Oscars 2017: Moonlight wins Best Picture after announcement mistake

Posted on 27 February 2017
By Craig Kell
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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 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.

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

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
LA LA LAND

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM

BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING
SUICIDE SQUAD

BEST EDITING
HACKSAW RIDGE

BEST SOUND EDITING
ARRIVAL

BEST SOUND MIXING
HACKSAW RIDGE

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
THE JUNGLE BOOK

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

BEST DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECT)
THE WHITE HELMETS

BEST SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)
PIPER

BEST SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)
SING