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In A Dramatic Finish, 'Moonlight' Takes Best Picture At The 2017 Oscars

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).

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
  • Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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