed the card to his co-star Dunaway, 76, who told the audience La La Land was the winner, prompting almost two minutes of thank you speeches from the cast and crew. Instead of bringing the night to an end, it was the beginning of a chaotic, messy, unprecedented Oscars moment ultimately ­handled with all the aplomb that could be expected from Hollywood’s best.

As the ecstatic crew of La La Land accepted the gong a ­representative of the Academy Awards’ accountants of more than 80 years, PwC, realised there had been a mistake and Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight was the actual winner.

Oscars 2017 as it happened: Winners, losers, red carpet fashion

Host Jimmy Kimmel came forward to inform the La La Land cast that Moonlight had won, showing the right envelope as proof and an ecstatic Jenkins leapt to the stage with stars of the two movies in obvious shock.

Faye Dunaway reads out the wrong winner, left, after being handed the card by Beatty. Picture: Getty

One of La La Land’s producers, Jordan Horowitz, who had just finished his acceptance speech, took the moment in his stride as it became clear that something had gone wrong.

“I’m going to be very proud to hand this to my friends from Moonlight,” he said.

He told the stunned audience “this is not a joke” and with that it was time for take two. “Even in my dreams this cannot be true,” said an astonished Jenkins, once he reached the microphone.

“To hell with dreams! I’m done with it because this is true.”

Back stage he paid tribute to La La Land’s cast and crew. “It made a very special feeling even more special, but not in the way I expected. The folks at La La Land were so gracious. I can’t imagine being in their position and having to do that.”

Kimmel quipped “I knew I would screw this up”.

PwC last night issued a grovelling apology. “We sincerely apologise to Moonlight, La La Land, Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, and Oscar viewers for the error that was made during the award announcement for Best Picture,” the firm said. “The presenters had mistakenly been given the wrong category envelope … We are currently investigating how this could have happened, and deeply regret that this occurred.”

The statement accorded with Beatty’s version of events. He told the audience he had opened the envelope and it named La La Land and Emma Stone as the winner. She had just picked up the best ­actress award.

Cullinan and Ruiz, the PwC partners, were the only people who knew who the Oscar winners were before the envelopes were opened. They were carrying briefcases that held the sealed envelopes with the winners’ names, and were stationed backstage during the ceremony, handing each envelope to the presenters.

According to PwC, Mr Cullinan and Ms Ruiz memorised all the winners, and if a mistake was made in an announcement, PwC had protocols in place for correcting the error immediately.

In another blunder during the In Memoriam segment, the telecast showed a picture of Australian film producer Jan Chapman instead of her costume designer colleague, the late Janet Patterson, a four-time Oscar nominee. Chapman, who worked with Patterson on The Piano, said she was “devastated” by the ­blunder.

Additional reporting: Agencies