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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Because of wow. / Late-Night Post-Oscar Open Thread: Well, That Was Awkward…

Late-Night Post-Oscar Open Thread: Well, That Was Awkward…

by Anne Laurie|  February 27, 201712:46 am| 115 Comments

This post is in: Because of wow., Movies, Open Threads

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Warren Beatty makes mistake, #Moonlight wins best picture. #Oscars pic.twitter.com/zRZlTTeD2l

— Variety (@Variety) February 27, 2017


(h/t: commentor LAMH)
.

I only caught the end of the Oscars telecast because I was waiting for the local news, and I honestly assumed the BIG SHOCK ENDING was another lame-o Jimmy Fallon Kimmel joke at first. Per the LA Times:

After an erroneous announcement, ‘Moonlight’ was named Oscar-winner for best picture. ‘La La Land’ was announced first.

“Moonlight,” Barry Jenkins’ drama is about a young African American coming to grips with his sexuality.

At first, Faye Dunaway announced “La La Land” as the winner, after her co-presenter Warren Beatty studied the card at length.

Producers and castmembers from “La La Land,” the candy-colored big-screen romantic musical about two artists striving to fulfill their dreams, were on stage thanking everyone for their win when the mistake was caught.

“La La Land” producer Jordan Horowitz caught the mistake from the stage and interrupted the celebration, calling attention to the discrepancy on the winners card in his hand.

At that point, someone showed the card to the camera, which clearly indicated “Moonlight” had won…

Warren Beatty then stepped to mic and explained that the reason it had taken him so long to read the card, was because he was looking at something that said Emma Stone had won. At that point, he showed it to Dunaway, who announced “La La Land,” Beatty assured viewers that the error was unintentional and he wasn’t trying to turn the biggest award into a joke…

The moment will go down as one of the strangest and most shocking in Oscar history, with the room in disarray as they sorted out the error.

Stone did win Best Actress for La La Land, so perhaps an errant card ended up in the Best Picture envelope. Prediction: There will be somewhere north of ten thousand thinkpieces & essays within the next ten days, explicating on how two of the whitest stars in Hollywood ended up on the wrong end of that particular fraught confrontation…

ETA:

The point that it was 'revealed' that the wrong winner was announced for Best Picture #Oscars pic.twitter.com/F0rYoIspIA

— Tatiana King Jones (@TatianaKing) February 27, 2017

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Previous Post: « Oscar’s Open Thread II
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Reader Interactions

115Comments

  1. 1.

    Dog Dawg Damn

    February 27, 2017 at 12:48 am

    As someone who loathes La La Land–this was even better than it losing the old fashioned way.

  2. 2.

    lamh36

    February 27, 2017 at 12:50 am

    let’s hope this WTF moment doesn’t take away from the fact that Moonlight wins BEST PICTURE Oscar 2017!
    Congrats cast and crew.

    This made my oscar pics 8 for 9, but i’m glad to have been wrong about Moonlight winning Best picture

  3. 3.

    lamh36

    February 27, 2017 at 12:51 am

    @wordyblerd 20m20 minutes ago
    More
    salute to that bald la la land producer having to swallow his loss & get everything straightened out. credit where it’s due #Oscars

  4. 4.

    Dog Dawg Damn

    February 27, 2017 at 12:51 am

    @lamh36: Dude is boss.

  5. 5.

    lurker dean

    February 27, 2017 at 12:52 am

    Just a tad awkward indeed..

    https://twitter.com/JasonColthorp/status/836084104668000256

  6. 6.

    lamh36

    February 27, 2017 at 12:53 am

    Like I said, dude that snatched that card was the real MVP.

    In actuality, Beatty did look confused when he read the card, Fay was the one who said La La Land….and notice Fay done bounced by the time the LaLa Land producers and cast and all got on stage…lol

  7. 7.

    amk

    February 27, 2017 at 12:55 am

    @lurker dean: and the tacky, tacky background didn’t help.

  8. 8.

    rikyrah

    February 27, 2017 at 12:56 am

    hilarious.
    cause I would have taken anything over LaLa Land.
    that it WAS Moonlight??????

  9. 9.

    rikyrah

    February 27, 2017 at 12:56 am

    @Dog Dawg Damn:
    come sit by me???

  10. 10.

    Suzanne

    February 27, 2017 at 12:56 am

    @lamh36: In her defense, it looks like someone fucked up the cards and gave Dunaway/Beatty the wrong one. Not sure how anyone could deal with that gracefully.

    Anyway, weird ending, but the more deserving film won.

  11. 11.

    Villago Delenda Est

    February 27, 2017 at 12:57 am

    Well, to err is human, after all.

    But to really fuck things up, you need to be a Trump.

  12. 12.

    jk

    February 27, 2017 at 12:57 am

    As someone who loathes La La Land–this was even better than it losing the old fashioned way.

    Amen to that! I’ve always wanted to see this happen and it was just as much fun as I had imagined it would be.

  13. 13.

    Mike J

    February 27, 2017 at 12:57 am

    Bernie would have won.

  14. 14.

    Temporarily Max McGee (Until Death!)

    February 27, 2017 at 12:57 am

    Beatty didn’t make a mistake, Dunaway did. And a bigger mistake was made by the person who gave them the wrong envelope to begin with.

  15. 15.

    lamh36

    February 27, 2017 at 12:57 am

    Welp…going up the line from whoever handed that card to Beatty or Dunaway… someone gon get fired!

    @MarcSnetiker
    Emma Stone backstage said SHE HAD HER CARD THE WHOLE TIME!!!

  16. 16.

    Suzanne

    February 27, 2017 at 12:58 am

    Now if only this could happen with the election.

  17. 17.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    February 27, 2017 at 12:58 am

    @Dog Dawg Damn:

    You’re celebrating the embarrassment of people who made a film you didn’t like?

  18. 18.

    Mnemosyne

    February 27, 2017 at 12:59 am

    @lurker dean:

    It’s kind of amazing to watch that clip and see people start running across the stage behind the group.

    If a guy with a headset shows up on stage during one of those shows, somebody done fucked up.

  19. 19.

    Yarrow

    February 27, 2017 at 1:02 am

    First time in ages I didn’t watch the Oscars and this happened! Watched the clip and that producer from “La La Land” was great. Good for him for no hedging and doing the right thing as soon as they figured out what was going on. And congratulations to “Moonlight” for best picture!

  20. 20.

    Mnemosyne

    February 27, 2017 at 1:02 am

    And, ya know, I’m going to give Warren Beatty credit for staying on stage and ‘fessing up on camera. That must have been so embarrassing for him as a director himself.

  21. 21.

    sigaba

    February 27, 2017 at 1:03 am

    @West of the Rockies (been a while):

    You’re celebrating the embarrassment of people who made a film you didn’t like?

    Mutatis mutandis everything anybody on the Internet ever does.

  22. 22.

    CaseyL

    February 27, 2017 at 1:03 am

    @lamh36: Look at it this way: usually, a couple years down the line, hardly anyone actually remembers which movie won which award. Everyone will remember this win for a long time.

  23. 23.

    Villago Delenda Est

    February 27, 2017 at 1:06 am

    @CaseyL: Indeed, some of the in retrospect total mediocrities that have won “Best Picture” are forgotten except in the archives of the Academy, and a list at Wikipedia.

  24. 24.

    janelle

    February 27, 2017 at 1:07 am

    You’ve confused your late night Jimmys… Kimmel was the host, not Fallon.

  25. 25.

    lamh36

    February 27, 2017 at 1:08 am

    @Mnemosyne:

    Yeah…I will step away from my “being petty” seat for a minute and say good on the La La Land folks for noticing annd correcting the error quickly! But I will get back in my petty seat and say…he snatched that card from Warren hands with crisp precision…lol

  26. 26.

    Temporarily Max McGee (Until Death!)

    February 27, 2017 at 1:08 am

    @CaseyL:

    So that’s why my annual Chariots of Fire screening party is always dead?

  27. 27.

    John Revolta

    February 27, 2017 at 1:09 am

    @Mike J: Oh sure, the guy that couldn’t even win a Golden Globe was gonna win the big one. You guys disgust me.

  28. 28.

    lamh36

    February 27, 2017 at 1:09 am

    Here’s a quote from Barry Jenkins, Director of Moonlight after the win…

    Anne L…maybe a great add to update the post?
    ‏
    @MarcSnetiker 2m2 minutes ago
    More
    OK and now here’s Barry Jenkins’ reaction backstage: pic.twitter.com/0hYotOVzAI

    https://twitter.com/MarcSnetiker/status/836094339935764480

  29. 29.

    Suzanne

    February 27, 2017 at 1:11 am

    @Villago Delenda Est: Excepting last year with “Spotlight”, I nearly always feel like they get it wrong.

    I wish good movies came out all year, and not just all piled up at the end.

  30. 30.

    amk

    February 27, 2017 at 1:11 am

    now steve harvey can relax. no one will remember his fuckup now.

  31. 31.

    Mnemosyne

    February 27, 2017 at 1:12 am

    Emma Stone talked backstage about how Moonlight was her favorite film of the year and that she’s really excited for the filmmakers, so she’s being very gracious as well.

  32. 32.

    lamh36

    February 27, 2017 at 1:13 am

    ha…jezebel headline for Aflect win for Best Actor…which funny enough can be used in alot of different categories in past, present and future Oscars, I’m sure.

    @Jezebel 1h1 hour ago
    More
    Fucking creep wins Oscar http://bit.ly/2leR1cO

  33. 33.

