Oscars auditors apologize for best picture mix-up

HOLLYWOOD -- PricewaterhouseCoopers, the accounting firm responsible for tabulating Oscar ballots, apologized for an "error" in the announcement of the best picture award Sunday, admitting Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway were handed the wrong envelope.

The embarrassing mix-up saw the Oscar incorrectly given to musical "La La Land" before the actual winner, coming-of-age drama "Moonlight," was finally handed the prize.

"We sincerely apologize to 'Moonlight,' 'La La Land,' Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, and Oscar viewers for the error that was made during the award announcement for Best Picture," the company said in a statement.

"The presenters had mistakenly been given the wrong category envelope and, when discovered, was immediately corrected," it added.

"We are currently investigating how this could have happened, and deeply regret that this occurred," it said, hailing the "grace" with which all concerned handled the situation.

The mistake made for a chaotic end to the film industry's biggest night, on which "La La Land" went home with six awards including best director, actress, score and song, to three for "Moonlight."

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'Moonlight' beats 'La La Land' amid "Steve Harvey" moment

LOS ANGELES - "Moonlight" won the Oscar for best picture on Sunday, beating favorite "La La Land" for the movie industry's most prestigious award.

But in a highly unusual mishap, presenter Warren Beatty first, mistakenly initially announced that musical "La La Land" had won, causing confusion and uproar on Hollywood's biggest night. Beatty said he had been given the wrong envelope to open.

Emma Stone won best actress for the musical, and "Manchester by the Sea" star Casey Affleck was named best actor on a night where U.S. President Donald Trump was the butt of numerous jokes, capping a Hollywood awards season marked by fiery protests at his policies.

"La La Land" director Damien Chazelle, 32, became the youngest person to ever win a best director Oscar.

Viola Davis and Mahershala Ali won their first Oscars for their supporting roles in African-American stories "Fences" and "Moonlight," in stark contrast to the 2016 Academy Awards when no actors of color were even nominated.

"Moonlight," the coming of age tale of a young black boy in Miami, also won the best adapted screenplay statuette, while grief-driven independent drama "Manchester by the Sea" took home original screenplay.

Romantic musical "La La Land," the tale of a struggling actress and a jazz pianist in Los Angeles, went into the Oscars with a leading 14 nominations and emerged with six, including for its score and theme song "City of Stars."

Trump's presence loomed large at the three and a half hour show as host Jimmy Kimmel fired off political zingers and even tweeted at the Republican president, getting no immediate response.

(Additional reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy, Nichola Groom and Lisa Richwine; Editing by Sandra Maler and Mary Milliken)

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Stars shimmer on Oscar red carpet as diamonds and gold have their day

LOS ANGELES - Hollywood's A-list stars flaunted gold and silver gowns on the Oscar red carpet on Sunday, doused with a generous helping of diamonds, feathers, sequins and symbolic blue ribbons on the world's most cinematic runway.

Emma Stone, nominated for best actress in "La La Land" sparkled in a 1920s inspired gold fringed Givenchy gown, as "Hidden Figures" supporting actress contender Octavia Spencer opted for a silvery Marchesa adorned with a flounce of feathers.

Resembling a real-life - though much more chic - Oscar award, actress Jessica Biel sported a shimmering gold-copper Kaufman Franco beaded gown accessorized with a bold African-inspired necklace from Tiffany's.

"I call it perfection!" piped in husband Justin Timberlake, wearing Tom Ford.

"Lion" supporting actor nominee Dev Patel and television host Ryan Seacrest shared fashion warnings about the dangers of wearing white tuxedos jackets on a red carpet filled with women in red lipstick as Dakota Johnson floated by in a flowing gold Gucci.

Diamonds adorned the throat of "Hidden Figures" star Taraji P. Henson, poured into a cleavage-bearing midnight blue Alberta Ferretti gown with a daring split at the leg.

Isabelle Huppert, nominated for best actress for "Elle" showed her typically refined style in a long-sleeved silver Armani Prive gown, while Ruth Negga, also nominated in the same category for "Loving," chose a lacy Valentino in the fashion house's signature vibrant red.

Negga and other attendees like model Karlie Kloss added a blue ribbon to their gowns and tuxedos to show support for the American Civil Liberties Union, an organization that worked to get President Donald Trump's travel ban blocked in courts.

Also sporting a blue ribbon was Lin Manuel Miranda, best known for Broadway's "Hamilton." He had his mother on his arm as his date and noted proudly that he bought his tuxedo in Yonkers, New York, at the same shop where he bought his high school prom tux years ago.

