Emma Stone: ‘I was holding my best actress card the whole time’ 
 
 "La La Land" producer Jordan Horowitz interrupts the Oscars telecast Sunday night to announce that "Moonlight," not "La La Land" was the real winner for best picture. | ABC 
 
 As the gold dust was still settling over the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood following the mistake by presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway during the best picture Oscar announcement, some late developments: 
 
 UPDATE: Just after midnight PST, the accounting firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers (the company that for decades has tallied the Oscar votes), released a statement apologizing for the gaffe: “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 presenters had mistakenly been given the wrong category envelope and when discovered, was immediately corrected. We are currently investigating how this could have happened, and deeply regret that this occurred.” 
 
 — Best actress Oscar-winner Emma Stone told reporters backstage at the Oscars telecast that “Of course it was an amazing thing to hear ‘La La Land.’ We would have loved to have won best picture. But we are so excited for ‘Moonlight.’ I think it’s one of the best films of all time. I was also holding my ‘best actress in a leading role’ card that entire time. So whatever story, I don’t mean to start stuff, but whatever story that was, I had that card.” 
 
 — There are two sets of cards for every award, so there is the likelihood that Beatty and Dunaway were handed the wrong envelope. Host Jimmy Kimmel had come forward to inform the cast that “Moonlight” had indeed won, showing the inside of the envelope as proof. “I knew I would screw this up,” said Kimmel, a first-time host. (A closeup of the envelope Beatty was holding shows it is indeed labled “Actress in a Leading Role”) 
 
 — According to the L.A. Times, Beatty “explained that the reason it had taken him so long to read the card was because he was looking at something that said Emma Stone had won. At that point, he showed it to Dunaway, who announced “La La Land.” Beatty assured viewers that the error was unintentional and he wasn’t trying to turn the biggest award into a joke.” 
 
 — It’s not the first time the wrong category winner was an issue at the Oscars. In 1964, Sammy Davis Jr. was handed an envelope for the wrong award, according to ABC News. “Representatives from Oscar’s counting unit at Price Waterhouse had to rush onstage to stop him from blurting out a mistake. He quipped, “Wait’ll the NAACP hears about this.” 
 
 Watch moment Warren Beatty appears to take a second look inside envelope for Best Picture. #Oscars https://t.co/xiLXLizzNd pic.twitter.com/45ELp1GTcE — Good Morning America (@GMA) February 27, 2017 
 
 When it came time to announce the best picture winner, Beatty seemed to be searching the envelope for a second card, and then stalling the announcement while glancing offstage perhaps to signal there was a problem. 
 
 Comedian/talk show host Steve Harvey, who famously announced the incorrect winner’s name of the “Miss Universe” pageant in 2015, tweeted early Monday: 
 
 Good morning everybody! Went to sleep early last night. So… what I miss? #Oscars — Steve Harvey (@IAmSteveHarvey) February 27, 2017 
 
 Contributing: Associated Press 
 
 Reactions from Hollywood on social media started pouring in almost immediately: 
 
 I wrote the ending of the academy awards 2017. @jimmykimmel we really got them! — M. Night Shyamalan (@MNightShyamalan) February 27, 2017 
 
 Maybe I won an Emmy one of the 5 times I lost! Anything is possible. Congrats to #Moonlight. An amazing and deserving best picture winner! — Jesse Tyler Ferguson (@jessetyler) February 27, 2017 
 
 Don’t y’all go blaming the old people for that one. They gave Warren Beatty the wrong envelope. It was probably Putin. #Moonlight #Oscars — Official Wanda Sykes (@iamwandasykes) February 27, 2017 
 
 Congratulations to the Moonlight team. It truly is a beautiful film. Well done — John Legend (@johnlegend) February 27, 2017 
 
 Congrats to everyone involved with Moonlight. Beautiful film, expanding the collective boundaries and pushing forward with hope. — Jeffrey Wright (@jfreewright) February 27, 2017 
 
 And the Oscar goes to…Miss Venezuela! #Oscars — Margaret Cho (@margaretcho) February 27, 2017 
 
 Who did the crime: Bonnie or Clyde? Someone on the staff is in trouble… #Oscars pic.twitter.com/rPIn0do5A3 — Mario Lopez (@MarioLopezExtra) February 27, 2017 
 
 Summary: Deserved win by the Moonlight team Gracious concession by the La La Land team wtf just happened for everyone else#Oscars — Ryan Seacrest (@RyanSeacrest) February 27, 2017 ||||| Warren Beatty exits the stage after announcing the award for best picture at the Oscars on Sunday, Feb. 26, 2017, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP) (Associated Press) 
 
 LOS ANGELES (AP) — It was one of the most awkward moments in the history of the Oscars, of television, in entertainment, heck maybe in American history. 
 
 And somehow Warren Beatty, Hollywood's ultimate smooth leading man, was at the center of it, and the accounting firm that is responsible for the integrity of Oscar voting apologized and was vowing a full investigation. 
 
 The producers of "La La Land" were nearly done with their acceptance speeches for Best Picture, the Oscar broadcast's credits sequence about to roll, when a stir of whispers began on stage. Moments later "La La Land" producer Jordan Horowitz returned to the microphone and said "Moonlight won Best Picture" and insisting that "this is not a joke." 
 
 The collective jaw of the crowd at the Dolby Theatre — and of America — remained dropped long after they became convinced it was no joke, but what academy historians later called an apparently unprecedented Oscar error. The accounting firm PwC, formerly Price Waterhouse Coopers, said early Monday that Beatty and Dunaway had been given the wrong envelope. 
 