    ? Martin

    February 27, 2017 at 1:13 am

    Like a finely tuned machine.

  34. 34.

    lamh36

    February 27, 2017 at 1:14 am

    @MarkHarrisNYC

    The La La Land producer who had to announce that Moonlight won best Picture is Jordan Horowitz. What a gentleman.

  35. 35.

    Dog Dawg Damn

    February 27, 2017 at 1:14 am

    @West of the Rockies (been a while): Yeah, I’m an ass.

  36. 36.

    Yarrow

    February 27, 2017 at 1:15 am

    @Suzanne:

    I wish good movies came out all year, and not just all piled up at the end.

    Oh, me too. I hate that they all come out at the very end off December.

  37. 37.

    Villago Delenda Est

    February 27, 2017 at 1:16 am

    @Suzanne: I was thinking along the lines of 1968, when the by far most memorable film of that year, and the one that makes the best ever lists, 2001 A Space Odyssey wasn’t even nominated, and no one remembers the film that won.

    Then there’s The Greatest Show on Earth from 1952, which beat out High Noon.

  38. 38.

    Dog Dawg Damn

    February 27, 2017 at 1:17 am

    Really didn’t want White Mediocrity, the Musical to win over an actual good film. After the Super Bowl, I’m just a bitter queen.

  39. 39.

    lamh36

    February 27, 2017 at 1:17 am

    hahaha…someone said look how Faye Dunaway faded into the background like Homer in the bushes gif…
    lol

    https://media.giphy.com/media/4pMX5rJ4PYAEM/200.gif

  40. 40.

    Villago Delenda Est

    February 27, 2017 at 1:17 am

    @lamh36: He’s no Donald Trump, that’s for fucking sure.

  41. 41.

    FlipYrWhig

    February 27, 2017 at 1:17 am

    @lamh36: As I said in the last thread, I half expect Bernie Sanders to start lecturing everybody about the importance of respecting poor troubled working-class scrapper Casey Affleck.

  42. 42.

    Anne Laurie

    February 27, 2017 at 1:19 am

    @janelle: Oops. Thanks, fixed!

    (I not only can’t tell them apart, I actually forget there are two of them working the late-night shift… )

  43. 43.

    Mnemosyne

    February 27, 2017 at 1:20 am

    @lamh36:

    We’ve watched the clip a few times now and you can see Beatty looking in the envelope to see if there was a second card in there. He knew there was a problem and was trying to stall for time for the mistake to be corrected.

  44. 44.

    ? Martin

    February 27, 2017 at 1:22 am

    @Villago Delenda Est: 2001 got such mixed reviews that it would never get the vote. Hell, a big chunk of the theater walked out in the middle of the first screening in Hollywood. And other critics thought they just saw the greatest movie ever made. It was too polarizing.

  45. 45.

    Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA

    February 27, 2017 at 1:24 am

    @lamh36: Yeah, I kind of expected Beatty to scream from history’s most savage paper cut, the way that guy grabbed the card out of his hand. La La Land guy was good to want it corrected ASAP and get the award to the rightful winners, but he seemed pretty annoyed. Can’t blame him.

  46. 46.

    lamh36

    February 27, 2017 at 1:26 am

    Class act from Horowitz.

    Jimmy, I’ll guess it was a joke, but add this to that lame joke about Masherala Ali’s name and I’m like fuq off Jimmy…go home

    @tngsaunders

    jimmy kimmel: i think you guys should just keep it
    jordan horowitz: im happy to hand this to my friends from moonlight

  47. 47.

    Major Major Major Major

    February 27, 2017 at 1:27 am

    @West of the Rockies (been a while): there’s a German word for it and everything.

  48. 48.

    lamh36

    February 27, 2017 at 1:27 am

    @Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA: well,, he had just thanked his lovely “blue eyed wife” (quote btw) and then bam…mistake…

    Still good on him

  49. 49.

    Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA

    February 27, 2017 at 1:27 am

    Somewhere there’s a parallel universe where I have a young son, and in that universe I feel conflicted. On one hand, I don’t want to raise my son to be a POS sexual predator; OTOH, I want to raise him to be successful. Decisions, decisions. (At least Casey Affleck isn’t bright orange, so there’s that.)

  50. 50.

    Dmbeaster

    February 27, 2017 at 1:29 am

    Yeah, very unfair that so many are jumping on Beatty, even if he did look clueless. He did not make a mistake. He was clearly given the wrong card, and recognized that as soon as he opened it up. He just did not know what to do even though it seems obvious he was given the best actress card. He shows it to Faye who is not really paying attention, sees La La Land on the card (under Emma Stone’s name), and announces “La La Land.” Yeah, if Warran was still all there, he might have acted decisively as he seems to know its wrong even now, and he indicates they need the right card.

  51. 51.

    Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA

    February 27, 2017 at 1:29 am

    @lamh36:Yeah, WTF with the “you guys should keep it” line? Idiot.

