At the 89th Academy Awards, Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway announced “La La Land” as the winner when the real winner was “Moonlight”! Return to a monumental blunder.
It was an improbable blunder that had a one in 1000 chance of happening but it did happen! On February 26, 2017, at the conclusion of the 89th Academy Awards, Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway made a mistake… on the name of the winning film!
An XXL error, even stronger than that of Vanessa Paradis who announced the wrong winner for the César for Best Supporting Actress.
How could such a thing happen at the Oscars, the high mass of Hollywood cinema, especially for the major statuette for Best Picture? We still wonder, as this type of mondovision ceremony is carefully prepared in advance and leaves no room for chance and improvisation. And yet…
It is therefore the end of the show in the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, the crucial moment of the Oscar for Best Film. Warren Beatty And Faye Dunaway, gathered on stage to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Bonnie and Clyde, will reveal the lucky winner. The first opens the envelope and the second announces the big winner: La La Land!
The team of the musical comedy directed by Damien Chazelle is over the moon and comes in large numbers to celebrate their award on stage, proof, it should be noted, that the winners do not know in advance that they are going to be awarded an award.
The speeches follow one another when suddenly, after several minutes, the incredible twist of theater occurs: it is not La La Land which won the ultimate prize, but the drama Moonlight.
The presentation of the prize in La La Land, then the announcement of the error and the moment of hesitation that goes with it are always quite a breathtaking passage to watch, with in particular Jimmy Kimmel apostrophizing Warren Beatty with a “What did you do ??”.
An incredible moment to relive below, if possible in its entirety to measure its full ubiquitous effect.
At the origin of this improbable hiccup? A confusion in the order of the envelopes. Warren Beatty was indeed awarded that of the previous category, namely the Oscar for Best Actress, which saw the coronation of Emma Stone for her role in La La Land.
We can see that the actor has a slight doubt but he still ends up giving the paper to his colleague. The rest, we know it…
Since this surreal end to the ceremony which cost the two ushers responsible for the envelopes their jobs, no more errors have marred the proceedings of the Hollywood high mass.
But the Oscars will still be entitled to a new “drama” a few years later with a certain history of slap. When will the next scandal occur?
The trailer for “Moonlight”, the REAL winner of the 89th Oscars: