MAJOR MIX-UP
THE MOMENT STARS AND VIEWERS WILL NEVER FORGET
The Oscars gaffe that nearly stole the show
As far as stuff-ups go, you’d be hard-pressed to go past the doozy that went down at last week’s Academy Awards.
When legendary actors and Bonnie and Clyde co-stars Warren Beatty (79) and Faye Dunaway (76) read the name of the wrong film for the ceremony’s final and most prestigious accolade, millions of people across the world watched as Hollywood’s Kodak Theatre descended into chaos, confusion and incredulity, with the movie industry’s best and brightest looking on in horror.
La La Land star and Best Actress winner Emma Stone, who’d only claimed her Oscar minutes before the epic mistake that saw La La Land accidentally crowned the winner instead of Moonlight – called it “One of the most horrible moments of my life.”
It should have been Moonlight’s night – the deeply moving story of an African-American man’s journey through childhood, adolescence and adulthood – but the film’s winning moment was stolen as a monumental mix-up occurred backstage. Warren was given the wrong envelope, one that read “Emma Stone, La La Land”, which was a spare envelope for the previous award: Best Actress.
While Warren paused, confused, Faye peered over his shoulder, saw La La Land written on the card and announced the hit musical – which had been nominated for a recordtying 14 awards – as the winner.
A few minutes into acceptance speeches by La La Land’s producers, stagehands were spotted running through the film’s massive cast and crew, all of whom were gathered on the stage, trying to find the now infamous envelope.
As the mistake was realised, murmurs began to fill the stage. A horrified Emma was spotted repeating the words, “Oh, my God” and others stood around dumbstruck. The film’s male lead Ryan Gosling could only laugh.
The news finally filtered through to producer Fred Berger, who was saying his thank yous at the microphone.
“We lost, by the way,” he quipped as the audience looked on in confusion.
Fellow La La Land producer Jordan Horowitz took the mic and tried to clarify. Holding up the correct envelope, he said, “There’s a mistake. Moonlight,
you guys won Best Picture. This is not a joke,” before urging the cast to get up onto the stage.
“I’m going to be really proud to hand this to my friends from Moonlight,” Jordan said.
As Moonlight’s cast and crew walked up the theatre’s stairs dumbfounded, La La Land’s
quietly filed into the wings, no doubt desperate to get off the stage. Meryl Streep couldn’t contain her shock. Warren’s sister Shirley MacLaine watched
on, her mouth agape.
But how did all of this happen?
Almost immediately theories were bandied about. Warren and Faye had a mix-up, poor dears. Leonardo DiCaprio, who had presented Emma with her award previously, sabotaged the awards on purpose in revenge for his long wait to win an Oscar. It was all a ploy for publicity and ratings.
But the truth was simpler, the fiasco all coming down to two accountants from the firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, who may have been overwhelmed and star-struck backstage.
Martha Ruiz and Brian Cullinan, the only two people on earth to know the winners for all categories, oversaw the ballots and votes from Academy members, and both held briefcases containing the winner’s names. They had duplicates of each envelope as a precaution, in case one was damaged or mislaid. However, somehow Warren was given the duplicate of the Best Actress envelope, instead of the Best Picture envelope.
The mistake caused the firm to issue a grovelling apology to everyone involved in both films, the Academy, and to Faye and Warren, who were annoyed at the mistake afterwards.
“I bet you all thought
I was doing some schtick to prolong the moment,” he said. “I wasn’t. I was confused because the card said Emma Stone, La La Land.”
Later at the Governors Ball after-party, Warren’s wife Annette Bening called him and urged him to come home, so he wouldn’t get mixed up in the ensuing scandal. However, he said he would not hide.
“I did nothing wrong,” Warren said. “This was not my fault.” However, he departed soon after, with a partygoer overhearing him mutter, “I hope this won’t be remembered like the streaker moment,” referring The shock was visible on poor
Emma’s face, but her co-star Ryan couldn’t help but laugh. to the 1974 Oscars when a naked man ran across the stage.
Faye too was unnerved, approaching Warren to ask if they were “in the sink” over the fiasco. Warren sternly said no.
And he intends to keep the now infamous envelope, despite Academy officials asking for it back, as proof he had no part in the drama.
Well, one thing’s for sure – there’s certainly no business like show business!