  52. 52.

    Suzanne

    February 27, 2017 at 1:30 am

    @Villago Delenda Est: 1995, when fucking Forrest Gump beat Pulp Fiction and The Shawshank Redemption…….not good.

  53. 53.

    lamh36

    February 27, 2017 at 1:31 am

    Welp…

    ‏@ScottFeinberg
    Faye Dunaway to me just now at Governors Awards: “No. I’m not going to speak about it.”

    Anyway…I know folks are saying hey, it makes this win more memorable, but yeah…naw…Moonlight winning with no “gimmicky malfunction” would have STILL been memorable.

    It doesn’t happen often for a film like this with a cast primarily of African American actors…so even without the mishap, it woulda still been memorable.

  54. 54.

    sigaba

    February 27, 2017 at 1:31 am

    I like how it was literally Bonnie and Clyde who did this, there’s a sort of spiritual finality to it all.

  55. 55.

    Temporarily Max McGee (Until Death!)

    February 27, 2017 at 1:34 am

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    There were some pretty damned good films released in 1968. Oliver! was undeserving of the Oscar, IMO (and in many other’s O’s), but The Lion in Winter came out that year, and Night of the Living Dead, and Rosemary’s Baby, The Odd Couple and Funny Girl. That’s not a bad year in the medium.

  56. 56.

    lamh36

    February 27, 2017 at 1:34 am

    @sigaba: lol..yeah..someone on twitter said shoutout to Bonnie & Clydes, stilling robbing shit, like 30 years later…lol

  57. 57.

    Elizabelle

    February 27, 2017 at 1:36 am

    I like the NY Daily News headline on this one:

    Nah Nah Land!

  58. 58.

    lamh36

    February 27, 2017 at 1:37 am

    showing how much of a gentleman Horowitz was…apparently the other producer of La La Land…may have actually looked at the card and STILL gave his acceptance speech.

    yep…

    @MichaelAusiello

    Michael Ausiello Retweeted Enda Conway
    This video begs the Q: Did #LaLaLand producer Fred Berger learn #Moonlight was the real winner & STILL go ahead and deliver his thank yous?

  59. 59.

    Davebo

    February 27, 2017 at 1:38 am

    These people could fuck up a steel ball!

    I mean seriously, how hard is this?

  60. 60.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    February 27, 2017 at 1:41 am

    @Major Major Major Major: @lamh36:

    Are the La-la Land people known racists or terrible people in some other fashion? If they are, then, boo, fuq them sideways. But Van Morrison sang about his brown-eyed girl.
    Was mentioning her eye color some racist dog whistle?

  61. 61.

    Mnemosyne

    February 27, 2017 at 1:43 am

    @Dmbeaster:

    We’ve watched it a couple of times and you can see he’s stalling for time. He looks a little pissed when Faye reads the wrong name and makes everything worse.

    @lamh36:

    Frankly, I’m pretty sure the producers of LaLa Land are pissed at the Oscar show’s producers that they let them get up there and then pulled out from under them, and I can’t really blame them. I’m glad they didn’t blame the Moonlight producers and were able to swallow their ire and be gracious.

  62. 62.

    Mnemosyne

    February 27, 2017 at 1:47 am

    @lamh36:

    Meh. I think when they pushed Fred forward to make his speech, there was still some confusion — they didn’t confirm it until he finished, which was why he veered back and was like, “Oh, we lost, by the way.”

  63. 63.

    Mnemosyne

    February 27, 2017 at 1:50 am

    @Davebo:

    Honestly? Producing a show like the Oscars is REALLY REALLY HARD. There are a ton of moving parts that all have to operate correctly and several hundred people who all have to do their jobs just right.

    Like I said before, if a guy wearing a headset shows up on stage during the show, that means there’s a BIG problem in progress.

  64. 64.

    Villago Delenda Est

    February 27, 2017 at 1:54 am

    @Suzanne: Then there’s 1990, when Dances with Wolves beat out Goodfellas. All because Hollywood needs to feel good about itself with a “reverse Western”.

  65. 65.

    Davebo

    February 27, 2017 at 1:57 am

    @Mnemosyne:

    I get all that but seriously? It’s the pinnacle of the show and the wrong card is sent out? Hell, it takes hundreds of people to orchestrate operations on a carrier flight deck or run a chemical refinery but they manage, for the most part, to do it without these recent cockups.

    I feel bad for Beatty.

  66. 66.

    Mnemosyne

    February 27, 2017 at 1:59 am

    @Davebo:

    You also had Auli’i Cravalho get whacked in the head by one of the dancers during her song, so there was something weird with the stage management tonight.

    Or, as someone was saying in the previous thread, the timeline glitched in front of all of our eyes.

  67. 67.