 "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," a statement from the firm said. "The presenters had mistakenly been given the wrong category envelope and when discovered, was immediately corrected. We are currently investigating how this could have happened, and deeply regret that this occurred." 
 
 The statement came several hours after the chaotic ending, which featured Beatty returning to the mic to explain that he had opened the envelope and he was confused when it read "Emma Stone, La La Land." He had shown it to co-presenter Faye Dunaway briefly, as though he wanted her to read it, which she did, apparently assuming the Emma Stone part was off but the "La La" part correct. 
 
 "It's one of the strangest things that's ever happened to me," Beatty said backstage. "Thank God there were two of us up there," Dunaway responded. 
 
 The actress then asked Beatty, "Who else should I tell?" 
 
 "Everybody," he said. 
 
 At that point, a security guard tried to take the real envelope and Beatty said, "Security is not getting this. I'm giving it to (Moonlight director) Barry Jenkins at a later time." Beatty also refused to show it to anyone else. 
 
 ABC News, tweeting about the ceremony broadcast on its network, said the envelope held by Beatty read, "Actress in a leading role." A close-up photo of Beatty onstage verified that. 
 
 PwC has counted votes and provides winner envelopes for the Oscars and has done so for more than 80 years. 
 
 When the firm's representatives realized the mistake, they raced onstage to right it, but too late, officials told The Associated Press. 
 
 The result was a bizarre scene with the entire cast of both movies standing together on stage exchanging sympathetic awkward stares and hugs. 
 
 The crowd had to rouse itself from its stunned stupor to try to give "Moonlight" its just due for winning the big award. And as the credits rolled, usually bringing sweet relief after a long night, people appeared hesitant to leave in their disbelief. 
 
 "It made a very special feeling even more special, but not in the way I expected," a bemused Jenkins, co-writer and director of "Moonlight," said backstage. 
 
 "The folks at 'La La Land' were so gracious," he added. "I can't imagine being in their position and having to do that." 
 
 Filmmaker Kenneth Lonergan, who won a best screenplay award for "Manchester by the Sea," cracked wise backstage: "It turns out that we actually won best picture, which we're really happy about," he said. 
 
 The ceremony's chaotic scene immediately raced to the top of all-time Oscar moments, far more stunning than the nude man who raced across the stage in 1974 as part of the "streaking" fad. 
 
 And it immediately evoked Steve Harvey's recent gaffe of naming the wrong Miss Universe winner. 
 
 The Miss Universe Twitter account quickly let the Oscars know they felt their pain. 
 
 "Have your people call our people, we know what to do," the tweet read. 
 
 That was the beginning of a Tweet pile-on that may be the biggest of all time, with many declaring that "La La Land" won the popular vote while "Moonlight" won the electoral college. 
 
 But this stage, and this audience, were far, far bigger and are likely to last far, far longer in collective memory. 
 
 ___ 
 
 AP writers Lynn Elber, Beth Harris and Lindsey Bahr contributed to this report. ||||| How could the wrong film have been named as the winner of the Oscars’ most important award? Here are the pictures that tell the story 
 
 Anatomy of an Oscars fiasco: how La La Land was mistakenly announced as best picture 
 
 It will go down in Oscars history as the most awkward, embarrassing moment of all time: an extraordinary failure in the Oscars voting procedure. The traditional high point of the marathon Oscars telecast collapsed in ignominy as organisers were forced to acknowledge that the wrong film – La La Land – had been named best picture winner, instead of the actual victor, Moonlight. We piece together the sequence of events that led to the chaotic scenes. 
 
 1. Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty emerge from the back of the stage to announce the best picture win. 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Photograph: Kevin Winter/Getty Images 
 
 2. A close-up photograph shows Beatty is clearly carrying a winner’s envelope for best actress – the award for which (to La La Land’s Emma Stone) has just taken place. 
 
 3. Beatty begins to read out the winners card, and is obviously puzzled by what he is reading, looking in the envelope to see if there is anything else in there. 
 
 4. Beatty, uncertain, hands the card to Dunaway, who doesn’t appear to know anything is wrong, and presumably reads out the only film title she can see: La La Land. 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Photograph: Kevin Winter/Getty Images 
 
 5. As the second La La Land producer to take the mic, Mark Platt (front), gives his thank you speech, a member of the show’s staff (in headset) takes back the envelopes that have been given to the La La Land producers Jordan Horowitz (holding Oscar) and Fred Berger. 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Photograph: Kevin Winter/Getty Images 
 
 6. By now, the La La Land team know they havn’t actually won. Producer Fred Berger takes over the mic and gives a speech anyway, finishing with: “We lost.” Behind him, the representatives of PricewaterhouseCoopers, who oversee the Oscar vote – Brian Cullinan (holding envelope) and Martha Ruiz (in red dress) – are on stage, examining the envelopes. The accountancy firm have apologised and promised an investigation. 
 
 7. Horowitz holds up his hand to stop the celebrations as the La La Land crew acknowledge that they haven’t won. “This is not a joke,” he tells the audience. 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Photograph: Kevin Winter/Getty Images 
 
 8. By now Beatty has been given the right card, and Horowitz takes it out of his hand and holds it up. Moonlight is clearly the winner. 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Photograph: Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images 
 
 9. As the Moonlight team come forward, Beatty steps out front to explain to Kimmel and the La La Land team what happened. The card he had been given, he says, read “Emma Stone, La La Land”. “I wasn’t trying to be funny.” 
 