"Chanel Pharrell!" proclaimed singer-songwriter Pharrell Williams, decked out in a fitted Chanel tux accessorized with a dramatic black bead necklace that fell down over the lapel.

Two stuffed pandas, meanwhile were the arm candy of Jackie Chan, stand-ins for the real pandas the action star adopted at a breeding facility in Chengdu, China.

"I am the panda ambassador! They go wherever I go, they take photos with famous people, Stallone, Clinton...," Chan said.

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'La La Land' leads 2017 Oscar nominations

Romantic musical "La La Land" led the Oscar nominations on Tuesday with 14 nods, including the top prize of best picture and best actor nominations for its stars, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone.

It will contend with sci-fi movie "Arrival" with eight nods; war movie "Hacksaw Ridge"; modern western "Hell or High Water"; and dramas "Manchester by the Sea," "Moonlight", "Hidden Figures," "Lion" and "Fences."

The 14 nominations of "La La Land" for the highest honors in the movie industry equaled the record held by 1997 blockbuster "Titanic" and the 1950 film "All About Eve."

In the best actor category, Gosling will compete with Casey Affleck, who plays a grieving father in "Manchester by the Sea"; "Fences" star Denzel Washington; British actor Andrew Garfield of "Hacksaw Ridge" and Viggo Mortensen's unorthodox dad in "Captain Fantastic."

In a key difference from 2106 and 2015, seven people of color were among the acting nominees, and four of the five best picture contenders told African-American or Indian stories.

They included supporting actor nominees Dev Patel for "Lion," and Mahershala Ali and Naomie Harris for "Moonlight," the tale of a young boy struggling with his sexual identity in an impoverished Miami neighborhood.

"Hidden Figures," about three black female mathematicians working on the U.S. space program in the 1960s, brought a supporting actress nod for Octavia Spencer.

Last year, all 20 acting nominees were white, unleashing an #OscarsSoWhite backlash on social media for the second consecutive year.

Some notable absences on Tuesday's list included Annette Bening's star turn in "20th Century Women" and Amy Adams performance as a linguist in "Arrival."

Martin Scorsese's religious passion project "Silence," which was 28 years in the making, was missing from the main categories and earned just one nomination, for sound editing.

Jimmy Kimmel will host the Academy Awards ceremony in Hollywood on Feb. 26.

(Writing by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)


Best picture

    Arrival
    Fences
    Hacksaw Ridge
    Hell Or High Water
    Hidden Figures
    La La Land
    Lion
    Manchester By The Sea
    Moonlight

Best Director
    Denis Villeneuve (Arrival)
    Mel Gibson (Hacksaw Ridge)
    Damien Chazelle (La La Land)
    Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester By The Sea)
    Barry Jenkins (Moonlight)

Lead Actor
    Casey Affleck
    Andrew Garfield
    Ryan Gosling
    Viggo Mortensen
    Denzel Washington

Lead Actress

    Isabelle Huppert
    Ruth Negga
    Natalie Portman
    Emma Stone
    Meryl Streep

Best Supporting Actor

    Mahershala Ali (Moonlight)
    Jeff Bridges (Hell Or High Water)
    Lucas Hedges (Manchester By The Sea)
    Dev Patel (Lion)
    Michael Shannon (Nocturnal Animals)

Best Supporting Actress

    Viola Davis (Fences)
    Naomie Harris (Moonlight)
    Nicole Kidman (Lion)
    Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures)
    Michelle Williams (Manchester by the Sea)

Cinematography

    Arrival
    La La Land
    Lion
    Moonlight
    Silence

Documentary (feature)

    Fire at Sea
    I Am Not YOur Negro
    Life, Animated
    OJ: Made in America
    13th

Foreign Language Film

    Land of Mine
    A Man Called Ove
    The Salesman
    Tanna
    Toni Erdmann

Sound Editing

    Arrival
    Deepwater Horizon
    Hacksaw Ridge
    La La Land
    Sulley

Sound Mixing

    Arrival
    Hacksaw Ridge
    La La Land
    Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
    13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi

Best Original Score

    Jackie (Micachu)
    La La Land (Justin Hurwitz)
    Lion (Dustin O’Halloran, Hauschka)
    Moonlight (Nicholas Britell)
    Passengers (Thomas Newman)

Best Original Song

    “Audition” (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 (Patrice Vermette)
    Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Stuart Craig)
    Hail Caesar
    La La Land (Sandy Reynolds-Wasco, David Wasco)
    Passengers (Guy Hendrix Dyas)

Animated Feature
    Kubo and the Two Strings
    Moana
    My Life as a Zucchini
    The Red Turtle
    Zootopia

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