Moviefone Editorial

Tag: best-picture-2017

  • ‘Moonlight’ Director Barry Jenkins Reveals His Real Best Picture Acceptance Speech

    89th Annual Academy Awards - ShowTo say that “Moonlight“‘s thunder was stolen during Sunday night’s Oscars ceremony is an epic understatement. But while the film’s Best Picture achievement may have been eclipsed by the colossal mix-up that initially had fellow nominee “La La Land” mistakenly crowned the winner, director Barry Jenkins isn’t bitter, and has revealed what he had initially planned to say had he had his proper moment in the spotlight.

    In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Jenkins reflected on the chaos that occurred at the end of the ceremony, and how it immediately blocked out any sort of prepared statement he had wanted to deliver should his film have nabbed the night’s top prize. While the director — who also co-wrote the film’s screenplay, which also took home an Oscar — did make a brief acceptance speech, he told EW, “It was an imperfect situation and it was an imperfect statement that didn’t come out the right way but it is what it is.”

    Now that he’s had some time to reflect on his film’s achievement, he told the magazine what he had wanted to say all along. Here’s how he explained it to EW:

    “[Moonlight playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney] and I are this kid. We are Chiron,” he says, referring to his background as a child from Liberty City, Miami, whose mother once struggled with drug addiction. “And you don’t think that kid grows up to be nominated for eight Academy Awards. It’s not a dream he’s allowed to have. I still feel that way. I didn’t think this was possible. But now I look at other people looking at me and if I didn’t think it was possible, how are they going to? But now it’s happened. So what I think of possibility, let’s take it off the table. The thing has happened.”

    Jenkins also had more complimentary things to say about “La La Land” producer Jordon Horowitz, who was the one to announce the mistake, and insist that the “Moonlight” filmmakers take the stage to accept their rightful awards. The director said that that moment in particular helps soften any sort of hard feelings about Sunday night.

    “It will be remembered and I think in a beautiful way,” he told EW of the odd confluence of events.

    We applaud Jenkins for revealing himself to be such a gracious, classy person in the midst of such an surreal ordeal. (His brand new status as an Oscar winner probably doesn’t hurt his optimistic attitude, either.)

    [via: Entertainment Weekly]

  • Oscars 2017: Jimmy Kimmel Reveals What Went Down During Best Picture Chaos

    89th Annual Academy Awards - ShowIn what he calls “the weirdest TV finale since ‘Lost,’” Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel is finally speaking out about what went down during the huge mix-up that led to presenters accidentally awarding “La La Land” with the Best Picture prize, when it should have actually gone to “Moonlight.” According to Kimmel, the entire bizarre event was just as chaotic in person as it looked on television.

    During his monologue on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” on Monday night, the host broke down the snafu in detail, revealing that he was sitting in the audience watching the presentation, since he planned to end the show while doing one final bit with Matt Damon. But that bit never happened, because while the “La La Land” team was in the midst of accepting the award, Kimmel noticed the show’s stage manager come out onto the stage, something that never happens.

    The host realized he should probably go up on stage, too, but still didn’t know what was going on. That’s when “La La Land” producer Jordan Horowitz took the mic to reveal that “Moonlight” had actually won.

    “It was kind of scary, in a way,” Kimmel said. ” … He’s standing there holding an Oscar that they’re now going to take away from him, and my first instinct was to tell him to run — take that Oscar and get out. But he didn’t. So now there’s mass confusion. The audience is confused, the people standing around me are confused, I assume everyone at home is confused, and I’m probably supposed to do something, because no one’s doing anything. And then Warren Beatty steps up to explain.”

    Later, Kimmel and Beatty powwowed backstage (co-presenter Faye Dunaway, meanwhile, “got the hell out of there,” Kimmel said. “She wanted no part of this.”), where the presenter showed the host the incorrect Best Actress envelope and the pair tried to figure out how Beatty got that card in the first place. The rest of the night, the host said, was spent being accosted at the after parties by people clamoring to know what had happened.

