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La La Land producer Jordan Horowitz and Warren Beatty
correct the biggest mistake in Oscar history.
(Courtesy of ABC News) |
A little after midnight on Monday morning, as Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway announced that La La Land had won the Oscar for Best Picture, I was already brainstorming this week’s column. Mostly, I was wondering how I could find a new way to say the same things I usually do: overlong ceremony, a few surprise winners, a couple of obvious choices and some funny moments.
So, imagine my surprise when mass confusion broke out onstage and La La Land producer Jordan Horowitz announced there’d been a terrible mistake. The winner of Best Picture was actually Moonlight. It would be cliché to call it a jaw-dropping moment, except that my mouth popped open like a trap door. As the cameras cut to various actors in the audience, I knew I wasn’t alone. Over the course of a few minutes, shock gave way to elation.
La La Land, a joyous throwback to Hollywood musicals of yesteryear, would’ve certainly been a deserving Best Picture winner. Heck, it was my number one film of 2016. However, the fact that it went to Moonlight (my number two pick), a quiet, emotionally resonant drama about a young black kid growing up in Miami, felt like a seismic shift in the kind of stories the film industry deems worthy of inclusion in its canon of all-timers.
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| This instant-classic photo captures the crowd's stunned reactions. (Courtesy of the Los Angeles Times) |
Still, the Best Picture announcement immediately rendered the ceremony’s previous 220 minutes obsolete. In the years to come, no one will remember anything except the biggest screw up to ever occur on the Academy stage. Because of that, I wanted to chronicle a handful of the evening’s other memorable moments, for good or ill, that time will sweep away like a sandcastle some kid built too close to the ocean.
The Good
Seth Rogen designs a segment specifically for me: What I originally thought was the start of a bunch of unnecessary montages was actually a pretty ingenious series of set pieces. Notable actors talked about their favorite movies and then presented an award with one of that film’s stars. Charlize Theron chose The Apartment, one of the greatest films ever made, and then appeared onstage with Shirley MacLaine. Javier Bardem chose The Bridges of Madison County and walked out with Meryl Streep.
However, Seth Rogen became my personal hero when he chose Back to the Future and got out of a DeLorean with Marty McFly himself. The audience gave them a well-deserved standing ovation and Rogen said, “I’m at the Oscars with Michael J. Fox [and] a DeLorean while wearing future shoes. All I have to do is sing ‘The Schuyler Sisters’ song from Hamilton in front of the world and I will have completed my entire bucket list.”
Which he then proceeded to do, to the delight of Lin-Manuel Miranda – the revolutionary musical’s creator – who was laughing his head off in the audience. Considering Rogen managed to combine two of my all-time favorite pieces of pop culture into a single three-minute segment, I’m calling that a win.
Justin Timberlake’s nontraditional kickoff: We eventually got to the standard opening monologue, but I liked the former NSYNC-er beginning the ceremony with a performance of his Oscar-nominated song “Can’t Stop the Feeling” and turning an ordinarily stuffy occasion into a Hollywood dance party.
Emma Stone wins Best Actress: I’ve been a fan of the charismatic performer since she starred in the short-lived Fox series “Drive” way back in 2007. It’s been fun to watch her transform into one of the world’s biggest movie stars and accept this well-deserved honor.
Jimmy Kimmel as host (Part 1): I’m not generally a big fan of the late night host, but I have to admit he acquitted himself well as the evening’s master of ceremonies. (For the most part anyway…) His opening monologue was funny and occasionally biting, but the stars loved him because he didn’t endanger their fragile little egos. Plus, he continued his long-running “feud” with a game Matt Damon to mostly comedic effect. However…
The Not-so-Good
Jimmy Kimmel as host (Part 2): … nobody’s perfect. Several of the host’s bits fell flat, mostly notably making fun of Mahershala Ali’s name (tone deaf, which the crowd picked up on right away) and lifting adorable child actor Sunny Pawar (who barely speaks English and didn’t really know what was going on) into the air like he was Simba. Because he was in Best Picture nominee Lion. Get it?
Tourists get treated like zoo animals: This was another one of Kimmel’s bits that – while cute in theory – got real awkward real fast once it began to play out. A group of unsuspecting tourists thought they were getting a museum tour, but instead they were ushered into a room filled with the world’s greatest actors. For the next several minutes, viewers were forced to watch rich celebrities uncomfortably hobnob with “normies.” It was cringeworthy.
Suicide Squad is an Oscar-winner: This was our yearly reminder that the Academy Awards are fun, but ultimately meaningless. Suicide Squad, one of the worst movies of 2016, now has as many Oscars as Citizen Kane and more than Vertigo.
“City of Stars” wins Best Song: While nowhere near the travesty of last year’s godawful James Bond theme claiming victory, “City of Stars” isn’t even the best song in La La Land. The trophy should’ve gone to a song that wasn’t nominated: “Drive It Like You Stole It,” from the criminally underrated Sing Street. (It’s currently on Netflix. Do yourself a favor and check it out.)
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