 10. Horowitz hands his Oscar to Barry Jenkins, Moonlight’s director. 
 
 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Photograph: Kevin Winter/Getty Images 
 
 11. Jenkins closes the show by summing up the extraordinary turn of events. “Even in my dreams this could not be true. But to hell with it, I’m done with dreams – because this is true.” ||||| Best supporting actress winner Viola Davis (for 'Fences') quickly shed her heels for comfort shoes. (Photo: Matt Sayles, Invision/AP) 
 
 Not all of the suspense plays out onstage at the Academy Awards. USA TODAY watched the evening unfold from the wings of the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, where Hollywood insiders soothed nerves and swapped congratulatory hugs. 
 
 Let's get this party started 
 
 Oscars co-producer Jennifer Todd walks past host Jimmy Kimmel's dressing room backstage, pointing it out to a group that includes her husband, actor Chris Messina, and Captain Fantastic director/writer Matt Ross. 
 
 "Is he nervous?" Ross asks. "He didn't seem it," Todd says. After a brief tour of the stage, they head out to the red carpet. 
 
 Minutes later, Kimmel strolls past in a blue fleece sweatshirt emblazoned with a tiny Oscar statue logo, a backpack strapped on both shoulders. Talking intently, he heads to his dressing room, accompanied by an entourage of writers. 
 
 Last-minute rehearsal 
 
 A calm Kimmel is in the orchestra pit, working on a skit with two stand-ins for Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. He's mock-conducting the orchestra to play them off the stage as Todd watches on a monitor. 
 
 "If you guys like that, I like that," Kimmel says happily. "Break a leg tonight — break multiple legs." He laughs. "OK, don't literally break anything." 
 
 He returns to his dressing room, beaming and giving good-luck high fives. 
 
 The champagne is flowing 
 
 Hailee Steinfeld walks past, holding her dress with one hand and swiping photos from the red carpet on her smartphone with the other. "She looks gorgeous," she tells a companion of one shot. 
 
 As she waits for an elevator, John Legend walks by with Chrissy Teigen. "Can we go straight to the green room?" he asks an attendant. Hand in hand, they pass Michael J. Fox and his wife Tracy Pollan. The sound of champagne corks popping can be heard as they enter. 
 
 A cart loaded with gleaming gold Oscars rolls by, accompanied by the sound of drilling as adjustments are made to the set. 
 
 Even the Oscar bathroom is icky 
 
 Adam Carolla heads into Kimmel's dressing room wearing a casual button-down shirt and re-emerges dressed for the show in a tux. 
 
 A resplendent Alicia Vikander swans past best supporting actor nominee Lucas Hedges (for Manchester by the Sea) on her way to the green room. Her train is so long that one of two women accompanying her nearly walks on it but pulls back in time, sighing in relief. 
 
 But it's not all glamour backstage. Dakota Johnson heads into the unisex bathroom with a female friend. 
 
 "Phew!" says Johnson as she walks out in her beautiful yellow dress, passing by Javier Bardem. "That is so gnarly. Can we get a candle in here?" 
 
 Meanwhile, Viggo Mortensen (Captain Fantastic) leans against the wall, surveying the scene with a glass of wine and a program for the show in hand. He looks calm. "Why not?" the best actor nominee says. "I have nothing to worry about." 
 
 Lots of love for Meryl 
 
 Best actress nominee Meryl Streep (Florence Foster Jenkins) is parked by a wall with her husband, Don Gummer. They're having a private conversation as a security guard has the sole job of guiding people away from stepping on her dress. 
 
 As they're going through the program, Shirley MacLaine comes over to kiss them both. An assistant passes by and asks people to take their seats. The show is about to start. 
 
 Streep is people-watching as Matt Damon heads to the green room. Kate McKinnon walks by and calls out, "You are gorgeous" to Streep. Faye Dunaway stops by and introduces herself. "I so admire you," Streep tells her. Dunaway summons a photographer to take a picture. "Send me a copy!" she says. 
 
 As Streeps passes Kimmel's dressing room on her way to her seat in the auditorium, the assembled writers burst into applause. She blushes and keeps walking. 
 
 'Best show ever!' 
 
 Justin Timberlake's backup band walks by chanting, "We're going to the Oscars! We're going to the Oscars!" 
 
 "Yes, we are going to the Oscars!" says Janelle Monáe. 
 
 Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson joins the entire cast of writers as Kimmel emerges from his dressing room. They carry out their nightly Jimmy Kimmel Live pre-show ritual, screaming "Best show ever! Best show ever!" — with Johnson enthusiastically yelling along. 
 
 "It's not really going to be the best show ever," Kimmel jokes in a monotone voice, a smile on his face as he heads to the stage. 
 
 'La La Land' stars Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling backstage at the 89th Academy Awards. (Photo: Matt Petit, AMPAS) 
 
 And just like that, Mahershala Ali has an Oscar 
 
 Vikander, the first presenter of the night, rests on a chair backstage, bopping her head (and massive diamond necklace) to Timberlake's Can't Stop the Feeling! The staff confirms that she has the right envelope and she hits the stage. 
 
 Jason Bateman walks past and gives a loud "Shhhh ..." even though no one is talking. McKinnon joins him and they prepare to present. 
 
 Newly annointed best supporting actor Mahershala Ali (Moonlight) makes his way backstage, seemingly stunned. A hyper Timberlake gives him a big hug and a "Congratulations, man!" 
 