    While some of the pieces of the puzzle are starting to come together, Kimmel’s account is a great firsthand summation of the confusion and chaos that viewers saw on their screens Sunday night. While he pledged in his Oscars sign-off that he would never return to host, we kind of hope that he gets the chance to do so, if only to enjoy a less-crazy finish than the one he witnessed. Then again, at least he’s got a killer story to tell for the rest of time.

    [via: Jimmy Kimmel/Twitter]

  • Oscars 2017: Twitter May Be to Blame for PWC Envelope Mix-Up

    89th Annual Academy Awards - ArrivalsThe representative from accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers responsible for handing off the wrong envelope at the Oscars, leading to the biggest snafu in Academy Awards history, may have been distracted by his Twitter feed at the time, according to reports.

    Brian Cullinan, one of two reps from PwC stationed backstage at the ceremony, was identified as the person who gave presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway an extra copy of the Best Actress envelope, rather than the Best Picture envelope, leading to the erroneous announcement that “La La Land” had won the night’s top prize, instead of the true honoree, “Moonlight.” According to Variety, Cullinan was tweeting just minutes before the mix-up went down, and allegedly not keeping close enough track of the envelopes in his charge.

    The trade reports:

    Cullinan had been congratulating winners throughout the evening. After the wrong Best Picture winner was announced, he deleted the tweets from his Twitter account. Screengrabs reveal that Cullinan tweeted four times during the broadcast. … Three minutes before the fateful hand-off, Cullinan took a photo of Emma Stone clasping the gold statue she picked up for “La La Land.”

    In an interview with Variety, PwC chairman and senior partner Tim Ryan, who was in the audience during Sunday’s show, explained Cullinan’s error.

    [Cullinan] had a pile of envelopes for people entering from one side of the stage, while Martha Ruiz, another PwC partner, oversaw a separate pile for people entering from [her] side of the stage. Ryan said Cullinan simply pulled from wrong pile.

    Ryan said he had spoken to Cullinan about the episode at length. “He feels very, very terrible and horrible. He is very upset about this mistake. And it is also my mistake, our mistake, and we all feel very bad,” Ryan said.

    PwC, which had already issued a statement apologizing for its role in the error, released a second statement on social media on Monday night, further explaining Cullinan’s mistake. The accounting firm also admitted that Cullinan and Ruiz did not act quickly enough to correct the error, which ultimately led to three different “La La Land” producers delivering acceptance speeches before the mistake was announced and righted.

    According to Variety, PwC had no comment on Cullinan’s alleged tweets. While it remains to be seen whether the accountant will lose his job over this, he should probably lay off of social media for a while.

    [via: Variety]

  • Oscars 2017: The Academy Apologizes for Best Picture Snafu, Vows to Investigate

    89th Annual Academy Awards - ShowThe Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has finally Oscars, apologizing for the mix-up that accidentally awarded the Best Picture prize to “La La Land” instead of the actual winner, “Moonlight.”

    In the statement, the Academy said that accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers had taken full responsibility for the error, in which one of the two PwC representatives stationed backstage at the ceremony handed presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway the wrong envelope. The Academy pledged to launch an investigation into the snafu, and also apologized to the filmmakers from both features, as well as Beatty and Dunaway and viewers at home.

    Here’s the full statement:

    “We deeply regret the mistakes that were made during the presentation of the Best Picture category during last night’s Oscar ceremony. We apologize to the entire cast and crew of La La Land and Moonlight whose experience was profoundly altered by this error. We salute the tremendous grace they displayed under the circumstances. To all involved — including our presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, the filmmakers, and our fans watching worldwide — we apologize.

    For the last 83 years, the Academy has entrusted PwC to handle the critical tabulation process, including the accurate delivery of results. PwC has taken full responsibility for the breaches of established protocols that took place during the ceremony. We have spent last night and today investigating the circumstances, and will determine what actions are appropriate going forward. We are unwaveringly committed to upholding the integrity of the Oscars and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.”

    No word yet on whether the Academy will drop PwC following this major mess-up. Stay tuned.

