Oscars 2017: Moonlight Wins Best Picture After La La Land Mistakenly Named

Oscars

by John Nugent |
Published on

Barry Jenkins’ coming-of-age drama Moonlight took home the top prize of Best Picture at the 89th Academy Awards last night. But in perhaps the most extraordinary end to any Oscars in living memory, it very nearly didn’t. In an apparent envelope mix-up, the presenters of the award, Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, initially read out La La Land, somehow having been given the envelope for Best Actress (which went to that film’s Emma Stone).

The La La Land team promptly took to the stage, supposedly victorious, and had already begun making their speeches when Academy producers suddenly interrupted and demanded to see the winning envelopes. When the error became clear, La La Land producer Jordan Horowitz announced to gasps: “This is not a joke. Moonlight won Best Picture”.

It was a stunning end to a ceremony which up until that point had gone more or less without a hitch. Damien Chazelle’s musical ultimately won six awards, not quite sweeping its record-equalling 14 nominations but still the biggest winner overall, taking big categories like Best Director and Best Actress.

Elsewhere, Moonlight also won Best Adapted Screenplay; Casey Affleck kept Denzel Washington at bay to win Best Actor, and Viola Davis took Best Supporting Actress in an emotional speech. There was also something of a political edge to the evening, with many winners and presenters choosing to use their platform to speak out against recent immigration laws in the US; the director of the Best Foreign Language Film, Asgar Farhardi, chose not to attend in a political protest.

But frankly, it’ll all be overshadowed by the Best Picture fiasco, which saw the unbelievable sight of Oscar winners handing over the trophies they thought they had won to the actual winners; and a screen legend like Warren Beatty – visibly shaken – attempt to explain to the audience what the hell had just happened. At time of writing, it's still unclear what exactly went wrong, and there will be big questions for the show’s producers, for PricewaterhouseCoopers (the firm that organises the vote) and the Academy. The teams behind La La Land and Moonlight will be forced to enjoy the strangest, most bittersweet celebrations imaginable; and Hollywood will have to collectively attempt to pick its jaw up from the floor.

The Oscars 2017 – as it happened

Red carpet and ceremony gallery

Full list of winners and nominees

BEST PICTURE

Winner: Moonlight

Arrival

Fences

Hacksaw Ridge

Hell Or High Water

Hidden Figures

La La Land

Lion

Manchester By The Sea

BEST DIRECTOR

Winner: La La Land - Damien Chazelle

Arrival - Denis Villeneuve

Hacksaw Ridge - Mel Gibson

Manchester By The Sea - Kenneth Lonergan

Moonlight - Barry Jenkins

BEST ACTRESS

Winner: Emma Stone - La La Land

Isabelle Huppert - Elle

Ruth Negga - Loving

Natalie Portman - Jackie

Meryl Streep - Florence Foster Jenkins

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Winner: Viola Davis - Fences

Naomie Harris - Moonlight

Nicole Kidman - Lion

Octavia Spencer - Hidden Figures

Michelle Williams - Manchester By The Sea

BEST ACTOR

Winner: Casey Affleck - Manchester By The Sea

Andrew Garfield - Hacksaw Ridge

Ryan Gosling - La La Land

Viggo Mortensen - Captain Fantastic

Denzel Washington - Fences

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Winner: Mahershala Ali - Moonlight

Jeff Bridges - Hell Or High Water

Lucas Hedges - Manchester By The Sea

Dev Patel - Lion

Michael Shannon - Nocturnal Animals

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

Winner: Zootropolis

Kubo And The Two Strings

Moana

My Life As A Zucchini

The Red Turtle

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Winner: La La Land

Arrival

Lion

Moonlight

Silence

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Winner: Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them

Allied

Florence Foster Jenkins

Jackie

La La Land

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Winner: O.J.: Made In America

Fire At Sea

I Am Not Your Negro

Life, Animated

13th

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT

Winner: The White Helmets

Extremis

4.1 Miles

Joe's Violin

Watani: My Homeland

BEST FILM EDITING

Winner: Hacksaw Ridge

Arrival

Hell Or High Water

La La Land

Moonlight

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

Winner: The Salesman - Iran

Land Of Mine - Denmark

A* Man Called Ove* - Sweden

Tanna - Australia

Toni Erdmann - Germany

BEST MAKE-UP/HAIR

Winner: Suicide Squad

A Man Called Ove

Star Trek Beyond

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

Winner: La La Land - Justin Hurwitz

Jackie - Mica Levi

Lion - Dustin O'Halloran And Hauschka

Moonlight - Nicholas Britell

Passengers - Thomas Newman

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

Winner: City Of Stars - La La Land

Audition (The Fools Who Dream) - La La Land

Can't Stop The Feeling - Trolls

The Empty Chair - Jim: The James Foley Story

How Far I'll Go - Moana

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

Winner: La La Land

Arrival

Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them

Hail, Caesar!

Passengers

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM

Winner: Piper

Blind Vaysha

Borrowed Time

Pear Cider And Cigarettes

Pearl

BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT FILM

Winner: Sing

Ennemis Intérieurs

La Femme Et Le Tgv

Silent Nights

Timecode

BEST SOUND EDITING

Winner: Arrival

Deepwater Horizon

Hacksaw Ridge

La La Land

Sully

BEST SOUND MIXING

Winner: Hacksaw Ridge

Arrival

La La Land

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers Of Benghazi

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Winner: The Jungle Book

Deepwater Horizon

Doctor Strange

Kubo And The Two Strings

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Winner: Moonlight

Arrival

Fences

Hidden Figures

Lion

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Winner: Manchester By The Sea

Hell Or High Water

La La Land

The Lobster

20th Century Women

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