Oscars fiasco
How worst blunder in Hollywood history unfolded Robbie Collin’s verdict
IN ANY other year, an Oscars calamity might involve an actress tripping over the hem of her dress or an awkward encounter between A-list exes.
This year, the Academy endured the biggest embarrassment in its 89-year history, after an excruciating mistake resulted in the wrong film being announced as best picture.
The ceremony’s flagship award became the centre of a fiasco, after War- ren Beatty and Faye Dunaway announced La La Land, the bookies’ runaway favourite, had won the prize. It had in fact been awarded to Moon
light, the coming-of-age tale of a young gay black man growing up in a rough neighbourhood of Miami.
The error caused mass confusion, with the cast and crew of La La Land piling on to the stage and delivering excited acceptance speeches before being told of the mistake.
La La Land’s producer Jordan Horowitz eventually stepped in, reaching for the microphone and holding up a card showing Moonlight had won.
“There’s a mistake,” he told a shocked audience. “Moonlight, you guys won best picture. This is no joke. I’m afraid they read the wrong thing. This is not a joke, Moonlight, you won best picture.” The confusion on stage is now known to have been caused by Beatty accidentally being given the envelope for best actress, which had already been announced, rather than best picture.
He appeared puzzled as he opened the envelope, and saw it said “Emma Stone, La La Land” but said nothing before handing it to Dunaway.
The actress, unaware of any mix-up, read out the name of the film as winner of best picture.
The incident caused a crisis at the Academy, with PwC, the auditor which has been counting and sealing the Oscars votes for 83 years, issuing a solemn apology accepting responsibility.
Two senior executives, Brian Cullinan and Martha Ruiz, were left taking the blame. They are the only two people in the world to know the results be- fore they are announced on stage, each personally counting Academy votes before placing cards for the 24 categories into gold-lettered envelopes.
A complete set of 24 envelopes are placed in each of their two briefcases, personally supervised at the side of stage before Ms Ruiz and Mr Cullinan hand the correct envelope to whoever is presenting the next award.
The incident left the Hollywood audience aghast, with PwC’s contract now in doubt. Ms Ruiz and Mr Cullinan have so far stayed resolutely loyal, with neither confirming who was to blame.
Mr Cullinan has previously boasted of how the PwC contract with the Oscars had not been put up for tender in its 83-year history because they “always” do a good job. Discussing how the job unfolds on the night, Mr Cull- inan has previously said: “It doesn’t sound very complicated, but you have to make sure you’re giving the presenter the right envelope.”
The company released a statement saying it “deeply regretted” the mistake, saying “the presenters had mistakenly been given the wrong category envelope”. After the ceremony, Dunaway told
The Daily Telegraph the incident was not Beatty’s fault.
Beatty had explained on stage: “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.”
Barry Jenkins, Moonlight’s director, said: “Very clearly even in my dreams this can’t be true. But to hell with dreams because this is true. It’s true, it’s not fake.” He later praised Horowitz for his calm intervention on stage.
Donald Trump yesterday said the incident was “sad”, telling Right-wing website Breitbart that Hollywood had “focused so hard on politics that they didn’t get the act together at the end”. There was still much to celebrate for
La La Land, however, which enjoyed six wins in total including best director for Damien Chazelle and best actress for Emma Stone.
Moonlight scooped three prizes in total, landing best picture, best adapted screenplay and best supporting actor for Mahershala Ali.
Best actor was won by Casey Affleck, star of Manchester By the Sea, and best supporting actress by Viola Davis for Fences.