    AnotherBruce

    February 27, 2017 at 2:00 am

    I didn’t even see the Oscars, is it wrong of me to laugh at this? Maybe it is, but I just can’t stop chuckling. I mean, c’mon, this isn’t exactly a tragedy.

  68. 68.

    gwangung

    February 27, 2017 at 2:03 am

    @Davebo:

    I get all that but seriously?

    Well, speaking as a producer, yes, seriously. Foul ups happen, and not even your best, deep, most detailed contingency plans may cover them.

  69. 69.

    Villago Delenda Est

    February 27, 2017 at 2:04 am

    @Mnemosyne: Because I’ve seen large scale military operations planned and executed, I have an appreciation for this, and you’re right…the coordination to pull something this complex off is nothing to scoff at.

  70. 70.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    February 27, 2017 at 2:04 am

    I blame DWS

  71. 71.

    Mnemosyne

    February 27, 2017 at 2:05 am

    @Davebo:

    I feel bad for all of the filmmakers from both films, and for Beatty. Obviously, nobody wants to look like an idiot on live international TV.

    The post-Oscars show had some of the explanation from the stage that didn’t make it to the broadcast, so hopefully the Oscar folks will put that on their website along with the speeches from the “Moonlight” team.

  72. 72.

    Brachiator

    February 27, 2017 at 2:05 am

    Wait. What? Are you kidding me? I swear to Zeus I was somewhere watching the Oscars and left just as La La Land was announced Best Picture. I stopped to get a quick bite to eat, but was totally off the grid. No TV, no radio. No Internet.

    I get home and now, what? WTF?

    Is Trump still president?

    Wow. Congratulations Moonlight. The Little Movie That Could.

  73. 73.

    janelle

    February 27, 2017 at 2:06 am

    @lamh36:Yeah, WTF with the “you guys should keep it” line? Idiot.

    That was an idiotic thing to say, but Kimmel’s generally not a bad guy and I’m thinking that maybe he was totally confused in that whole fiasco and thought it was some crazy gag that he wasn’t in on. The show had a lot of gags, namely him (Kimmel) ripping on Matt Damon all night in their fake “feud” which even included Matt Damon being introduced as Ben Affleck’s “guest” at one point by the public address announcer.

    Or maybe’s he’s a douche, I don’t know. I’ll temporarily give him the benefit of the doubt and see if he says anything to explain himself (because someone will surely ask him what the hell that was all about). If he avoids it or tries to pretend like it didn’t happen, well then fuck ’em.

  74. 74.

    Mnemosyne

    February 27, 2017 at 2:08 am

    @gwangung:

    We’ll probably never know exactly how this happened, but there were very clearly two envelopes — at one point, you can see the stage manager bring another envelope on stage with him. Somehow, Beatty and Dunaway were given the wrong envelope before they went on stage.

    Seriously, I’ve watched the footage like five times now. It’s the award show equivalent of the Zapruder film.

  75. 75.

    mouse tolliver

    February 27, 2017 at 2:09 am

    @Temporarily Max McGee (Until Death!): If you’re watching Chariots of Fire, they’re not dead. They’re asleep.

  76. 76.

    ruemara

    February 27, 2017 at 2:09 am

    Having run a live broadcast, I am so glad this wasn’t me. But classyness all around from La La land and from Moonlight. Honestly, I thought Moonlight or Hidden Figures or Fences deserved it.

  77. 77.

    Mnemosyne

    February 27, 2017 at 2:11 am

    @gwangung:

    You of all the people here will appreciate this: a friend of mine who is part of a small theater group was doing a play where there was food on the table, and at intermission, one of the audience members went onstage and started eating the food off the table. Who the hell does that?

  78. 78.

    Temporarily Max McGee (Until Death!)

    February 27, 2017 at 2:12 am

    @mouse tolliver:

    B…B…But Best Picture winner. Nooooo.

  79. 79.

    janelle

    February 27, 2017 at 2:13 am

    @Elizabelle: Well that’s kind of dickish.

    I didn’t see the movie (La La Land) and had no interest in seeing it, mostly because it seemed pretty mediocre from everything I’ve heard about it and I just don’t really care for musicals. I’m glad a much better and more deserving film actually won Best Picture, but I don’t really get the whole taking joy in other people’s loss thing. It just seems really… Trumpian. Hat tip to the La La Land producer who was extremely graceful in the way he handled the whole thing.

    And it sucks that the Moonlight producers didn’t get the proper introduction they deserved, but fuck it, they won, and that’s awesome.

  80. 80.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    February 27, 2017 at 2:14 am

    @ruemara:

    Best wishes tomorrow! Here’s to a successful return to form!

  81. 81.

    mouse tolliver

    February 27, 2017 at 2:14 am

    A couple of days ago I read an article that described exactly what would happen if someone read the wrong name at the Oscars. No one has even read the wrong name at the Oscars. Why would they? How could they? Unless someone deliberately gave the presenter the wrong card.