    [via: Variety]

  • Oscars 2017: ‘Moonlight’ and ‘La La Land’ Filmmakers Share the Love After Awkward Mix-Up

    89th Annual Academy Awards - ShowIn what must have been one of the most humiliating moments of his life, “La La Land” producer Jordan Horowitz had to tell the world on Sunday night that his movie did not, in fact, win Best Picture at the Oscars, after it was initially mistakenly announced as the victor instead of actual Best Picture honoree “Moonlight.” But Horowitz and “Moonlight” director Barry Jenkins have proven that even such a surreal, embarrassing moment can have a positive outcome, especially when both winner and loser are so gracious toward one another.

    The filmmakers were the picture of poise and mutual respect Sunday night (and early Monday morning, as the show stretched into the wee hours) as the surreal event played out on the telecast. No fewer than three producers from “La La Land” had already given acceptance speeches, thinking they were Best Picture winners, when presenter Warren Beatty, host Jimmy Kimmel, and show producers stormed the stage with the correct envelope (no, not the one declaring “Lemonade” the winner) to try to explain what happened.

    Horowitz could have slunk away to stew about the embarrassing turn of events, but instead, he snatched the envelope declaring “Moonlight”‘s victory and took it upon himself to reveal the true winner. As a clearly uncomfortable Kimmel joked that he wished everyone from both “La La Land” and “Moonlight” could get a statuette, Horowitz insisted on presenting Jenkins and the other “Moonlight” producers with their rightful prizes, telling the host, “I’m going to be really thrilled to hand this to my friends from ‘Moonlight.’”

    While some internet commentators have noted that Horowitz didn’t exactly do anything revolutionary — after all, he didn’t win that Oscar, and should have just handed it over anyway without any special recognition for doing do — Jenkins counted himself among those impressed by the producer’s poise during such an awkward (and surely pretty painful) moment. In a backstage interview after the broadcast, Jenkins told reporters, “the folks from ‘La La Land’ were so gracious. I can’t imagine being in their position and having to do that. … I wasn’t speechless because we won. I was speechless because I — it was so gracious of them to do that.”

    In a tweet sent out later that night, the director reflected on what the event must have felt like for Horowitz, writing that he had “much respect” for the producer. As Horowitz tweeted in reply, that feeling went both ways.

    In an interview with The Washington Post, Horowitz further elaborated on what was going through his mind as the mistake unfolded, insisting that he didn’t think he did anything extraordinary.

    “That moment on stage was not about anything but moving the spotlight to where it should have rightfully been. … [S]etting it right was in my mind the only option,” he told the Post. ” … All I know is there was a moment when I knew and it needed to be corrected. There was just so much confusion. I think people needed to see that piece of paper. There needed to be some real definitive clarity and truth in that moment.”

    No one will ever forget the awkwardness that went down during the 2017 Oscars, but we’re glad that Horowitz and Jenkins’s heartwarming mutual respect and friendship will also be a part of that story.

    [via: Barry Jenkins, Jordan Horowitz, The Washington Post]

  • Oscars 2017: Best Picture Mix-Up Inspires Hilarious Envelope Meme

    89th Annual Academy Awards - ShowLast night’s epic mix-up at the Oscars — where “La La Land” was incorrectly announced as the Best Picture winner, before producers stepped in to reveal that “Moonlight” had actually been awarded the honor — will go down as one of the weirdest, most surreal moments in Academy Awards (and awards shows in general) history. And as is typical with such a buzzworthy, jaw-dropping moment, the internet took it upon itself to turn the fiasco into a hilarious meme, imagining what else could really have been printed on that now-infamous Oscars envelope that was mistakenly handed to presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway.

    Twitter users flooded the social media site with their quickly Photoshopped jokes, inserting other 2016 films like “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” and Beyonce’s “Lemonade” as the real Best Picture winners. Others took the opportunity to imagine the envelope declaring their loyalty to snubbed favorites (Amy Adams should have nabbed a nomination for “Arrival”) or that certain non-movie events went the other way, too (we’re looking at you, current POTUS and the most recent Super Bowl champs).

    Perhaps the best meme came courtesy of comedian Abbi Crutchfield, who saw the real truth behind last night’s blunder.

    Whatever the true reason for such an awkward awards show fail (accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers has promised to investigate how the wrong envelope ended up in Beatty and Dunaway’s hands), it’s always comforting to know that social media will deliver on the laughs.