 Timberlake bounds over to the green room, saying out loud to no one in particular, "Just trying to have some fun here, people." 
 
 "Man, you really killed it," someone yells out as the singer heads back to his seat. 
 
 'Moana' star Auli'i Cravalho, who sang 'How Far I'll Go' at the Oscars, walks through backstage, with helpers to handle her train. (Photo: Matt Sayles, Invision/AP) 
 
 She'll go far 
 
 An exhuberant Auli'i Cravalho receives her first review for her performance of Moana's How Far I'll Go from none other than Monáe, who beams and tells her, "That was amazing." 
 
 "Wait, did I miss my moment?" Taraji P. Henson jokes, watching the dancers. "Did my stand-in make it?" 
 
 Kevin O'Connell, part of the team that nabs best achievement in sound mixing for Hacksaw Ridge, gives a touching tribute to his late mother when he finally wins with his 21st nomination. One of the movie's stars, Vince Vaughn, claps heartily backstage when the award is announced and shakes O'Connell's hand. He can't get over it, even after O'Connell leaves. Hands shoved in his pockets, Vaughn says, "Twenty-one times. Twenty-one times, that's just crazy." 
 
 "And I love that he was wearing sneakers like a gentleman. It's like, 'After 21 nominations, I'm going to be wearing sneakers, dammit.' " 
 
 Viola Davis is ready to get comfy 
 
 MacLaine and Charlize Theron are quite the instant friends as they ready to present best foreign language film. Theron is protective of the 82-year-old actress, asking her if she wants to go over the script one more time, and MacLaine repeats the pronunciation of director/writer Asghar Farhadi's name (The Salesman). As the two watch the best supporting actress nominees, Theron puts her arm around MacLaine, who remarks, "She was so good" when Nicole Kidman is shown for Lion. 
 
 When supporting actress winner Viola Davis (Fences) comes backstage, Theron keeps MacLaine out of the way of the crush and is the first to hug Davis, saying, "Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Seriously, oh, my God." 
 
 After winning her first Oscar, Davis sits deep in the wings as a stylist pulls off her high heels and replaces them with an appropriately red pair of closed-toe shoes with Velcro straps. After Davis stands up, sweeps her dress down to cover the shoes and walks on, one of the show minders remarks, "That has to be an Oscar first." 
 
 "She just wants to be comfortable," the stylist says. 
 
 A 'La La Land' reunion 
 
 Seth Rogen is cooling his heels backstage, wearing a pair of glowing white sneakers for an upcoming Back to the Future skit. He's aware that everyone is staring at his feet, especially when a stylist tucks his tuxedo pants into the high tops, causing him to laugh. 
 
 During a commercial break, Kimmel hustles back to his dressing room to change. As he walks in, staffers ask, "Is it OK to clap?" 
 
 "Too early for that," says Kimmel, but he does allow fist bumps. 
 
 Heading into the green room, Teigen points out to her husband, "Your best friend is behind you, John." Legend looks back and sees his La La Land co-stars Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. The two men exchange a power handshake. 
 
 "John drops your name any chance he gets," Teigen tells Gosling. 
 
 When Rogen heads back to his seat, now wearing black shoes, someone asks, "What happened to the shoes?" 
 
 "They took them back," he says. 
 
 #Merylsayshi 
 
 Chilling in the wings, Streep laughs as she watches Kimmel make President Trump Twitter jokes. She startles when she hears "Coming up, Meryl Streep!" during the commercial break, thinking she's missed her cue. 
 
 "What, what?" she says. "It has happened before." Her co-presenter Bardem laughs. "That was a moment," he says. 
 
 Afterward, Streep and husband Don stand next to Gosling and Stone to watch Legend's City of Stars and Audition (The Fools Who Dream) medley, Don's arm around her as she sways back and forth. 
 
 When La La Land cinematographer Linus Sandgren wins, Stone stomps her feet and squeals out loud. "I am so happy. So happy." She and Gosling run to the wings and are the first to congratulate Sandgren as he comes offstage. 
 
 'Moonlight' has a moment 
 
 After their skit, Damon and Affleck exit the stage and walk over to their producing partner Todd, who is also producing the awards show. "That killed," she tells them. 
 
 "The show's going great," Affleck says. "It's a little long," she says. "That's OK if it's long, if everyone's loving it," Damon says. 
 
 Affleck and Damon are the first to greet Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney, best adapted screenplay winners for Moonlight. 
 
 "I'm feeling really good now," Jenkins says, Oscar in hand. "I just got hugged by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck." 
 
 Mahershala Ali (left) and Ryan Gosling share good wishes backstage after the best picture mixup at the Oscars. (Photo: Christopher Polk, Getty Images) 
 
 Welcome to the best actress club 
 
 Damien Chazelle is unfailingly polite, even after winning his best director Oscar, the youngest to do so at age 32. He turns to presenter Halle Berry and says, "Well, it was nice to meet you." 
 
 He makes his way to the thank-you cam, then says hello to Todd. "Despite my nerves, this has been a really great night." 
 
 As Stone wins best actress for La La Land, last year's winner Brie Larson watches Stone's speech, hands folded beneath her chin, tears welling up in her eyes. "I've just got to hug her," she says. 
 
 When Stone walks backstage, she grabs Larson, they embrace and real tears roll down both their faces. 
 
 Finally, Larson asks, "Do you want to go?" Stone, in shock, stares at her Oscar. Asked if she wants to say anything on the thank-you cam, she says, "I really can't think right now." 
 
