In a dramatic finish, 'Moonlight' takes best picture
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If you called it a night as soon as La La Land was announced best picture, you didn't get the whole story. Moonlight, in fact, took home that prize. In a shocking end-of-night twist, La La Land was incorrectly announced as best picture. In the midst of the celebration, La La Land's cast and crew were all smiles as they gathered on stage. But then, mid-speech, one of La La Land's producers, Jordan Horowitz, had to break the news. "There's a mistake. 'Moonlight,' you guys won best picture," Horowitz said. He added, "This is not a joke." He then held up the card to the cameras and handed off the award to Moonlight most graciously, as confusion swept the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. Presenters Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty had mistakenly announced La La Land as the winner. Though it's still unclear what led to the mishap, Beatty says he was reading from what appeared to be the best actress envelope, with both La La Land and star Emma Stone's name printed on the card.
"What have you done?" Jimmy Kimmel chided Beatty.
Beatty explained onstage, "I opened the envelope and it said Emma Stone, La La Land. That's why I took such a long look at Faye [Dunaway] and at you — I wasn't trying to be funny."
The night wasn't a complete letdown for La La Land, which had been favored to win big. The glitzy romance musical led the field with six Oscars, including best director (Damien Chazelle) and best actress (Emma Stone), out of a record-tying 14 nominations. Coming-of-age drama Moonlight took home three wins, including best supporting actor (Mahershala Ali), and Manchester By The Sea won best original screenplay (Kenneth Lonergan) and best actor (Casey Affleck).
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Winners or not, the 89th Academy Awards nomination roster already looked significantly more diverse than in recent seasons. For the first time in Oscars history, a black actor was nominated in every acting category in the same year.
After two straight years of making nominations that lacked people of color in an acting category, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences seems to have turned the tide some this year. The Academy has upped the diversity of its membership in response to last year's protests — and it shows.
Three films honored in the best picture category in particular — Fences, Hidden Figures and Moonlight -- all feature mostly black characters and can claim at least one nominated actor or actress, from Moonlight's Oscar rookie Mahershala Ali (also featured in Hidden Figures) to two-time winner Denzel Washington (Fences). African-American filmmakers also dominate the documentary feature slot.
Here's the full list of winners in all 24 categories, marked in bold:
2017 Nominations
BEST PICTURE
Arrival
Fences
Hacksaw Ridge
Hell or High Water
Hidden Figures
La La Land
Lion
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight
ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea
Andrew Garfield, Hacksaw Ridge
Ryan Gosling, La La Land
Viggo Mortensen, Captain Fantastic
Denzel Washington, Fences
ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Isabelle Huppert, Elle
Ruth Negga, Loving
Natalie Portman, Jackie
Emma Stone, La La Land
Meryl Streep, Florence Foster Jenkins
ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Mahershala Ali, Moonlight
Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water
Lucas Hedges, Manchester by the Sea
Dev Patel, Lion
Michael Shannon, Nocturnal Animals
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Viola Davis, Fences
Naomie Harris, Moonlight
Nicole Kidman, Lion
Octavia Spencer, Hidden Figures
Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea
ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Kubo and the Two Strings
Moana
My Life as a Zucchini
The Red Turtle
Zootopia
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Arrival
La La Land
Lion
Moonlight
Silence
COSTUME DESIGN
Allied
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Florence Foster Jenkins
Jackie
La La land
DIRECTING
Damien Chazelle, La La Land
Mel Gibson, Hacksaw Ridge
Barry Jenkins, Moonlight
Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea
Denis Villenueve, Arrival
DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE)
Fire at Sea
I Am Not Your Negro
Life, Animated
OJ: Made In America
13th
DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECT)
Extremis
4.1 Miles
Joe's Violin
Watani: My Homeland
The White Helmets
FILM EDITING
Arrival
Hacksaw Ridge
Hell or High Water
La La Land
Moonlight
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Land of Mine, Denmark
A Man Called Ove, Sweden
The Salesman, Iran
Tanna, Australia
Toni Erdmann, Germany
MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
A Man Called Ove
Star Trek Beyond
Suicide Squad
MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)
Jackie
La La Land
Lion
Moonlight
Passengers
MUSIC (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
PRODUCTION DESIGN
Arrival
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Hail, Caesar!
La La Land
Passengers
SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)
Blind Vaysha
Borrowed Time
Pear Cider and Cigarettes
Pearl
Piper
SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)
Ennemis Interieurs
La Femme Et Le TGV
Silent Nights
Sing
Timecode
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
VISUAL EFFECTS
Deepwater Horizon
Doctor Strange
The Jungle Book
Kubo and the Two Strings
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)
Arrival
Fences
Hidden Figures
Lion
Moonlight
WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)
Hell or High Water
La La Land
The Lobster
Manchester by the Sea
20th Century Women
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