TA BAC K Now I stand up and
Damien’s parents are looking at
me with confusion: “What should
we do? Now what?!” I said, “Don’t
worry — Damien got his Oscar. It’s
OK. I’m going backstage.”A photograph, which runs on the
front page of the Los Angeles Times
the next day, captures the mouths-
agape reaction of those sitting
in the front rows as they process
what is happening.
PHILIPPS That picture’s incredible.
I actually do have it blown up and
framed. My husband bought it
from the photographer — he got
one for me and one for Michelle.
MICHELE ROBERTSON, Awards
consultant, Sully There was a rush of
those expressions throughout
the whole auditorium. Everyone
looked like The Scream.As the audience gasps in disbelief,
Beatty is fiddling with the correct
card. Horowitz grabs it and holds
it up to the audience. A TV camera
zooms in on it as he reads aloud:
“Moonlight, best picture.”
WEISS I said, “OK, Camera 10 [oper-
ated by David Carline] — I justlook on the producer’s face. When
he walked out there and snatched
that card out of Warren’s hand,
that’s when I knew redemption was
mine. I was finally off the hook.
Yeah, OK, I had to live that down:
“Oh, how could he,” “That’s a bone-
head,” “Nobody’s ever done that
in the history of Miss Universe.”
But the Oscars is the biggest night
in Holly wood, and when they did
it, I lit a cigar and drank a glass of
scotch and celebrated. I was free!
Thank you, God!Horowitz replies to Kimmel,
“I’m going to be really proud to
give this to my friends from
Moonlight.” Kimmel says, “That’s
nice of you. That’s very nice.”
HOROWITZ I remember the
Oscar being really heavy. In the
moment when I realized we
hadn’t won, I remember it got
even heavier. And then I
remember handing it to Barry.
HUDSON Jordan Horowitz
had a beautiful moment of
grace onstage.The shocked Moonlight team
hesitantly make their way toward
the stage.
NAOMIE HARRIS, Actress, Moonlight
Our producer Jeremy Kleiner
actually came and lifted me out
of the seat and was like, “Come
on, Naomie!”
HUDSON I was just thinking, “How
could this possibly happen?” It
would be as crazy as if everyone
were suddenly floating.
KIMMEL I shouted something to
the effect of, “Warren, what
did you do?!” Because I still hadit in my head that Warren’s
vision wasn’t great and maybe
it was his fault.Beatty asks Kimmel, “May I say
something?” He addresses the
audience, “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.”
KIMMEL Denzel Washington
did a little bit of traffic-cop work
from the audience. I think he
looked at me and pointed at Barry,
motioning for us to let Barry
speak, and I thought, “Oh, yes,
he’s right. That should happen.”Moonlight director Barry Jenkins
and producers Adele Romanski
and Jeremy Kleiner give short
speeches. Jenkins shouts out the
La La Land team: “My love to La La
Land, my love to everybody. Man.”
HARRIS I thought [the Moonlight
team was] so elegant and gra-
cious and loving, in keeping with
the people I came to know on this
whole journey. They remained
centered, thanked the people they
needed to thank, and were
also inclusive of the people from
La La Land.
ALI It never quite felt like we
won, even though we won, in part
because we were so connected
with the La La Land people. In that
moment, I don’t think we could be
as joyous. It wasn’t what it should
have been.
KIMMEL It was very awkward, but I
revel in awkwardness. I wrapped
up the show and left Matt Damon
sitting alone in the audience.JOHN LEGEND, Actor/songwriter
“People start whispering,
‘Moonlight won.’ I thought
they were saying it was a tie.”want you to go onto that card
and stay there until somebody
holds it up.”
HOROWITZ I think people needed
real, tangible proof — because I
needed it, too. I remember look-
ing out at that big broadcast
camera in the back and thinking,
“I hope this cameraperson knows
what to do.” And then I grabbed
the card and held it out.
WEISS In my head, that shot was
the most important thing of the
night at that point.Most of the audience rises to
its feet in applause and disbelief.
Samuel L. Jackson whips out
his smartphone to record the
moment. Onstage, Kimmel says
to Horowitz, “I think you guys
[f rom La La Land] should keep it
any way,” before adding to
the audience, “Guys, this is very
unfortunate, what happened.
Personally, I blame Steve Harvey.”
STEVE HARVEY, Comedian/TV host,
announced the wrong Miss Universe
in 2016 I was watching live and
I probably knew what had
happened before anybody else —
’cause I saw the panic-strickenGLENN WEISS, Oscars telecast director
“Your years of television experience
say, ‘Go wide. Cover up.’ My instinct
this time said, ‘Do the opposite.’ ”THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 155 FEBRUARY 28, 2018
AFFLECK: TODD WILLIAMSON/GETTY IMAGES FOR AMAZON. BERGER: KEVIN WINTER/GETTY IMAGES. HOROWITZ: ABC/EDDY CHEN. WEISS: ALBERTO E.
RODRIGUEZ/GETTY IMAGES FOR DGA.