 CLOSE USA TODAY's Bryan Alexander and Carly Mallenbaum give their observations on the Oscar best picture mixup. Robert Hanashiro, USA TODAY 
 
 'La La Land' wins it all — or so it seems 
 
 The night's true drama kicks in when La La Land filmmakers take the stage to accept best picture. The accountant from PriceWaterhouseCoopers jumps up and says, "He (presenter Warren Beatty) took the wrong envelope!" and goes running onstage. Craziness breaks out. No one knows how Beatty got a best actress envelope; Stone later tells reporters in the media room that she has been holding her envelope the entire time. 
 
 "Oh, my God. Moonlight won, Moonlight won," a stagehand says, her hands on her head. 
 
 The Moonlight filmmakers pour backstage, with Jenkins holding the Oscar and muttering, "Oh, my God, oh, my God." Everyone looks befuddled. 
 
 "I feel so weird," Ali says. "Now, that was awkward." He runs into Gosling, who is smiling in spite of it all, and they hug. 
 
 Chazelle keeps his game face. "That was weird," he says. 
 
 Security is looking for Beatty, who had both envelopes. There's much confusion, because Oscar staffers carefully check presenters before they walk out, to make sure they have the right envelope in hand. 
 
 "What just happened?" says Kimmel, walking back to his dressing room in shock. 
 
 "I think for the rest of my life, I'm going to be asked about this," he says. "And I'm trying to remember the details correctly. My guess is it's going to be operator error. I don't know anything." 
 
 Later, he adds, "I really should go speak to Warren ... They should figure out a way to give mini-Oscars to La La Land." 
 
 Carolla, representing the writers, gives a speech backstage praising Kimmel's show. "In a town where no one roots for anyone, we all root for Jimmy," he says. 
 
 There are shouts of "Best show ever! Best show ever!" 
 
 Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2mue0m6 ||||| Oscars? Meh. Booooring. La La Land, the hot favourite, won 7, just as everyone guessed. Any hope of a sneak upset was dashed when Faye Dunaway read out the… 
 
 Wait. There’s confusion. Hold up a second. The wrong envelope? What? What just happened? What is Warren Beatty trying to explain just happened? Can this possibly be true? 
 
 In a last-ditch twist so universally jaw-dropping that M. Night Shyamalan has already – quite genuinely – taken credit for it on Twitter, the actual winner of Best Picture was not La La Land at all. It was Moonlight. 
 
 It took an incredible several minutes for this monumental screw-up to be witnessed, addressed and rectified. In this time, the poor La La Land producers had time to thank their agents, their wives, and everyone else in the room while we sat and yawned. Then one of them stepped in with big, urgent news. “This is not a joke,” he was forced to explain. “Moonlight won.” 
 
 In came Beatty again. Suddenly it all made sense. He had stared inside the envelope in such bafflement, groping within in case it contained something he couldn’t initially find. It looked like he was horsing around, but he was clearly just confused. He was holding the one that said “Emma Stone, La La Land” inside it. And Faye Dunaway saw the last three words, and fatefully delivered them to the world. 
 
 But Moonlight – truly the year’s *best* picture – was the title inside the envelope they should have been given. Moonlight! For it to win in this fashion was an insane coup, a heaven-sent miracle for the movie’s fans. We will pore over this footage for years, scrutinising every detail. The Oscars have never dealt a surprise like this, in 90 years, not once. Narrative drama in any format may have just peaked. And every jaw in Hollywood is still being scraped off the floor. ||||| What happened at the Oscars is unprecedented. 
 
 The night’s biggest award — Best Picture — was handed to the wrong film, presumed frontrunner La La Land, because presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway were given the wrong envelope. It bore the name of La La Land’s Emma Stone, who had won Best Actress moments before. 
 
 The three credited producers for La La Land were almost through their triumphant speeches — indeed, the third, Fred Berger, was in the middle of speaking — when producer Jordan Horowitz was forced to take the microphone and say the film had lost to Moonlight. 
 
 Report from @JeffreyLAT backstage: Mid @LaLaLand acceptance, stage hand in wings said "Oh, f-ck. Oh my God. He got the wrong envelope." — Amy Kaufman (@AmyKinLA) February 27, 2017 
 
 Essentially everybody involved appeared to believe, initially, that it was a joke, from the moment that Beatty — clearly flummoxed by having an envelope that read “Emma Stone” — tried to make sense of what had happened, only to have the crowd (and his co-presenter Dunaway) think he was unnecessarily prolonging the announcement, to the moment when Berger said, “By the way, we lost.” 
 
 PricewaterhouseCoopers, the accounting firm that counts the Oscar ballots, issued a statement taking the blame for the mix-up: 
 
 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 presenters had mistakenly been given the wrong category envelope and when discovered, was immediately corrected. We are currently investigating how this could have happened, and deeply regret that this occurred. We appreciate the grace with which the nominees, the Academy, ABC, and Jimmy Kimmel handled the situation. 
 
 On Monday, it further clarified the situation in another statement: 
 
 PwC takes full responsibility for the series of mistakes and breaches of established protocols during last night’s Oscars. PwC Partner Brian Cullinan mistakenly handed the back-up envelope for Actress in a Leading Role instead of the envelope for Best Picture to presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway. Once the error occurred, protocols for correcting it were not followed through quickly enough by Mr. Cullinan or his partner. 
 
 Variety has much more on the mix-up. 
 
