February 26, 2017–In the beginning, all that could be talked about was how many awards would La La Land end up with at the end of the evening. With an amazing 14 nominations, the love letter to Hollywood and musicals was tied only with All About Eve and Titanic for the most ever. Would it manage to break the all-time record of most wins by the end of the night? (Ben-Hur, Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, and Titanic all had 11 wins each.)
But at the end of the night, people weren’t discussing Viola Davis’ moving speech, or the great opening number by Justin Timberlake, or the touching In Memoriam montage (after a particularly tough year in Hollywood), or even the political statements ready by winners onstage, and winners who were absent, as they happened to be from countries on the Trump administration’s short list of banned countries.
No, everyone was talking about the major, MAJOR, Miss Universe-sized screw up.
Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, in a confusing envelope mix-up, had announced the Best Picture winner as La La Land. The cast and crew piled onstage, began acceptance speeches, and my Oscar party has already tallied our ballots and were picking up empty bottles and plates, ready to wrap up. But no, suddenly we, along with the rest of the world, were like, “Uh… what???” as folks with headsets were scrambling, and Beatty and the producer of La La Land were making statements that it was all a big mistake: Moonlight was the winner. Moonlight was Best Picture.
When it came down to it, everyone won. Congratulations to Moonlight, the film that Moviepie was hoping would win, as it was at the top of our Best of 2016 list. Congratulations to La La Land, with their amazing achievements during awards season, and their amazing grace during this bizarre, awkward snafu. And congratulations to the Oscars. More people talked about the awards after the fact than they would have otherwise. Let’s see what happens next year!
BEST PICTURE
Arrival
Fences
Hacksaw Ridge
Hell or High Water
Hidden Figures
La La Land
Lion
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight ✔
LEAD ACTOR
Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea ✔
Andrew Garfield, Hacksaw Ridge
Ryan Gosling, La La Land
Viggo Mortensen, Captain Fantastic
Denzel Washington, Fences
LEAD ACTRESS
Isabelle Huppert, Elle
Ruth Negga, Loving
Natalie Portman, Jackie
Emma Stone, La La Land ✔
Meryl Streep, Florence Foster Jenkins
SUPPORTING ACTOR
Mahershala Ali, Moonlight ✔
Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water
Lucas Hedges, Manchester by the Sea
Dev Patel, Lion
Michael Shannon, Nocturnal Animals
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Viola Davis, Fences ✔
Naomie Harris, Moonlight
Nicole Kidman, Lion
Octavia Spencer, Hidden Figures
Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea
DIRECTOR
La La Land, Damien Chazelle ✔
Hacksaw Ridge, Mel Gibson
Moonlight, Barry Jenkins
Manchester by the Sea, Kenneth Lonergan
Arrival, Denis Villeneuve
ANIMATED FEATURE
Kubo and the Two Strings
Moana
My Life as a Zucchini
The Red Turtle
Zootopia ✔
ANIMATED SHORT
Blind Vaysha
Borrowed Time
Pear Cider and Cigarettes
Pearl
Piper ✔
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Arrival
Fences
Hidden Figures
Lion
Moonlight ✔
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
20th Century Women
Hell or High Water
La La Land
The Lobster
Manchester by the Sea ✔
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Arrival
La La Land ✔
Lion
Moonlight
Silence
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
13th
Fire at Sea
I Am Not Your Negro
Life, Animated
O.J.: Made in America ✔
DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
4.1 Miles
Extremis
Joe’s Violin
Watani: My Homeland
The White Helmets ✔
LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
Ennemis Intérieurs
La Femme et le TGV
Silent Nights
Sing ✔
Timecode
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
A Man Called Ove, Sweden
Land of Mine, Denmark
Tanna, Australia
The Salesman, Iran ✔
Toni Erdmann, Germany
FILM EDITING
Arrival
Hacksaw Ridge ✔
Hell or High Water
La La Land
Moonlight
SOUND EDITING
Arrival ✔
Deepwater Horizon
Hacksaw Ridge
La La Land
Sully
SOUND MIXING
Arrival
Hacksaw Ridge ✔
La La Land
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi
PRODUCTION DESIGN
Arrival
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Hail, Caesar!
La La Land ✔
Passengers
ORIGINAL SCORE
Jackie
La La Land ✔
Lion
Moonlight
Passengers
ORIGINAL SONG
“Audition (The Fools Who Dream)” (La La Land)
“Can’t Stop the Feeling” (Trolls)
“City of Stars” (La La Land) ✔
“The Empty Chair” (Jim: The James Foley Story)
“How Far I’ll Go” (Moana)
MAKEUP AND HAIR
A Man Called Ove
Star Trek Beyond
Suicide Squad ✔
COSTUME DESIGN
Allied
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them ✔
Florence Foster Jenkins
Jackie
La La Land
VISUAL EFFECTS
Deepwater Horizon
Doctor Strange
The Jungle Book ✔
Kubo and the Two Strings
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
