It will go down in Oscars history as the most awkward, embarrassing moment of all time: an extraordinary failure in the Oscars voting procedure. The traditional high point of the marathon Oscars telecast collapsed in ignominy as organisers were forced to acknowledge that the wrong film – La La Land – had been named best picture winner, instead of the actual victor, Moonlight. We piece together the sequence of events that led to the chaotic scenes.
1. Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty emerge from the back of the stage to announce the best picture win.
2. A close-up photograph shows Beatty is clearly carrying a winner’s envelope for best actress – the award for which (to La La Land’s Emma Stone) has just taken place.
3. Beatty begins to read out the winners card, and is obviously puzzled by what he is reading, looking in the envelope to see if there is anything else in there.
4. Beatty, uncertain, hands the card to Dunaway, who doesn’t appear to know anything is wrong, and presumably reads out the only film title she can see: La La Land.
5. As the second La La Land producer to take the mic, Mark Platt (front), gives his thank you speech, a member of the show’s staff (in headset) takes back the envelopes that have been given to the La La Land producers Jordan Horowitz (holding Oscar) and Fred Berger.
6. By now, the La La Land team know they havn’t actually won. Producer Fred Berger takes over the mic and gives a speech anyway, finishing with: “We lost.” Behind him, the representatives of PricewaterhouseCoopers, who oversee the Oscar vote – Brian Cullinan (holding envelope) and Martha Ruiz (in red dress) – are on stage, examining the envelopes. The accountancy firm have apologised and promised an investigation.
7. Horowitz holds up his hand to stop the celebrations as the La La Land crew acknowledge that they haven’t won. “This is not a joke,” he tells the audience.
8. By now Beatty has been given the right card, and Horowitz takes it out of his hand and holds it up. Moonlight is clearly the winner.
9. As the Moonlight team come forward, Beatty steps out front to explain to Kimmel and the La La Land team what happened. The card he had been given, he says, read “Emma Stone, La La Land”. “I wasn’t trying to be funny.”
10. Horowitz hands his Oscar to Barry Jenkins, Moonlight’s director.
11. Jenkins closes the show by summing up the extraordinary turn of events. “Even in my dreams this could not be true. But to hell with it, I’m done with dreams – because this is true.”
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