 In the moment, though, it was chaos. It’s never happened in the 89-year history of the Oscars (much less in the biggest category), and it seemingly disproved one of the longest-running Oscar urban legends. 
 
 The Oscars have a procedure for what happens if the wrong name is read — but it apparently doesn’t work that well 
 
 Only two people know the names of the Oscar winners before the envelopes are opened and read. They’re always two accountants from PricewaterhouseCoopers, the firm that tabulates Oscar votes, and they carry the results in the famed briefcases that make their way down the red carpet every year. 
 
 PWC’s methods for tabulation are said to be quite rigorous, with lots of double checks and redundancies built into their system, which is designed to make sure the right winner is placed into every envelope. But the firm’s method for correcting the situation if the wrong envelope is handed to the presenters — as apparently happened with Beatty and Dunaway — is clearly not as foolproof. 
 
 As one of those two PWC accountants explains: 
 
 I guess Warren and Leo came from opposite sides https://t.co/wOcicSEg5C pic.twitter.com/EUEf1nO2gi — Ev Williams (@ev) February 27, 2017 
 
 Essentially, the PWC accountants say that in the event of a mix-up, they would signal to a stage manager that the wrong name had been read, and the stage manager would then find a way to halt the proceedings on stage. Indeed, this bit of Oscar trivia is so popular as a “what if” that stories are written about it in the press every year — what would happen if the wrong envelope were opened, or a presenter just decided to take matters into their own hands? 
 
 “We would make sure that the correct person was known very quickly. Whether that entails stopping the show, us walking onstage, us signaling to the stage manager — that’s really a game-time decision, if something like that were to happen. Again, it’s so unlikely,” Brian Cullinan, one of the two accountants (the other is Martha Ruiz) who knew the winners for this year’s awards, told the Huffington Post mere days ago. 
 
 And, granted, the process for announcing the correct winner makes much more sense for, say, Best Actor, where only one person is taking the stage, than it does for Best Picture, where everybody involved in a film swarms to the microphone. But it’s still remarkable that La La Land had all but completed its speeches, and host Jimmy Kimmel was onstage to wrap up the evening before the announcement was made. 
 
 Think of everything that had to go wrong here: Not only did the wrong envelope have to be handed to Beatty and Dunaway, but it had to include the name of the one nominee in the Best Actress category who appeared in a film nominated for Best Picture. (Had, say, Natalie Portman won for Jackie, Beatty and Dunaway would have known immediately what had happened.) 
 
 And that Best Picture nominee was the season-long frontrunner — with 14 nominations and six other Oscars to its name from earlier in the evening. So when Beatty and Dunaway announced that it had won, no one batted an eye. 
 
 But this has never happened in the history of the Oscars. The only time that comes close was in 1964, when Sammy Davis Jr. presented the award for Adaptation or Treatment Score but was handed the envelope for Original Score. And that’s a completely different situation, because the two categories had completely different sets of nominees. 
 
 Moonlight won because it smartly ran all season long as the alternative to La La Land 
 
 With La La Land’s loss, one thing becomes clear: You don’t want to be the early Oscar frontrunner. For three years in a row, the frontrunner — Boyhood in 2015, The Revenant in 2016, and La La Land in 2017 — has lost on Oscar night. And they’ve lost in three different ways, too: Boyhood faded in the stretch. The Revenant lost in a tight three-way race (to another early frontrunner, Spotlight). And La La Land lost despite being such a big Oscar frontrunner that I said if it lost, it would be the biggest Oscar upset ever. (And it is, only made more so by the ultra-bizarre circumstances around what happened.) 
 
 Only 12 Years a Slave, which won in 2014, managed to hold on to its frontrunner status from its September 2013 debut through the February 2014 awards. And it was bolstered by the sense that both Gravity and American Hustle were nipping at its heels. (Indeed, Gravity ended up winning seven awards, including Director, but not Picture, while 12 Years a Slave won a supporting acting prize and the Adapted Screenplay award along with Picture — with the situations for both eerily mirroring the La La Land vs. Moonlight split.) 
 
 You have to go all the way back to The Artist in the Oscar season of 2011 and 2012 to find an early frontrunner that essentially cruised through the whole season with nary a speed bump or major competitor. 
 
 And the Oscars’ ranked-choice voting system means that even if you’re not the number one choice of a plurality, you can still be the number two or three choice of a lot of people and pull off the win as those voters’ number one choices drop out. (Read more about this here.) And, indeed, in every other category where Moonlight and La La Land faced off — where a simple plurality carries the day — Moonlight lost. (It lost three of those categories — Cinematography, Score, and Director — to La La Land, and both films lost Editing to Hacksaw Ridge.) 
 
 In the past, the ranked-choice system has tilted toward movies about show business, consensus choices that appealed to the entertainment industry, but in 2017 it clearly worked in Moonlight’s favor. Why? 
 
 Part of this is thanks to a very smart campaign run by the movie’s studio, A24, which essentially spent the entire awards season hanging out in the runner-up slot, never accruing enough momentum to overtake La La Land, but never fading so much that it was out of the running either. And the Academy’s moves toward developing a more diverse membership, bolstered by a large influx of nominees who don’t fit the typical “older, straight white man” Oscar voter mold, could have also worked in Moonlight’s favor. But that outreach didn’t change the makeup over the Oscar voting body overnight. Something else happened. 
 
