Al Pacino made a minor slip-up when announcing the winner of the Best Picture award at yesterday’s Oscars ceremony.
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The 96th Academy Awards, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, took place yesterday (March 10) in Hollywood, Los Angeles. Award season favourite Oppenheimer took home seven of the thirteen awards for which it was nominated, including Best Director (Christopher Nolan) and Best Actor (Cillian Murphy).
However, when it came to awarding the final prize of the evening, Pacino’s slightly unclear announcement led to a few moments of confusion in the Dolby Theatre.
The Scarface star didn’t seem to follow the traditional process of reading out the full list of nominees before announcing the winner. Instead, he skipped straight to opening the envelope.
Pacino, who is a nine-time Oscar nominee and a recipient himself, walked out onstage accompanied by the theme to The Godfather before saying: “10 wonderful films were nominated, but only one will take the award for Best Picture. And I have to go to the envelope for that, and I will.”
The audience laughed as he opened the envelope saying, “Here it comes”, signalling that he would not be reading out the nominees.
The Hollywood star then cryptically announced: “And my eyes see Oppenheimer”, met with a moment of quiet and some hesitant applause. Despite it being the favourite to win, it was only when Pacino began to list the names of the crew and the film’s dramatic score by Hans Zimmer filled the theatre, that the proper applause erupted.
The film’s producer, Emma Thomas, acknowledged her dream of accepting the award, before thanking the cast and crew of the film, including her husband and the film’s director, Nolan.
Oppenheimer also won the awards for Best Supporting Actor (Robert Downey Jr.), Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing and Best Original Score.
In Murphy’s acceptance speech for his portrayal of theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, he dedicated his award to “peacemakers everywhere”.
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