Oscars 2017: how La La Land was wrongly named Best Picture
Pricewaterhouse Coopers takes the blame for the Oscars stuff up: but still haven’t explained how it happened.
It was the low point — or, for some, the high point — of the Oscar’s today presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway handed the major award of the night to the wrong movie. momentarily giving Best Picture to La La Land instead of Moonlight. How did this colossal stuff-up happen?.
10.20pm: Are these the guilty pair?
These are Martha Ruiz and Brian Cullinan, the PWC partners responsible for the safe delivery of the Oscar winners’ envelopes. Now that PWC has apologised for the monumental blunder, should we be blaming these two? We probably won’t know until tomorrow at least, as LA is now fast asleep.
8.45pm: Aussie producer “devastated” by wrong pic error
In another #Oscars stuff-up, the 'In Memoriam' segment confused Janet Patterson for living Jan Chapman: https://t.co/5geXz1ZzK0 pic.twitter.com/HW149s8yiv
— SBSMovies (@SBSMovies) February 27, 2017
Let’s move on from that gaffe for a bit, as leading Australian film producer, Jan Chapman has been caught up in another Oscars blunder.
During its In Memoriam segment, the telecast mistakenly showed a photo of Chapman instead of that of Janet Patterson, an Australian costume designer and four-time Oscar nominee (The Piano, Portrait of a Lady, Oscar and Lucinda and Bright Star) passed away in October 2015.
Chapman said she was “devastated” by the mistake.
“I was devastated by the use of my image in place of my great friend and long- time collaborator Janet Patterson. I had urged her agency to check any photograph which might be used and understand that they were told that the Academy had it covered,” Chapman told Variety newspaper.
Read the full story on that blunder here.
8.30pm: Beatty given actress envelope
It seems that the mix up happened when Warren Beatty was handed a back up envelope for best actress instead of the best picture envelope.
Pricewaterhouse Coopers, the firm that administers the Oscars, had delivered the sealed envelopes to the awards organisers. The firm, which has been trusted with counting the votes for the awards for the past 83 years, always prints two announcements per category for security reasons.
This explains how both Emma Stone and Warren Beatty were holding an envelope with the Best Actress card in it. But who handed Beatty the wrong envelope?
Photos: Inside the 2017 #VFOscars party https://t.co/yWG1Q0hJlr pic.twitter.com/UjozMehMyp
— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) February 27, 2017
7.30pm: PWC apologises
PricewaterhouseCoopers, the official accountant of the Academy Awards, has apologised for the mix-up.
“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 in a statement.
“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,” the statement added.
7.25pm: “That’s horrible!”
There is only one topic of conversation at the after-parties, of course. Vanity Fair reports that guests at its own party were stunned at the news that Moonlight had nearly been robbed of the top award. Reese Witherspoon only heard about the debacle from other guests and said in dismay “That’s horrible! How could that happen?”
Sex and the City producer Michael Patrick King added: “It’s shocking. So horrible that happened. It is bad for both of them, La La Land and Moonlight.”
Mad Men’s Jon Hamm, who was in the bathroom at the crucial moment, said he returned to see the entire room just staring at the screen. “It was kind of the greatest, weirdest for an awards show to end ever,” he said, joking that he wished the 2016 US eleciton had ended in the same way.
What went wrong in the #Moonlight #Oscars debacle? V.F.’s @ThatRebecca explains all. #VFOscars pic.twitter.com/n3ucaaz5sl
— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) February 27, 2017
6.55pm: “Are we in the sink?”
Warren Beatty has assured Faye Dunawaye the mistake wasn’t theirs. As the pair arrived at the Governors Ball - the official after-party, a concerned Dunaway asked her co-presenter “Are we in the sink?”
Beatty assured her: “No. It wasn’t us.”
Beatty’s wife Annete Bening reportedly phoned him as he was entering the ball and ordered him home but he refused, explaining he had done nothing wrong.
According to the Daily Mail, the actor’s representatives have called on the Academy to hold a press conference to explain what happened and to clear their names.
6.45pm: “Oh f***. He got the wrong envelope”
It seems that one of the accountants from Pricewaterhouse Coopers, the firm that administers the awards, realised Beatty had been given the wrong envelope within seconds. According to USA Today, the accountant - probably Brian Cullinan, chairman of he PWC American board jumped up, saying: “He (Beatty) took the wrong envelope!”
Around the same time, according to the LA Times, a stagehand had realised the mistake, crying: “Oh F***, oh my God. He got the wrong envelope.”
