The gaffe of all gaffes took place during the crucial climax of last night’s Academy Awards ceremony as Moonlight beat off the much-fancied La La Land to take home Best Picture.
The film’s shock victory came following a terrible mix-up which saw veteran Hollywood stars Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway initially announce that La La Land had won the main prize. But in the middle of their speech, the LLL producers discovered the cock-up and clarified that Moonlight was actually the Best Picture winner. Unsurprisingly there were stunned reactions amongst the attendees as well as audiences watching at home!
Moonlight, which centres on a young black man struggling to deal with his sexuality over the course of three different time periods, also won Best Adapted Screenplay while Muslim performer Mahershala Ali was named Best Supporting Actor for his underwhelming role as Miami drug dealer Juan.
Despite its unexpected defeat, La La Land finished up with the most wins on the night with six including Best Director for Damien Chazelle. Leading star Emma Stone secured Best Actress for her performance as Mia while the film also picked up Best Production Design, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score (Justin Hurwitz) and Best Original Song (“City of Stars”).
Elsewhere, Casey Affleck won Best Actor for his harrowing role as Boston janitor Lee Chandler in the drama Manchester by the Sea which also took home Best Original Screenplay. Unsurprisingly, Viola Davis scooped the Best Supporting Actress gong for her powerful performance as Rose Maxson in the family drama Fences.
Mel Gibson’s gripping war drama Hacksaw Ridge deservedly won Oscars in the technical categories for Best Editing and Best Sound Mixing. The latter category was a welcome relief for many as sound mixer Kevin O’Connell finally landed his first accolade at the 21st attempt!
The Disney animation Zootopia took home Best Animated Film while O.J: Made in America beat off 13th to clinch Best Documentary Feature.
Other significant films to win awards included Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Best Costume Design), Suicide Squad (Best Makeup & Hairstyling), Arrival (Best Sound Editing), The Jungle Book (Best Visual Effects) and The Salesman (Best Foreign Language Film).
However it was a bad night for a number of films as the biopic drama Lion went home empty-handed (from six nominations) along with the likes of Hell or High Water, Hidden Figures and Jackie.
Last night’s ceremony was presented by chat show host Jimmy Kimmel who enjoyed making quips about current US president Donald Trump while also reigniting his humourous rivalry with actor Matt Damon.
The full list of Oscars winners are below:
BEST PICTURE
MOONLIGHT
BEST DIRECTOR
Damien Chazelle, LA LA LAND
BEST ACTOR
Casey Affleck, MANCHESTER BY THE SEA
BEST ACTRESS
Emma Stone, LA LA LAND
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Mahershala Ali, MOONLIGHT
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Viola Davis, FENCES
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
MANCHESTER BY THE SEA, Kenneth Lonergan
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
MOONLIGHT, Barry Jenkins
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
LA LA LAND, David Wasco & Sandy Reynolds-Wasco
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
LA LA LAND, Linus Sandgren
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM, Colleen Atwood
BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING
SUICIDE SQUAD, Alessandro Bertolazzi, Giorgio Gregorini & Christopher Nelson
BEST EDITING
HACKSAW RIDGE, John Gilbert
BEST SOUND EDITING
ARRIVAL; Sylvain Bellemare
BEST SOUND MIXING
HACKSAW RIDGE; Peter Grace, Kevin O’Connell, Andy Wright & Robert Mackenzie
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
THE JUNGLE BOOK; Robert Legato, Andrew R. Jones, Adam Valdez & Dan Lemmon
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
LA LA LAND, Justin Hurwitz
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
LA LA LAND, “City of Stars”
BEST ANIMATED FILM
ZOOTOPIA
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
THE SALESMAN (Iran); Asghar Farhadi
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
OJ: MADE IN AMERICA, Ezra Edelman
BEST DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECT)
THE WHITE HELMETS
BEST SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)
PIPER
BEST SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)
SING
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