    Did this happen on purpose because somebody wanted to troll the Oscars?

  82. 82.

    Mnemosyne

    February 27, 2017 at 2:14 am

    @ruemara:

    I was saying in a previous, pre-fiasco thread that I may try and write a short essay about Moonlight for my romance writers’ newsletter, because it’s the first truly ROMANTIC movie I’ve seen in a long time. It actually ends on a positive and optimistic note despite everything the characters have been through, which is very unusual in a Hollywood film these days.

  83. 83.

    Brachiator

    February 27, 2017 at 2:16 am

    @lamh36:

    . .. ..@MarcSnetiker
    Emma Stone backstage said SHE HAD HER CARD THE WHOLE TIME!!!

    There are two briefcases carrying identical cards of the winners. This is so that a card can be given to a presenter whether they enter from stage left or stage right.

    Somebody messed up big time. The two people who are responsible for the cards and briefcases know who the winners are in case a wrong announcement is made.

    But somebody still screwed up hugely.

  84. 84.

    ? Martin

    February 27, 2017 at 2:18 am

    @Brachiator:

    But somebody still screwed up hugebigly.

  85. 85.

    Temporarily Max McGee (Until Death!)

    February 27, 2017 at 2:22 am

    @Mnemosyne:

    I thought Arrival ended on a pretty positive note, too. And I think it did the best job, using the tools of the medium, to tell its story. Twenty years from now people will still be watching it, and they’ll still be watching Hell Or Highwater on their merits (Hacksaw Ridge will probably have its long-term audience, too, but as war porn, so…).

  86. 86.

    janelle

    February 27, 2017 at 2:27 am

    @mouse tolliver: There are two envelopes for every award given, and only two people (accountants with PricewaterhouseCoopers) have them, and they sit on opposite ends of the stage all night. They are also the only two people on earth who know the results before they are announced, since they personally tabulate the votes and place the correct cards in the envelopes in their highly secured briefcases before the show – they make winner cards for every single nominee so that the printers don’t know who actually won. They take turns handing the envelopes to the presenters, and by the end of the night, they should still have a total of 24 envelopes left between them for the 24 awards given. Presumably, the accountant who had the duplicate “Actress in a Leading Role” envelope mistakenly handed that to Beatty Rather than the “Picture of the Year” envelope. There are pictures all over Twitter showing that the envelope Beatty had clearly had the words “Actress in a Leading Role” printed on the outside.

  87. 87.

    Mnemosyne

    February 27, 2017 at 2:30 am

    @Temporarily Max McGee (Until Death!):

    Right but, contrary to Hollywood’s reputation, most of the classic romances end unhappily: Casablanca, The Way We Were, Annie Hall. So it was nice to see a romantic film with an optimistic ending. Which is also one of the requirements to call your book a “romance novel,” which is why I would write the essay specifically for my romance writers’ group.

  88. 88.

    Villago Delenda Est

    February 27, 2017 at 2:33 am

    @Mnemosyne: While Casablanca didn’t end happily for Rick and Isle, it marked the beginning of a beautiful friendship between Rick and Captain Renault…

  89. 89.

    Temporarily Max McGee (Until Death!)

    February 27, 2017 at 2:46 am

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    ‘zactly. And Annie Hall, while not having the happy ending (huhhuh, he wrote, “…happy ending…”), I didn’t necessarily end tragically, either- Alvy and Annie just sort of drifted apart, in a friendly sort of way. The Way We Were is a pretty simple melodrama- I find something like The Umbrellas of Cherbourg more devestating in the end.

    @Mnemosyne:

    Did Cinema Paradiso win an Oscar for Best Foreign film? It might be something more like a bromance than a romance, but that’s got a pretty uplifting ending. ETA: I realize it wasn’t a Hollywood romance film.

  90. 90.

    mouse tolliver

    February 27, 2017 at 2:49 am

    @janelle: Then maybe the Price Waterhouse people jinxed themselves because they were just talking about this.

    “Don’t give Warren Beatty the wrong envelope. Don’t give Warren Beatty the wrong envelope. Don’t give Warren Beatty the wrong envelope… Aw, shit! I just gave Warren Beatty the wrong envelope!”

  91. 91.

    Temporarily Max McGee (Until Death!)

    February 27, 2017 at 3:02 am

    @Mnemosyne:

    Upon more thought, I think it’s unfair to compare the romance in Moonlight to those in the other three you listed because the romance in the film is only just beginning. Casablanca’s romance could end on a positive note if the film ended before the Nazis invaded France, ya know? Every romance begins optimistically, but even the best ends, ultimately, in someone’s death.

  92. 92.

    Mnemosyne

    February 27, 2017 at 3:10 am

    @Temporarily Max McGee (Until Death!):

    You’re missing the point by about 5 miles, and I’m really not sure how to get you on track at this point.