Another stagehand tried to prompt the right answer, saying: “Oh, my God. Moonlight won, Moonlight won,” as she stood with her hands on her head in horror.
Report from @JeffreyLAT backstage: Mid @LaLaLand acceptance, stage hand in wings said "Oh, f-ck. Oh my God. He got the wrong envelope."
— Amy Kaufman (@AmyKinLA) February 27, 2017
6.00pm: How the stuff-up unfolded
The assembled celebrities erupted in applause after the already multi-award winning film got the top gong. But minutes later, it became apparent that presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway had handed the major award of the night to the wrong movie.
The cast and crew of La La Land were already on stage celebrating their win when they realised there had been a terrible mixup and that it was Moonlight that was the correct winner.
“There’s been a mistake. Moonlight — you guys won best picture,” La La Land producer Jordan Horowitz told the Moonlight cast after he opened the award envelope and saw the name on the card inside. ”This is not a joke. I’m afraid they read the wrong thing.”
Looking furious, he repeated: “This is not a joke,” and snatched the card out of Warren Beatty’s hand before holding it up to the audience as, behind him, Beatty’s face froze into a humiliated rictus.
Watch the moment #LaLaLand's filmmakers realized there was a mistake. #Oscars pic.twitter.com/mXQt6lv2aX
— Variety (@Variety) February 27, 2017
So how could such a colossal stuff up happen?
Beatty explained to a shocked audience that he had been handed the wrong envelope. Certainly to those watching, he looked bemused as he stared at the envelope before passing it to Dunaway, who made the fatal announcement.
Watch Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway announce #LaLaLand as the best picture winner. #Oscars pic.twitter.com/I6kqJry0Ik
— Variety (@Variety) February 27, 2017
“I want to tell you what happened. I opened the envelope and it said ‘Emma Stone, La La Land’ and that is why I took such a long look at Faye and at you.
“I wasn’t trying to be funny. This is Moonlight for Best Picture.”
Beatty also told The LA Times he thought something was wrong when he read Stone’s name onthe envelope.
“I looked down at the card and thought, this is very strange, because it says best actress,” he said. “Maybe there was a misprint. I don’t kow what happened. And that’s all I have to say on the subject.”
.@JeffreyLAT just spoke to Beatty: https://t.co/rAF5hTcjva pic.twitter.com/4m6TjsZMWm
— Amy Kaufman (@AmyKinLA) February 27, 2017
In fact, Stone had won Best Actress two gongs earlier; it seems her envelope found its way back to Beatty and Dunaway.
But how? Stone insisted that she was holding her envelope the whole time.
Emma Stone: "I was holding my Best Actress envelope the whole time. I don't know what story was told but ... wanted to tell you guys first"
— Josh L. Dickey (@JLDlite) February 27, 2017
And Moonlight director Barry Jenkins allegedly said he saw two envelopes.
Barry Jenkins said something about "I saw 2 envelopes, there were 2 envelopes." When pressed, the Academy media wrangler shuts it down. WTF
— Josh L. Dickey (@JLDlite) February 27, 2017
According to Vanity Fair, Pricewaterhouse Coopers prints two announcements per category for security reasons. That would explain why Stone was still holding hers while Beatty was holding another identical envelope.
I was recording the #oscars to a hard drive. This frame clearly shows that Warren Beatty was given the “Actress In A Leading Role†envelope. pic.twitter.com/PL3eA8Ds1i
— Andy Ihnatko (@Ihnatko) February 27, 2017
Jenkins told reporters backstage the Academy had offered “no explanation” for the blunder.
“Things just happened,” Jenkins said. “I saw two cards? Things just happen, you know. I wanted to see the card, to really see the card, and Warren refused to show the card to anyone before he showed it to me.”
So who can we blame?
Certainly, PWC senior partners Brian Cullinan and Martha Ruiz will be questioned closely. For the last day and a half the pair have been the only people in the world who knew who the 2017 winners were. It was their responsibility to deliver the briefcases packed with the crucial envelopes - which they personally had sealed - to the ceremony.
For the last 83 years, PWC, formerly Price Waterhouse, has been trusted with counting the votes for the awards.
Mr Cullinan, who is charman of PWC’s American board, last week admitted the stress of the night was huge.
“It’s a relief when the final envelope is open and you can relax because there’s no more risk that anything can go wrong,” he said before, fatefully, boasting the company was trusted never to make a mistake.
“We don’t even kid around about that stuff,” he said.
That boast may never be able to be made again.
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