It’s Oscar night, arguably the biggest evening of the year for people who like glitz, glamour, naked men dipped in gold, and also movies. This year should be particularly exciting, with multiple categories primed and ready for stunning upsets or thrilling, well-deserved victories. Will Manchester By The Sea’s Casey Affleck beat Ryan Gosling and Denzel Washington? Will Isabelle Huppert beat Meryl Streep and Natalie Portman? Will La La Land set a new record for Oscars gold, thoroughly drubbing Manchester By The Sea and Moonlight in the process? Will Lin-Manuel Miranda finally get his EGOT? Or, in a shocking twist, will Lion win Best Picture, throwing off everybody’s Oscar betting pools? That seems unlikely, but anything can happen at the Academy Awards.
The evening started off with Mahershala Ali winning Best Supporting Actor for his role in Moonlight, making him the first Muslim actor to win an Oscar. Following that came another historic win for Suicide Squad—the first film featuring a “damaged” forehead tattoo to win an Oscar—followed by a fourth costume Oscar for frequent Tim Burton collaborator Colleen Atwood for Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them. Next up came “algebra’s angels” and Hidden Figures stars Janelle Monae, Octavia Spencer, and Taraji P. Henson to present the Best Documentary Film award, which ultimately went to O.J.: Made In America, the longest film ever to win an Oscar at 7 hours and 47 minutes. (The A.V. Club considered it a TV miniseries for our 2016 year-end coverage, for what it’s worth.)
Next up came a speech about diversity and a lame bit involving parachuting candy from the ceiling, and then it was time for the tech nerds to once again shine as Arrival won the award for Best Sound Editing—ruining La La Land’s chances to break the record for most Oscars given out in a single evening—and Hacksaw Ridge won Best Sound Mixing, dashing those starry-eyed showbiz dreamers’ chances of tying Titanic, Ben-Hur, and The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King’s shared record of 11 Oscar wins apiece. It was an especially meaningful award for winner Kevin O’Connell, who opened his speech by saying, “you all know how much this means to me,” after finally winning an Oscar on his 21st nomination.
After taking a moment to acknowledge lifetime achievement award winners Lynn Stalmaster, Anne V. Coates, Frederick Wiseman, and Jackie fucking Chan, the ceremony changed gears with another montage announcing the Best Supporting Actress award. Last year’s Best Supporting Actor winner Mark Rylance opened with a comment on women’s ability to compete without hatred before giving an expected but well deserved statuette to frontrunner Viola Davis for Fences, which she accepted in a moving, tearful speech.
Next up was the award for Best Foreign Language Film, presented by Charlize Theron and her “inspiration” Shirley MacLaine, who responded to the roaring applause from the crowd with characteristic wit. The award went to Iran’s The Salesman, whose director, Asghar Farhadi, declined to attend the ceremony rather than receive a special exception to President Trump’s Muslim travel ban. Space explorer (and first astronaut of Iranian descent) Anousheh Ansari accepted the award in his stead, reading a statement from the now two-time Oscar winner alongside Firouz Nader.
Next up—after a commercial break featuring an ad for The New York Times, because that’s the world we live in now—were the animated film awards. Best Animated Short Film went to Piper—surprisingly enough, Pixar’s first award in the category since 2001—while Zootopia took home the Best Animated Feature award. And lest you start thinking it might be shut out, the Best Production Design award went to La La Land, whose husband-wife team David and Sandy Reynolds-Wasco thanked the film’s cast and crew for their enthusiasm in a notably understated fashion. This is the first Oscar win for the Wascos, who have worked extensively with Quentin Tarantino and Wes Anderson and did the production design for Fifty Shades Of Grey, whose stars, Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson, presented the award.
An interminable tour bus bit, another commercial break, and a French lady comparing The Big Lebowski to Xanax later, and Rogue One stars Felicity Jones and Riz Ahmed came out to present the award for Best Visual Effects. The award went to The Jungle Book and was accepted with a complete lack of humility by VFX supervisor Rob Legato, who said, and we quote, “this never gets old.” (This is Legato’s third Oscar; he previously won for Hugo and Titanic.) Next up was the award for Best Film Editing, which went to Hacksaw Ridge’s John Gilbert, prompting a resounding “meh” from the assembled A.V. Club staff.
Bringing more interest than usual to the short-film awards, David Oyelowo and Salma Hayek awarded the Best Documentary Short Subject Oscar to The White Helmets, whose Syrian subjects were also affected by Trump’s travel ban. Following that was the Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film, which went to Hungary’s Sing; our own A.A. Dowd—who predicted Sing’s win earlier this week—was not surprised by the outcome, saying, “come on, it’s about a children’s choir. It was a done deal.”
Next up came a Best Cinematography award for La La Land, followed by a musical number introduced, not notably not performed, by stars Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling. Matt Damon got his revenge by nearly tripping Kimmel during an aisle bit, and then it was time for Samuel L. Jackson to use his melodious voice to announce the winner for Best Original Score, which went to La La Land. No surprise there, but a satisfying coda for Justin Hurwitz, director Damien Chazelle’s college roommate, who began working on the score for La La Land years before the picture was greenlit. The good vibes continued with the award for Best Original Song, which netted Hurwitz his second Oscar of the night alongside lyricists Benj Pasek and Justin Paul for “City Of Stars.”
Ben Affleck and his buddy from Massachusetts—Mark, we think his name is?—then took the stage to give the award for Best Original Screenplay to their pal Kenny Lonergan, who bummed everyone out wicked good with his film Manchester By The Sea. Next up was Amy Adams, who presented the Best Adapted Screenplay award to Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney for Moonlight. In their speech, Jenkins and McCraney gave a message of support to young aspiring screenwriters, as well as gay, lesbian, trans, and gender-nonconforming kids living through the kind of struggles main character Chiron faces in their film.
