I thought shortly after Faye Dunaway announced La La Land as Best Picture that I went a perfect 8 for 8 in predicting all of the major categories for this year's Academy Awards. It was refreshing to be uncertain how some categories would pan out. However, I figured La La Land
was a Best Picture certainty, especially after it received 14 nominations and picked up a Producer's Guild Award win in late January. All signs pointed to a big night for the musical.
In the most bizarre sequence in recent Oscar memory, La La Land was the Best Picture of 2016 for all of two or three minutes...until the ecstatic producers and cast gathered on the stage were told a mistake was made. Moonlight was the actual winner for Best Picture, so La La Land's Oscar win tally stayed at 6, while Moonlight's cast and crew celebrated a belated win. Beatty seemed genuinely puzzled by what was listed on the card. He hesitated before reading the name. He even checked inside the envelope itself to see if there were any other cards. Nope. Faye Dunaway giggled; thinking Beatty was just trying to create false suspense. It turns out he wasn't. It turns out he was accidentally handed the duplicate envelope for the Best Actress winner, which was awarded to Emma Stone moments earlier, and he and Dunaway assumed despite their misgivings that La La Land was the winner.
There was an error all right. An unprecedented error. It would be easy just to bash Beatty and Dunaway, but there is plenty of blame to go around. It is not unreasonable for Beatty to trust that the envelope given to him was the right one. Still...Beatty could have at least asked for assistance. I know such a thing would look bad, but announcing the wrong winner's name is ten times worse. And no one would have blamed Beatty for averting potential controversy rather than having to explain away an actual one.
The movie's three producers each had a chance to make a speech while commotion was going on behind them. A representative from Price Waterhouse Coopers, the accounting firm that tabulates the Oscar votes, informed all on the stage that the wrong winner was named. Moonlight's cast and crew must have thought this was all a surreal dream. Imagine having your hopes and dreams for a Best Picture win crushed only to have them resurrected moments later. Imagine being the cast and crew of La La Land and having your elation turn to despair in the matter of a few minutes. Hollywood couldn't have scripted this. Host Jimmy Kimmel cracked a joke about Steve Harvey and asked Beatty, "What did YOU do?". Beatty explained the blunder and said he wasn't trying to be funny. He looked mortified. I can't say I blame him.
Beatty and Dunaway look foolish in front of millions. La La Land's cast and crew had defeat snatched from the jaws of victory. Moonlight's cast and crew were denied a true celebration of an upset win. Their speeches seemed like an afterthought after the chaos that just ensued. Barry Jenkins, the writer and director of Moonlight, will take the win surely, but probably wouldn't have anticipated this roundabout way of receiving it. I can imagine it would not be his first choice of learning how his movie won Best Picture. But, La La Land producer Jordan Horowitz is to commended for being gracious and composed in the face of such colossal disappointment.
So instead of a perfect 8 for 8 in the major categories, I had to settle for 7 for 8. Still, a very good night for my predictions, if not for Beatty, Dunaway, and La La Land's producers. Here are some observations about this controversial night in Oscar history:
* Jimmy Kimmel was sharp. He delivered his zingers, many aimed at President Trump, with confidence. I also enjoyed his dissing of his "enemy" Matt Damon. I don't watch Jimmy Kimmel Live so I don't know the full depth of this running joke. I could have done without the candies parachuting from the ceiling in tiny bags and a tour group which supposedly was unaware they were being led into the Dolby Theatre during an Oscar telecast. Uh huh, These brought the show to a grinding halt. Kimmel, however, was pretty spot-on and would be welcome to return as host.
* Did we need to have the show come to another grinding halt by watching Charlize Theron pontificate on why she loved The Apartment and Shirley MacLaine? Or Seth Rogen with Back to the Future? Or Javier Bardem with The Bridges of Madison County? However, this led to a funny parody later on as Jimmy Kimmel expounded facetiously on Matt Damon's performance in We Bought a Zoo.
* After keeping the number of standing ovations under control last year, the standing ovation-happy audience was back in full force this year. I frankly lost count. Standing ovations don't mean anything if you are going to stand and clap for everybody except for the Documentary Short Subject winner. I did like Kimmel referring to a "sitting ovation".
* Viola Davis' speech after her expected Best Supporting Actress win was too intense for younger viewers. And this slightly older one. Talk of exhuming bodies from the graveyard? Is this an Oscar acceptance speech or a zombie apocalypse movie?
* The telecast's ratings once again declined this year, although millions upon millions still watched. Each year, I gently make my suggestion to the Academy to scale down the show to a reasonable length. There is no reason the producers of Best Picture should be making their acceptance speeches on February 27 for a show that started at 8:30pm EST on February 26. I say broadcast the 10-12 most important categories live and provide a separate telecast for the smaller technical awards. Or if you must broadcast these awards, then cut out the skits and montages which do little other than deaden the show. This will never happen because the advertising revenue is massive and ABC will squeeze out every opportunity to cash in on it. I know I am fighting an uphill battle here. If the network is truly concerned about dwindling ratings, then they should take these suggestions into account. I'm sure someone with more clout than I has also thought of these.
* Will they ever get the In Memoriam segment right? Each year, someone of note is left off the segment in favor of a script supervisor no one has ever heard of. This year, it was Jon Polito, veteran of many Coen Brothers films. Also, Alexis Arquette, a member of the famed acting family, was also overlooked. You can look up on the Internet what the weather was in your area on February 26, 1982, but the research team at the Oscars can't find a complete list of famous people who died in 2016? This year, the show upped the ante on In Memoriam screw ups. How? By listing "Janet Patterson-Costume Designer" on screen but showing the face of a living film producer. Wonderful. Jennifer Aniston, the segment presenter, paid tribute to Bill Paxton, who died the day before the ceremony. It was a nice touch.
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