Oscars 2017: Biggest Upset Since 2015

Oscars+2017%3A+Biggest+Upset+Since+2015

Sharia Williamson, Staff Writer

On February 26, the 89th Academy Awards were held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. Actors attended the show in hopes of winning an Oscar. The show aired at 5:30 pm PST and lasted almost four hours. The show was one to remember, especially for the 24 actors who took home an Oscar to add to their collections of awards or start them. This year’s show has been deemed the “craziest Oscars ever” by millions across the nation.

The show was kicked off when host, Jimmy Kimmel, well known for his American talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live!, opened the awards show by welcoming and congratulating all of this year’s nominees. During his eight minute opening monologue, he thanked everyone for the chance to hose such an elite show, in addition to a few jokes. Around the two minute mark of his speech, Jimmy Kimmel exploited his known feud with Matt Damon, an American actor, film producer, and screenwriter, by stating that the two have known each other for years and when they first met, Kimmel was “the fat one”. Kimmel continued to lash out with “We’ve had problems, he’s a selfish person. Those of you who have worked with him know this.” Being sure to lighten the mood, Kimmel went on to praise Damon for his nominations, cracking a few more light hearted jokes, quickly concluding Kimmel’s feud focus. For the remainder of the monologue, Jimmy Kimmel commended a few honorable mentions that have gone above and beyond to play their roles “fittingly”. He praised both the actors and producers for their hard work and officially started the awards.

Like every other award show, a winner would be announced after ever award was introduced. The winning actors, producers, and writers came up one by one, giving their acceptance speeches thanking those for their support and help in winning the award. The show went smoothly until the unthinkable took place yet again as it did during the Miss Universe Pageant in 2015.

During the pageant, Steve Harvey accidentally named Miss Colombia as Miss Universe, but quickly realized he had announced the wrong winner and consequently took full responsibility for his mistake. He then renamed Miss Philippines as the real Miss Universe, taking the crown from Miss Colombia as both finalist stood there in utter shock and disappointment.

This year, Warren Beatty took the heat when he named La La Land as the best film winner after being given the wrong envelope. The cast of La La Land were already halfway through their acceptance speeches when ‘La La Land’ producer, Jordan Horowitz hurried to the mic and exclaimed “I’m sorry. No. There’s been a mistake. Moonlight, you guys won best picture”. The audience and the cast of both Moonlight and La La Land were left in extreme confusion until the real envelope was found and showed to the crowd. The cast of La La Land humbly handed over their Oscars, but before returning to their seats after such a big let down, Jordan Horowitz humbly stated, “I’m gonna be really proud to hand these to my friends from Moonlight”. Warren Beatty explained what had happened and turned the mic over for the acceptance speeches from Moonlight.

Despite the mishap with the best picture nomination, La La Land did the nation proud with its 14 Oscar nominations tying with the record of most nominations by All About Eve and Titanic. Moonlight received eight total nominations. With such a high amount of honor, drama, and shock, the 89th Academy Awards brought the night to a shocking end. Now all we have to do is enjoy this next year’s releases and once again, await the return of the Oscars and the 90th Academy Awards with a whole new playing field.

2017 Oscar Winners:
Best Picture: Moonlight
Actor in Leading Role: Cassey Affleck in Manchester by the Sea
Actress in Leading Role: Emma Stone in La La Land
Actor in a Supporting Role: Mahershala Ali in Moonlight
Actress in a Supporting Role: Viola Davis in Fences
Animated Feature Film: Zootopia
Cinematography: La La Land
Costume Design: Fantastic Beast and Where to Find Them
Best Director: Damien Chazelle – La La Land
Documentary (Feature): O.J.: Made in America
Documentary (Short Subject): The White Helmets
Film Editing: Hacksaw Ridge
Foreign Language Film: The Salesman
Makeup and Hairstyling: Suicide Squad
Music (Original Score): La La Land
Music (Original Song): “City of Stars” from La La Land
Production Design: La La Land
Short Film (Animated): Piper
Short Film (Live Action): Sing
Sound Editing: Arrival
Sound Mixing: Hacksaw Ridge
Visual Effects: The Jungle Book
Writing (Adapted Screenplay): Moonlight
Writing (Original Screenplay): Manchester by the Sea