After a night of few surprises, it looked as though Oscars frontrunner, La La Land had landed the coveted Best Picture award at the 89th Academy Awards. Lo and behold, presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway read the wrong envelope and, following a few minutes of speeches from the producers of the popular musical, the real winner, Moonlight, was awarded the top prize.
And you thought the ending to the Super Bowl was exciting?
“There’s a mistake. Moonlight, you guys won Best Picture,” said La La Land producer Jordan Horowitz on stage when the mistake was discovered. “I’m gonna be really proud to hand this to my friends from Moonlight,” he added.
Beatty also took the microphone at the Dolby Theatre to announce how such a blunder was made. “I want to tell you what happened,” he explained. “I opened the envelope and it said Emma Stone, La Land. That’s why I took such a long look at Faye and at you. I wasn’t trying to be funny.”
Horowitz didn’t leave with the Oscar but he did receive plenty of praise for the way in which he handled the situation, including kind words from his competition, Barry Jenkins – producer and director of Moonlight.
Jordan Horowitz. Wow. I’m slipping slowly into reflection, perspective. Much respect to that dude
— Barry Jenkins (@BandryBarry) February 27, 2017
Host Jimmy Kimmel jokingly took full blame for the mistake during the ceremony, but PricewaterhouseCoopers, the accountants responsible for overseeing the results, later explained what happened in statement, which read:
We sincerely apologize 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 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.
Horowitz also found a way to put a positive spin on the messy mishap. “I got to thank my wife and my son, so it’s all good,” he told NBC News.
Before the Best Picture shock, all the other major awards were awarded as expected. Moonlight’s Mahershala Ali won Best Supporting Actor and Viola Davis nabbed her first Oscar on her third try for Supporting Actress in Fences.
“People ask me all the time, what kind of stories do you want to tell, Viola? And I say, exhume those bodies, exhume those stories, the stories of the people who dreamed,” Davis said in her acceptance speech.
“I became an artist, and thank god I did, because we are the only profession that celebrates what it means to live a life. So here’s to August Wilson, who exhumed and exalted the ordinary people, she added.”
In the one category that seemed up for grabs, Casey Affleck won Best Actor for Manchester by the Sea and La La Land was also represented on stage.
The film won six of its record-tying 14 nominations, including statues for Best Original Score and Song, Best Director for 32-year-old Damien Chazelle (the youngest recipient in Oscars history) and Best Actress for Emma Stone.
“To our whole crew, everyone that put their heart and souls into this film, I’m going to find you all individually and I’m going to thank you, along with my friends who I love so much, I’m going to hug the hell out of you when feeling reenters my body,” Stone said in her acceptance speech.
“I still have a lot of growing and learning and work to do and this guy [Oscar trophy] is a really beautiful symbol to continue on that journey and I’m so grateful for that,” she added.
Below is a complete list of winners from the 89th Academy Awards.
BEST PICTURE
“Arrival”
“Fences”
“Hacksaw Ridge”
“Hell or High Water”
“Hidden Figures”
“La La Land”
“Lion”
“Manchester by the Sea”
“Moonlight” (WINNER)
ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Casey Affleck in “Manchester by the Sea” (WINNER)
Andrew Garfield in “Hacksaw Ridge”
Ryan Gosling in “La La Land”
Viggo Mortensen in “Captain Fantastic”
Denzel Washington in “Fences”
ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Jeff Bridges in “Hell or High Water”
Mahershala Ali in “Moonlight” (WINNER)
Lucas Hedges in “Manchester by the Sea”
Dev Patel in “Lion”
Michael Shannon in “Nocturnal Animals”
ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Isabelle Huppert in “Elle”
Ruth Negga in “Loving”
Natalie Portman in “Jackie”
Emma Stone in “La La Land” (WINNER)
Meryl Streep in “Florence Foster Jenkins”
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Nicole Kidman in “Lion”
Viola Davis in “Fences” (WINNER)
Naomie Harris in “Moonlight”
Octavia Spencer in “Hidden Figures”
Michelle Williams in “Manchester by the Sea”
ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
“Kubo and the Two Strings”
“Moana”
“My Life as a Zucchini”
“The Red Turtle”
“Zootopia” (WINNER)
CINEMATOGRAPHY
“Arrival”
“La La Land” (WINNER)
“Lion”
“Moonlight”
“Silence”
COSTUME DESIGN
“Allied”
“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” (WINNER)
“Florence Foster Jenkins”
“Jackie”
“La La Land”
“Fantastic
DIRECTING
“Arrival” – Denis Villeneuve
“Hacksaw Ridge” – Mel Gibson
“La La Land” – Damien Chazelle (WINNER)
“Manchester by the Sea” – Kenneth Lonergan
“Moonlight” – Barry Jenkins
DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE)
“Fire at Sea”
“I Am Not Your Negro”
“Life, Animated”
“O.J.: Made in America” (WINNER)
“13th”
DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECT)
“Extremis”
“4.1 Miles”
“Joe’s Violin”
“Watani: My Homeland”
“The White Helmets” (WINNER)
FILM EDITING
“Arrival”
“Hacksaw Ridge” (WINNER)
“Hell or High Water”
“La La Land”
“Moonlight”
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
“Land of Mine”
“A Man Called Ove”
“The Salesman” (WINNER)
“Tanna”
“Toni Erdmann”
MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
“A Man Called Ove”
“Star Trek Beyond”
“Suicide Squad” (WINNER)
MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)
“Jackie”
“La La Land” (WINNER)
“Lion”
“Moonlight”
“Passengers”
MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)
“Audition (The Fools Who Dream)” from “La La Land”
“Can’t Stop The Feeling” from “Trolls”
“City Of Stars” from “La La Land” (WINNER)
“The Empty Chair” from “Jim: The James Foley Story”
“How Far I’ll Go” from “Moana”
PRODUCTION DESIGN
“Arrival”
“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”
“Hail, Caesar!”
“La La Land” (WINNER)
“Passengers”
ANIMATED SHORT FILM
“Blind Vaysha”
“Borrowed Time”
“Pear Cider and Cigarettes”
“Pearl”
“Piper” (WINNER)
LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
“Ennemis Intérieurs”
“La Femme et le TGV”
“Silent Nights”
“Sing” (WINNER)
“Timecode”
SOUND EDITING
“Arrival” (WINNER)
“Deepwater Horizon”
“Hacksaw Ridge”
“La La Land”
“Sully”
SOUND MIXING
“Arrival”
“Hacksaw Ridge” (WINNER)
“La La Land”
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”
“13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi”
VISUAL EFFECTS
“Deepwater Horizon”
“Doctor Strange”
“The Jungle Book” (WINNER)
“Kubo and the Two Strings”
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”
WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)
“Arrival”
“Fences
“Hidden Figures”
“Lion”
“Moonlight” (WINNER)
WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)
“Hell or High Water”
“La La Land”
“The Lobster”
“Manchester by the Sea” (WINNER)
“20th Century Women”
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(photo credit: Twitter)