 Talk to Oscar voters and those connected to them in the weeks leading up to the Oscars, and you heard much more passion for La La Land, but Moonlight was the only other film mentioned at all consistently as everything else faded. (Vulture’s Kyle Buchanan has also talked about this phenomenon.) It certainly didn’t hurt that Moonlight had Plan B Productions — better known as Brad Pitt’s production company — in its corner, either. (Indeed, one of Moonlight’s winners is Pitt’s producing partner Dede Gardner, also an Oscar winner for 12 Years a Slave.) 
 
 Moonlight also reflects the Academy’s acceptance of both racially diverse and LGBTQ themes — notable in the wake of two straight years without acting nominees of color and the previous most famous Oscar upset of them all, which saw the historic gay romance Brokeback Mountain bested by a largely unpredicted victory by Crash. In a way, Moonlight winning is a symbolic exemplar of the Academy tossing off both of those albatrosses, if only for a single year. 
 
 But that’s not the only explanation for Moonlight’s win. Another contributing factor, among many, may be the fact that Donald Trump is president, Hollywood hates that he’s president, and Academy members may have been looking for ways to symbolically push back against his agenda with their votes. Throughout the night, categories kept going to movies that humanized the targets of Trump’s tweets, proposed laws, and vitriol, whether it was the documentary short winner The White Helmets or the Iranian foreign film winner The Salesman. 
 
 And what better film to embrace if you want to send a message to the president — symbolically — than a beautiful, aching, artistic drama about a poor, gay black man coming of age? 
 
 Oh, right, this also vindicates Marisa Tomei 
 
 One of those weirdo bits of Oscar lore — which was even hinted at in Entertainment Weekly and the Hollywood Reporter — is that when announcing the winner of Best Supporting Actress in 1993, Jack Palance read the wrong name. 
 
 He read Marisa Tomei of My Cousin Vinny, when it should have been any of the other nominees. The best explanation — Tomei was the only American in a category full of Brits, so her upset was a victory for patriotism and country — paled in comparison to the idea of an old man just making up a winner. 
 
 PWC has always insisted this was not the case, that they would have rushed the stage if Palance had actually read the wrong name. But the urban legend persisted because, well, nothing had ever happened to disprove it. 
 
 Until now, when the biggest award of the night was announced to go to the wrong film, and everybody still watching the Oscars thought there was a different Best Picture winner for more than a minute, when the procedure asserted itself for the first time in Oscars history. 
 
 It was a hell of a way to end the evening, only made more so by the fact that it accidentally vindicates Marisa Tomei after 24 years of whispers about the invalidity of her Oscar. Good for you, Marisa! You, too, are a winner! 
 
 Update: Some wording in this piece has been changed to better reflect the confluence of events that led to Moonlight’s Best Picture win. 
 
 Update 2: We’ve added a later statement from PricewaterhouseCoopers. ||||| “Moonlight” walked away with best picture honors at the end of Sunday night’s Oscars ceremony in Hollywood. 
 
 The presenters for the final award — Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway — were incorrectly given the best actress award envelope. A confused Beatty saw Emma Stone’s name and “La La Land,” and handed the envelope to Dunaway, who then announced the musical as the Best Picture winner. 
 
 The “La La Land” cast took the stage and producers began their speeches. But they stopped midway when they realized their error. 
 
 “There’s a mistake. ‘Moonlight’ you guys won best picture,” Jordan Horowitz said to the shocked Dolby Theater audience. “This is not a joke, come up here” the producer added. “Moonlight has won best picture.” 
 
 
 
 Beatty then returned to the microphone to explain: “I want to tell you what happened. I opened the envelope and it said Emma Stone, ‘La La Land.’ That’s why I took such a long look at Faye and at you. I wasn’t trying to be funny.” 
 
 “Moonlight” beat out “La La Land,” “Hidden Figures,” “Manchester by the Sea,” “Arrival,” “Hacksaw Ridge,” “Hell or High Water,” “Lion,” and “Fences.” 
 
 RELATED CONTENT: Every Oscar Best Picture Winner [GALLERY] 
 
 It was nothing less than a shock for Barry Jenkins’ intimate study of a black youth coming to terms with his homosexuality to walk away with the win: Damien Chazelle’s “La La Land” had been widely tipped as the frontrunner on the strength of a dominant precursor showing and top prizes from the Golden Globes, the Producers Guild, and the Directors Guild. Notably, though, “Moonlight” scored more best film prizes from critics groups around the country, making it a formidable dark horse every step of the way. 
 
 Watch the moment unfold below: ||||| The spotlight is now on PricewaterhouseCoopers, which has overseen the Academy's ballot-counting process for 83 years. 
 
 Was it the Bonnie and Clyde presenter team's fault? A case of the envelopes getting mixed up backstage? Let the finger-pointing begin. 
 
 After a stunning and surreal mistake that may be the worst Academy Awards telecast flub in history, the accounting firm in charge of the ballot-counting process is clarifying its role. 
 
 "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," said PricewaterhouseCoopers, which has overseen the Academy's ballot-counting process for 83 years. 
 
 The statement added: "The presenters had mistakenly been given the wrong category envelope and when discovered, was immediately corrected. We are currently investigating how this could have happened, and deeply regret that this occurred. We appreciate the grace with which the nominees, the Academy, ABC, and Jimmy Kimmel handled the situation." 
 
 In years past, the firm has provided two sets of winners' envelopes in briefcases that are sent to the Dolby Theatre, one briefcase for either side of the stage. 
 
 In what was was supposed to just be a memorable movie reunion, Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway ended up fumbling the presentation of best picture, as they were apparently holding the best actress envelope instead. 
 
