What happened with the envelope?

Envelope switch-up leads to confusion over best picture.

Jordan Horowitz knew something was wrong the moment he saw people in headsets scurrying across the Oscars stage.

Only a minute earlier Faye Dunaway had said the words that Horowitz had longed to hear — “La La Land” — as she announced the best picture winner for the 2017 Academy Awards. Horowitz, a producer on that film, and colleagues and cast members raced to the stage. Horowitz spoke first — “Thank you to the academy,” he began — but his excitement quickly dissipated, as he recalled the shocking end to the night in an interview with The New York Times after the ceremony.

“I’m holding the envelope and the award, and I had just given my speech, and there are people on the stage with headsets, and I thought, ‘That doesn’t seem right,’” Horowitz said at the Governors Ball, the official postOscars celebration.

“They asked to see my envelope, which I haven’t opened,” he recalled. “Clearly something was wrong. They open my enve- lope, and it says ‘Emma Stone, “La La Land.”’ So clearly something is not right. The guys in headsets were going around with urgency looking for the other envelope — it just kind of appeared,” he said. “One of the guys opens it, and it says ‘Moonlight,’ and I took it onstage and went to the microphone and said what I said.”

What Horowitz said — “There’s a mistake. ‘Moonlight,’ you guys won best picture” — was one of the most surprising reversals in Oscar history, with apparent human error combining with live television to powerful, jaw-dropping effect. It was also a painful reminder, on the most celebratory night of the year for the film indus- try, that no system of voting is perfect, and it warped and dampened the euphoria of film executives and artists who had spent years work- ing on the two movies.

And for the academy, which had been criticized last year for #OscarsSoWhite, there might have been some- thing of a missed moment: Instead of a proper celebration of “Moonlight,” with its all-black cast and touching personal narrative, there was a televised scene of con- fusion, disbelief and aston- ishment.

PricewaterhouseCoopers, the accounting firm that oversaw the academy voting and handled the award enve- lopes, issued a statement on Monday morning that apolo- gized to those involved with the two movies; the award category presenters, Dun- away and Warren Beatty; and to Oscar viewers “for the error that was made during the award announcement for best picture.”

The statement added, “We appreciate the grace with which the nominees, the academy, ABC and Jimmy Kimmel handled the situation,” a reference to the net- work broadcasting the show and the host of the Oscars ceremony.

PricewaterhouseCoopers prepares two identical sets of sealed envelopes. The two partners from the firm who oversee the voting process, Martha L. Ruiz and Brian Cullinan, each have a brief- case with a complete set of the envelopes inside and stand on opposite sides of the stage.

The envelope for best actress, the penultimate award of the night, came from the side of the stage where Ruiz stood.

After St o ne acc e pted that honor, Dunaway and Beatty came out to present the best picture award from Cullinan’s side of the stage, where a best actress envelope was still unopened. Cullinan clearly handed Beatty the wrong envelope.

After Cullinan and Ruiz realized that the wrong winner had been announced, they notified the stage manager, which set in motion a chaotic scene onstage. Those details, provided by two people familiar with the process who were not authorized to speak publicly, helped clarify some of what happened onstage Sunday night.

Yet it still took more than 2 minutes between Dunaway announcing “La La Land” as best picture and an announcement from the “La La Land” producers that “Moonlight” was in fact the winner. Three “La La Land” producers had given acceptance speeches before the mistake was announced.

Exactly how the confusion resulting in Beatty’s being handed the wrong envelope occurred is not fully known. But it could have to do with the design. PricewaterhouseCoopers used a new envelope this year, featuring red paper with gold lettering that specifies the award inside. That may have made the outside of the envelopes more difficult to read than last year’s envelopes, which featured gold paper and red lettering. The academy is responsible for the envelope design.

“I read the card that was in the envelope,” Beatty told reporters on his way to the Governors Ball. “I thought, ‘This is very strange because it says “best actress” on the card.’ And I felt that maybe there was some sort of misprint.” Pressed further, he said, “That’s all I have to say on the subject.”

PricewaterhouseCoopers declined to comment beyond the statement it put out early Monday.