In a moment that is sure to go down as one of the more embarrassing in Oscar History, the wrong winner was announced for Best Picture at the 89th Annual Academy Awards today, as Bonnie and Clyde’s Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway revealed the winner as La La Land, before Moonlight eventually accepted the prize. The win for Moonlight in the category is reminiscent of the 1972 win for The Godfather, when it beat out the classic musical Cabaret – which had won a slew of awards before losing the top prize.
Still, La La Land won six awards, including Best Director (the youngest to receive the prize in history and Best Actress for Emma Stone. Moonlight meanwhile won three awards, including Best Supporting Actor for Mahershala Ali and Best Adpated Screenplay. Hacksaw Ridge earlier surprised with two technical trophies, and Manchester By The Sea won Best Actor for Casey Affleck and Best Original Screenplay while the rest of the trophies were spread out amongst a cross section of nominated films.
Arrival won Best Sound Editing, Viola Davis won Best Supporting Actress for Fences (and delivered the best speech of the night) and Colleen Atwood surprised with a Best Costume win for Fantastic Beasts as did Suicide Squad which won best Hair and Makeup. Disney won three awards, meanwhile – The Jungle Book taking home Best Visual Effects, Zootopia winning Best Animated Feature and Pixar’s Piper winning Best Animated Short.
The win for Moonlight feels as much of a statement from the Academy about a more diverse and inclusive awards as did the wins for The Salesman – the Iranian film whose Director did not attend in light of the travel ban. A similar story was shared with the Director of The White Helmet, the Netflix film which won Documentary Short.
The full list of winners is 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 Foreign Film – The Salesman (Iran)
Best Score – La La Land
Best Original Song – City of Stars, La La Land
Best Visual Effects – The Jungle Book
Best Sound Editing – Arrival
Best Sound Mixing – Hacksaw Ridge
Best Animated Feature – Zootopia
Best Documentary Feature – OJ: Made in America
Best Costume Design – Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Best Cinematography – La La Land
Best Hair/Makeup – Suicide Squad
Best Production Design – La La Land
Best Animated Short – Piper
Best Live Action Short – Sing
Best Documentary Short – The White Helmet
Best Editing – Hacksaw Ridge
Best Original Screenplay – Manchester By The Sea
Best Adapted Screenplay – Moonlight
Channel Nine will air an encore of the Awards tonight.
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