Mahershala Ali of "Moonlight" poses with his Oscar for best supporting actor.
‘’I wrote the ending of the Academy Awards 2017’’, said a tweet by Director M Night Shyamalan, the king of movie plot twists, joking about the bizarre ending of the year’s Oscars, held in Los Angeles last night. He was referring to La La Land being wrongly announced as the best picture for 2017, which in fact, belonged to Moonlight.
In one of the most dumbfounding moments in Oscar history, (Steve Harvey will probably be sleeping better from now on after the same thing happened to him when he announced the wrong Miss Universe in 2015) veteran actress Faye Dunaway, standing next to a hesitant Warren Beatty who refrained from announcing the name on his card (which was written “best actress, Emma Stone La La Land”), announced La La Land as the winner for best picture. What followed was a scene so awkward, the best writers couldn’t script it.
The cast of La La Land stood up to a roaring audience, went up to accept their award, the producer followed by director Damien Chazelle made speeches, thanking their wives and parents and collaborators, while there was some clear confusion unfolding behind them. Shortly after one of the producers spoke, it was announced on stage that the Oscar actually belongs to Moonlight. ‘’Moonlight, you guys won Best Picture’’, said one of the movie’s producers Jordan Horowitz, drawing Beatty, MC Jimmy Kimmel and others back to the stage mic to explain what happened to a baffled audience. It turns out Beatty had the wrong name written on his card, hence his hesitation to read it, but it didn’t stop Dunaway from announcing La La Land anyway.
The shocked cast of Moonlight, proceeded to the stage led by director Barry Jenkins and producer Adele Romanski to accept the award. ‘’Very clearly, even in my dreams this could not be true. But to hell with dreams’’, said Jenkins, who is a first-time winner but a long time filmmaker.
Moonlight also won Oscars for best adapted screenplay (it’s adapted from Tyrell Craney’s play of the same name) and best supporting actor for Marhershela Ali’s role in the A24 and Plan B production.
Political awards
The 89th Oscars began with a salvo of jokes by host Jimmy Kimmel targeting US President Donald Trump.
Justin Timberlake opened the gala night with some upbeat music, and Kimmel then wasted no time putting the A-list audience in a political state of mind.
“This broadcast is being watched live by millions of Americans and around the world in more than 225 countries that now hate us,” joked the 49-year-old Kimmel.
The late-night comedian quipped that Trump, who pulled off a political upset win with his campaign that targeted immigration, had taken the heat off Hollywood and its annual gala.
“I want to say thank you to President Trump. Remember last year when it seemed like the Oscars were racist? That’s gone, thanks to him,” Kimmel said.
This year’s nominees have reflected a push by the Academy to reward diversity after the #OscarsSoWhite controversy of the past two years that prompted calls for a boycott of the annual bash.
Davis delivers moving speech
The third time was indeed the charm for Viola Davis, who took home the best supporting actress Oscar on Sunday for her gut-wrenching performance in the big screen adaptation of August Wilson’s searing play Fences.
The 51-year-old, a nominee in 2009 and 2012, bested a field that included two past Oscar winners – Nicole Kidman (Lion) and Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures) – as well as Michelle Williams (Manchester by the Sea) and Naomie Harris (Moonlight).
“O captain! My captain! Denzel Washington, thank you for putting two entities in the driving seat – August and God. And they served you well,” she said, appropriating a verse from US writer Walt Whitman.
In Fences, directed by and co-starring Washington, Davis plays the wife of a bitter, frustrated garbage collector in Pittsburgh in the 1950s, who has to come to terms with the missed opportunities of his past.
Her character, Rose, has to endure her husband’s infidelity and his difficult relationship with their son.
The Oscar is the crowning achievement for a dominant awards season for Davis, who also took home the Golden Globe, a Bafta, the Screen Actors Guild prize and a number of other honours for her work.
Davis, who was born in August 1965 on her grandmother’s farm in South Carolina, has spoken of her frustration at casting directors who are unable to see past the color of her skin.
Primarily known in her early career for her theatre work, she grew up in Central Falls, Rhode Island, where her father was a horse trainer and groomer.
Her acting talent earned her a scholarship to the state’s Young People’s School for the Performing Arts, and after majoring in theatre at Rhode Island College, she studied at the prestigious Juilliard School in New York. – Agence France-Presse