 Not only did Dunaway read off La La Land as the best picture winner, the confusion wasn't fixed until after several members of the Lionsgate movie's team had already spoken. "I opened the envelope and it said 'Emma Stone, La La Land.' That's why I looked at Faye, and at you. I wasn't trying to be funny," Beatty clarified, laughing nervously. 
 
 "This is very unfortunate, what happened. Personally, I blame Steve Harvey for this," emcee Jimmy Kimmel said, trying to salvage the moment with a joke about how Harvey had announced the wrong winner of the "Miss Universe" pageant on live TV in 2015. However, this mistake was far worse. 
 
 Moonlight director Barry Jenkins appreciated the surreal nature of the moment right away, saying onstage: "Very clearly, very clearly, even in my dreams, this could not be true. But to hell with dreams, I’m done with it, ’cause this is true. Oh my goodness." 
 
 At the end of the televised portion, Kimmel added one last jab. "Well, I don’t know what happened. I blame myself for this," he said, referencing his self-effacing joke at the top of the show. "Let’s remember, it’s just an awards show. I mean, we hate to see people disappointed but the good news is, we got to see some extra speeches. We had some great movies. I knew I would screw this show up, I really did." 
 
 La La Land producer Jordan Horowitz had to take a ballot and show the TV audience that, in fact, it said Moonlight. "I was ecstatic, it was amazing. I thought we won an Oscar," Horowitz recalled to The Hollywood Reporter. "Some guys in headsets started buzzing around. It became clear that was something wrong. They took the envelope I had. It said 'Emma Stone, La La Land' on it." 
 
 He added: "It was clear that there was something wrong. We started looking for the best picture envelope. Nobody knew where it was. Then it appeared, they opened it next to me and it said 'Moonlight.'" 
 
 PwC has had Brian Cullinan and Martha Ruiz as co-ballot leaders overseeing the process for several years. The company touted that the ballot briefcases had made stops in 11 cities across the U.S. before making its way to Hollywood for the big day. 
 
 Backstage, Jenkins was asked to explain the moment. "No explanation; things just happen," he said. "I will say I saw two cards. I wanted to see the card, and Warren refused to show the card to anybody before he showed it to me. He said, 'Barry Jenkins has to see the card. He needs to know.'" 
 
 Moonlight breakout star Mahershala Ali, who won in the supporting actor category, was reflective. "It’s very hard to feel joy in a moment like that,” he said, adding: “I feel very fortunate for all of us to have walked away with the best picture award. It’s pretty remarkable.” 
 
 With the top honor yanked away from the frontrunner, La La Land ended the evening with six wins, Moonlight claimed three wins and Hacksaw Ridge and Manchester by the Sea took two awards. 
 
 Emma Stone, who claimed best actress, was cordial when asked about the confusion by reporters. "I f—ing love Moonlight," she said. "Of course it was an amazing thing to hear them say La La Land — we would have loved best picture, but we're so happy for Moonlight." 
 
 Meanwhile, at the Governors Ball, Dunaway wasn't as gregarious about the moment. The presenter told THR, "No, I'm not going to speak about it." 
 
 Rebecca Sun, Mia Galuppo and Scott Feinberg contributed to this article.
– Bonnie and Clyde appear to be off the hook after the most shocking moment in Oscars history—the blunder that saw La La Land announced as Best Picture, only for Moonlight to be declared the real winner when the former film's producers had almost finished their speeches. Accounting firm PwC, which oversees the ballot-counting, says Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway were handed the wrong category envelope. "We are currently investigating how this could have happened, and deeply regret that this occurred," the company formerly known as Price Waterhouse Coopers said in a statement to the AP, apologizing to the presenters, both movies, and Oscars viewers for the fiasco. A roundup of coverage: The Guardian has photos showing moment by moment how things went wrong. Beatty can be seen carrying the red envelope for "Actress in a Leading Role," which he opens, then hands to Dunaway. He later said he was confused because it said "Emma Stone: La La Land." She reads out the movie title. With the La La Land team on stage, Oscars overseers can be seen examining the envelope. USA Today reports that as the La La Land team went on stage, a PwC accountant backstage shouted "He took the wrong envelope!" and ran onstage. "I was ecstatic, it was amazing. I thought we won an Oscar," La La Land producer Jordan Horowitz tells the Hollywood Reporter. But then, "some guys in headsets started buzzing around. It became clear that something was wrong." The New York Times has a transcript of the chaotic minutes onstage. "I'm going to be really proud to hand this to my friends from Moonlight," says Horowitz graciously. La La Land star Ryan Gosling could be seen apparently trying not to laugh during the mix-up, though the BBC's Martha Kearney says he had a "face like thunder" while waiting for a limo after the ceremony. This has never happened before in any category in Oscars history, Vox reports in a look at how PwC handles the envelopes—and at its procedure for handling mix-ups. "It was very quick, I can't talk about it. The card read that way. It was a very odd thing," Dunaway tells the Telegraph, adding: "It wasn't Warren's fault." La La Land star Stone told the media she was excited for Moonlight, which she considers one of the best movies of all time, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. But she added: "I was also holding my Best Actress in a Leading Role card that entire time. So whatever story, I don’t mean to start stuff, but whatever story that was, I had that card." Variety notes that it was also a shock to many that Moonlight had won Best Picture at all, though it had won more best film prizes from critics groups than La La Land. It turns out there was a second big fail on Sunday night.