“Moonlight” didn’t only win Best Picture in an unprecedented manner, it also shattered glass ceilings as well.
When Warren Beatty admitted to having read the wrong Best Picture winner as “La La Land” when it was really “Moonlight,” he gave Plan B producer Dede Gardner her second Best Picture statue, which makes her the first female producer to have that many.
On Sunday night, it was clear something was amiss when Beatty, presenting with “Bonnie and Clyde” co-star Faye Dunaway, took a long pause after looking at the card inside the envelope that was supposed to contain the name of the Best Picture winner.
He looked to Dunaway, clearly flustered, and she took command, saying “La La Land.”
“This is not a joke. ‘Moonlight’ has won best picture,” said “La La Land” producer Jordan Horowitz, after the “La La Land” team had given acceptance speeches.
Beatty eventually took the microphone back to explain what happened.
“I want to tell you what happened,” he said. “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.”
Earlier in the night, “Moonlight” writers Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay, also a historic win that made them the fourth and fifth black honorees of the night, setting an all-time record.
As for Gardner, she and her producing partner Jeremy Kleiner are riding a four-year streak of Best Picture Oscar nominations, starting with “12 Year a Slave” and continuing through 2014’s “Selma,” 2015’s “The Big Short” and now “Moonlight.”