    I write in a specific genre of fiction. That genre of fiction has specific rules. Moonlight fits those rules. The other films do not.

    Or, to put it another way, I’m explaining blackjack to you, and you keep trying to argue that poker is basically the same game.

  93. 93.

    opiejeanne

    February 27, 2017 at 3:34 am

    @Mnemosyne: I read on Twitter that there are two identical sets of 24 cards, one set at each side of the stage. That sort of explains why there was a second Emma Stone envelope. I saw a photo someone posted of the envelope that was purported to be the problem one, and it said ACTRESS, LEADING ROLE. on it.

  94. 94.

    Citizen Alan

    February 27, 2017 at 3:45 am

    I remember the year when crash beat Brokeback Mountain. Jack Nicholson was the one who read the best picture award. And for some reason there was a Bizarre conspiracy theory that Nicholson and a Coterie of older homophobic Hollywood stars had agreed to Simply read something other than Brokeback Mountain off the card. Which was none since and I saw lots of people talk about it online at the time.

  95. 95.

    Citizen Alan

    February 27, 2017 at 3:45 am

    I remember the year when crash beat Brokeback Mountain. Jack Nicholson was the one who read the best picture award. And for some reason there was a Bizarre conspiracy theory that Nicholson and a Coterie of older homophobic Hollywood stars had agreed to Simply read something other than Brokeback Mountain off the card. Which was none since and I saw lots of people talk about it online at the time.

  96. 96.

    ? Martin

    February 27, 2017 at 3:50 am

    Things move pretty fast around here.

    The United States spends more than $1B each year on the American Community Survey (ACS), a labor-intensive door-to-door study that measures statistics relating to race, gender, education, occupation, unemployment, and other demographic factors. Although a comprehensive source of data, the lag between demographic changes and their appearance in the ACS can exceed half a decade. As digital imagery becomes ubiquitous and machine vision techniques improve, automated data analysis may provide a cheaper and faster alternative. Here, we present a method that determines socioeconomic trends from 50 million images of street scenes, gathered in 200 American cities by Google Street View cars. Using deep learning-based computer vision techniques, we determined the make, model, and year of all motor vehicles encountered in particular neighborhoods. Data from this census of motor vehicles, which enumerated 22M automobiles in total (8% of all automobiles in the US), was used to accurately estimate income, race, education, and voting patterns, with single-precinct resolution. (The average US precinct contains approximately 1000 people.) The resulting associations are surprisingly simple and powerful. For instance, if the number of sedans encountered during a 15-minute drive through a city is higher than the number of pickup trucks, the city is likely to vote for a Democrat during the next Presidential election (88% chance); otherwise, it is likely to vote Republican (82%). Our results suggest that automated systems for monitoring demographic trends may effectively complement labor-intensive approaches, with the potential to detect trends with fine spatial resolution, in close to real time.

  97. 97.

    amk

    February 27, 2017 at 4:11 am

    Moonlight won the popular voteLa La Land won the electoral college#Oscars— Oliver Willis (@owillis) February 27, 2017

  98. 98.

    Patricia Kayden

    February 27, 2017 at 4:15 am

    @Dog Dawg Damn: True. Hubby and I turned off the tv in disgust when La La Land was announced as the top film. Just finding out about Moonlight’s win. Yay!!

  99. 99.

    JerryRich

    February 27, 2017 at 6:38 am

    @? Martin: By the time the Oscar ceremony was held the film’s (2001: A Space Odyssey) greatness was recognized, but it was too late.

  100. 100.

    janelle

    February 27, 2017 at 6:53 am

    @opiejeanne: More than that, only two people in the building even have access to those cards before they are opened – two accountants from PricewaterhouseCoopers, both of whom know all of the winners before they are announced (and they’re the only two people on the planet with that information). Their names are Brian Cullinan and Martha L. Ruiz, and they both tweeted pictures before the show of the super top secret briefcases each of them had containing the envelopes – and clearly one of them fucked up. PwC has acknowledged that the mistake is 100% on them, but they haven’t indicated which of the two accountants was responsible for the epic fail.

  101. 101.

    Seth Owen

    February 27, 2017 at 10:03 am

    @Anne Laurie: it’s funny. The real best picture (The one time verifies) is almost always one of the nominees, but often isn’t the winner.

  102. 102.

    Shana

    February 27, 2017 at 10:14 am

    @Mnemosyne: I remember a story from another play where someone from the audience went on stage to plug in their phone in a (I assume non-working since it’s scenery) outlet. During the play, not at intermission.

  103. 103.

    zhena gogolia

    February 27, 2017 at 10:19 am

    @Mike J:

    lololololol

  104. 104.

    zhena gogolia

    February 27, 2017 at 10:22 am

    @sigaba:

    another lolololol

  105. 105.

    zmulls

    February 27, 2017 at 10:49 am

    Clearly the fault of the PWC guy (whichever one still had a Best Actress envelope), and the fault of Faye Dunaway. Beatty was formulating a game plan, not sure how to best handle it. He showed it to Dunaway, as if to say “See? It’s the wrong card, that’s why I’m stalling for time. Do you believe they gave us the wrong card?” and Dunaway just looks at the card and says “LA LA LAND!” without thinking.