Damien Chazelle is now the youngest director in history to receive a Best Director Oscar after his win for La La Land; Chazelle is 32 years old, so think about that when you find another gray hair in the mirror tonight. Much to Denzel Washington’s (and presenter Brie Larson’s) apparent disappointment, Casey Affleck then won the Best Actor award for his role in Manchester By The Sea, a blow somewhat softened by Affleck’s shout-out to Washington from the stage. (No such comfort for the two ex-employees who sued him for sexual harassment, though.) Emma Stone, charming as always, gave a short and heartfelt speech after winning Best Actress for La La Land, putting us into position for the night’s big award.
Capping off the night were Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, reuniting 50 years after Bonnie And Clyde to present the award for Best Picture. With nine films up for Best Picture, the Academy broke with its tradition of giving each film an introductory segment earlier in the ceremony, saving up a dizzying array of meaningful moment montages for the end of the broadcast. The suspense was finally broken with a Best Picture award for La La Land—or so we thought, until the team came up on stage and, after a few initial remarks, came up to the mic and announced, “we didn’t win.” Turns out the card naming Emma Stone Best Actress had been printed out twice, Warren Beatty had been handed the wrong envelope, and Moonlight had actually won Best Picture.
The error was presumably reported by one of the representatives of accounting firm Price Waterhouse Coopers who are present at every Oscars ceremony and tasked with correcting mistakes during the live broadcast, as outlined in this 1994 article from The Hollywood Reporter debunking another rumored Oscars “mistake.” It was a stunning reversal worthy of a M. Night Shyamalan movie, and an Oscars moment that will not soon be forgotten. Let the conspiracy theories begin!
You can see a full list of tonight’s winners below, and catch up with The A.V. Club’s commentary on Twitter using the hashtag “#avcOscars.”
Best Actor In A Supporting Role
Mahershala Ali, Moonlight
Jeff Bridges, Hell Or High Water
Lucas Hedges, Manchester By The Sea
Dev Patel, Lion
Michael Shannon, Nocturnal Animals
Best Makeup And Hairstyling
A Man Called Ove
Star Trek Beyond
Suicide Squad
Best Costume Design
Allied
Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them
Florence Foster Jenkins
Jackie
La La Land
Best Documentary Feature
Fire At Sea
I Am Not Your Negro
Life, Animated
O.J.: Made In America
13th
Best Sound Editing
Arrival
Deep Water Horizon
Hacksaw Ridge
Sully
La La Land
Best Sound Mixing
Arrival
Hacksaw Ridge
La La Land
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers Of Benghazi
Best Supporting Actress
Viola Davis, Fences
Naomie Harris, Moonlight
Nicole Kidman, Lion
Octavia Spencer, Hidden Figures
Michelle Williams, Manchester By The Sea
Best Foreign Language Film
Land Of Mine (Denmark)
A Man Called Ove (Sweden)
The Salesman (Iran)
Tanna (Australia)
Toni Erdmann (Germany)
Best Animated Short Film
Blind Vaysha
Borrowed Time
Pear Cider And Cigarettes
Pearl
Piper
Best Animated Feature
Kubo And The Two Strings
Moana
My Life As A Zucchini
The Red Turtle
Zootopia
Best Production Design
Arrival
Fantastic Beasts
Hail, Caesar!
La La Land
Passengers
Best Visual Effects
Deep Water Horizon
Doctor Strange
Jungle Book
Kubo And The Two Strings
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Best Editing
Arrival
Hacksaw Ridge
Hell Or High Water
La La Land
Moonlight
Best Documentary Short Subject
Extremis
4.1 Miles
Joe’s Violin
Watani: My Homeland
The White Helmets
Best Live Action Short Film
Ennemis Intérieurs
La Femme et le TGV
Silent Nights
Sing
Timecode
Best Cinematography
Bradford Young, Arrival
Linus Sandgren, La La Land
Greig Frasier, Lion
James Laxton, Moonlight
Rodrigo Prieto, Silence
Best Original Score
Mica Levi, Jackie
Justin Hurwitz, La La Land
Dustin O’Halloran and Hauschka, Lion
Nicholas Britell, Moonlight
Thomas Newman, Passengers
Best Original Song
“Audition (The Fools Who Dream),” 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
Best Original Screenplay
Taylor Sheridan, Hell Or High Water
Damien Chazelle, La La Land
Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthimis Filippou, The Lobster
Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester By The Sea
Mike Mills, 20th Century Women
Best Adapted Screenplay
Eric Heisserer, Arrival
August Wilson, Fences
Allison Schreoder and Theodore Melfi, Hidden Figures
Luke Davies, Lion
Barry Jenkins and Tyrell Alvin McCreaney, Moonlight
Best Director
Denis Villeneuve, Arrival
Mel Gibson, Hacksaw Ridge
Damien Chazelle, La La Land
Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester By The Sea
Barry Jenkins, Moonlight
Best Actor
Ryan Gosling, La La Land
Casey Affleck, Manchester By The Sea
Andrew Garfield, Hacksaw Ridge
Viggo Mortensen, Captain Fantastic
Denzel Washington, Fences
Best Actress
Emma Stone, La La Land
Isabelle Huppert, Elle
Ruth Negga, Loving
Natalie Portman, Jackie
Meryl Streep, Florence Foster Jenkins
Best Picture
La La Land
Arrival
Hidden Figures
Fences
Moonlight
Lion
Manchester By The Sea
Hacksaw Ridge
Hell Or High Water