    I’m not into all the hate on LA LA LAND. I enjoyed it immensely for what it was, and how hard it was to pull off a “musical in a modern film mode.” Every time they showed a clip I wanted to rush out and see it again. I had forgotten that song near the beginning with the four women getting ready to go out, the camera swooping continuously from room to room. I would have been happy had it actually won, and it deserved the awards it did win (with the possible exception of Actress, I haven’t seen ELLE yet).

    I am eager to see MOONLIGHT and may get out to see it today. Everything I”ve heard says it’s a beautiful movie and probably deserved Best Picture. But I don’t enjoy seeing the praise for MOONLIGHT so often accompanied by denigrating LA LA LAND, which was a huge achievement in its own right.

    (I will force myself to see MANCHESTER BY THE SEA at some point, as I admire Kenneth Lonergan’s work. I am not thrilled at the idea of having to watch, and possibly even admire, Casey Affleck)

  106. 106.

    JGabriel

    February 27, 2017 at 11:48 am

    Anne Laurie @ Top:

    Late-Night Post-Oscar Open Thread: Well, That Was Awkward…

    The Best Picture Wrong-Card Flub is understandably the big story, but I can’t help feeling that it’s overshadowing what should have been a big story coming out of the Oscars: all the winners and nominees who couldn’t or didn’t show because of Trump’s immigration policies.

    Seems like the Oscar mix-up turned out to be a bit of lucky break for Crooked Donald.

  107. 107.

    opiejeanne

    February 27, 2017 at 11:52 am

    @? Martin: My neighborhood would confuse the heck out of that system. They’d get it wrong. The Republicans here don’t drive pickups, but a couple of the Democrats do. Lots of sedans and SUVs among the Democrats. And yes, we do know who most of them are.

  108. 108.

    Rob Lll

    February 27, 2017 at 12:06 pm

    My partner was recently inducted into the Academy and worked on one of the nominated files, so we got to attend. First time ever for both of us. It was great fun and since we don’t know if we’ll ever get to go again, I’m glad we went to an Oscars that people will remember, if only for the biggest screw-up in the show’s history.

    As weird as it must’ve been to watch that moment on TV, it was absolutely loony to be in the auditorium as it happened. Totally chaotic — people in our section had already started to stream out towards the exits, then a bunch rushed backed in. I thought it was a prank at first. After Warren Beatty explained what happened, the elderly and rather drunk lady sitting next to me turned and said “Well, if you’re gonna f**k up, make it a beaut”. Good times.

  109. 109.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    February 27, 2017 at 1:02 pm

    @zmulls:

    I don’t get the unbridled glee some are showing about not just the movie losing, but how it lost. I’ve not seen La-la Land. But why chortle over creative people being brought on stage and facing confusion and embarrassment?

    So much for going high when they go low, huh?

  110. 110.

    canuckistani

    February 27, 2017 at 3:20 pm

    Yeah, I’m not sure I get the La La Land hate either, unless it had been adopted by some online white nationalists and became a symbol of the resurgence of the white race or something (in spite of the presence of John Legend).
    It was the People’s Choice Award winner at the Toronto International Film Festival this year, and the audience there has a history of picking pretty good films.
    (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto_International_Film_Festival)

  111. 111.

    Janelle

    February 27, 2017 at 4:15 pm

    @lamh36: I wouldn’t read anything particularly nefarious into the “blue-eyed” wife comment, considering the guy who said it is named Jordan Horowitz. Unless Aryan-idolizing Judaism is a thing now.

  112. 112.

    Kathy Selden

    February 27, 2017 at 5:51 pm

    Fred Berger = colossal douchebag

  113. 113.

    Kathy Selden

    February 27, 2017 at 6:04 pm

    @West of the Rockies (been a while): Low is Fred Berger

  114. 114.

    Greg

    February 27, 2017 at 7:07 pm

    Perhaps Variety shouldn’t report gossip, but rather report what actually happened. Warren Beatty was given the wrong envelope and when he realized it on stage, he showed it to Faye Dunaway. She jumped into conclusion that Emma Stone represented La la Land and therefore that was the winner.

    “Warren Beatty makes mistake” – Variety. Is Variety saying that he made a mistake by showing it to Faye, because she’s not to be trusted? Or she is too impatient? Or not capable to think under pressure as a woman? Shame on you Variety!

  115. 115.

    Olden

    February 28, 2017 at 12:56 pm

    @Janelle: @lamh36: The problem is in the perpetuation of a white standard of beauty — and in setting that assumption.

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