And the award for the weirdest Oscar announcement goes to… Al Pacino.
Viewers of the 96th Academy Awards, held last night (March 10) at Hollywood’s Dolby Theater, were left rather disappointed after sitting through a three-hour ceremony to watch the actor’s unconventional delivery of the Best Picture winner.
While the 83-year-old icon received a standing ovation upon taking to the stage, things took an awkward turn minutes later when the legendary star didn’t follow the tradition of listing the nominees in the category before announcing the winner.
Oppenheimer received the Oscar for Best Picture, but it was Al Pacino’s anticlimactic announcement of the award that captured everyone’s attention
Image credits: Universal Pictures
Instead, Al Pacino simply told the audience, “Ten wonderful films were nominated, but only one will take the award for Best Picture—and I have to go to the envelope for that. Here it comes.”
Looking at the paper, he said, without building suspense, “And my eyes see ‘Oppenheimer.'”
“Yes. Yes,” the Scarface actor continued as some clapping emerged. He then read the names of the producers before the Cristopher Nolan film’s stars rose to their feet to accept the accolade.
The legendary actor didn’t follow the tradition of reading the whole list of nominees before announcing the winner
Needless to say, social media users shared their thoughts about the strange moment, with one Oscar watcher writing, “Most anti-climatic Best Picture announcement ever.”
Another person said, “Al Pacino announcing Oppenheimer’s best picture win with the casualness of announcing what he wants to eat for dinner at Chili’s is why I watch The Oscars.”
Meanwhile, another viewer wondered if the actor had forgotten to announce the nominees, writing, “Did Al Pacino just mess up the biggest category of the evening???”
“Al Pacino delivering best picture like it’s a riddle,” another user of X (formerly known as Twitter) joked.
“La La Land 2.0,” a separate person wrote, referencing the infamous Best Picture announcement of 2017, where the musical film was mistakenly announced as the winner instead of Moonlight.
Another watcher focused on the attendees’ confused reaction, saying, “And no reaction from the audience for a good 10 seconds, sh** was funny as hell.”
“My eyes see ‘Oppenheimer'” were the words used by Al Pacino after opening the golden envelope
Oppenheimer’s Best Picture win was its 7th accolade of the night. The story of the man who created the atomic bomb was up for 13 nominations, with Cillian Murphy taking home Best Actor for his performance as J. Robert Oppenheimer minutes earlier.
Additionally, Christopher Nolan took home the award for Best Director.
Meanwhile, Robert Downey Jr. was honored with the title of Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role.
The Christopher Nolan film received 7 Academy Awards
The film beat nominees American Fiction, Anatomy of a Fall, Barbie, The Holdovers, Killers of the Flower Moon, Maestro, Past Lives, Poor Things, and The Zone of Interest for Best Picture.
Oppenheimer producer Emma Thomas accepted the award, admitting to the crowd that she had fantasized about lifting the statuette for a long time.
“Any of us who make movies know that you kind of dream of this moment,” she said
Watch the unconventional announcement below
Image credits: ABC News
“I have [been] dreaming about this moment for so long, but it seemed so unlikely that it would ever actually [have] happened. And now, I’m standing here. Everything’s kind of gone out of my head.”
Following the ceremony, Al Pacino, who won the Best Actor award for his performance in “Scent of a Woman” in 1992, addressed the odd moment in a statement, explaining that his announcement was the result of a “choice by the producers.”
“There seems to be some controversy about my not mentioning every film by name last night before announcing the best picture award,” the actor said, as per Variety.
“I just want to be clear it was not my intention to omit them, rather a choice by the producers not to have them said again since they were highlighted individually throughout the ceremony.
“I was honored to be a part of the evening and chose to follow the way they wished for this award to be presented.”
He continued, “I realize being nominated is a huge milestone in one’s life and to not be fully recognized is offensive and hurtful.
“I say this as someone who profoundly relates with filmmakers, actors and producers so I deeply empathize with those who have been slighted by this oversight and it’s why I felt it necessary to make this statement. ”
The nominees and winners of some of the 96th Academy Awards categories:
Best Picture:
Winner: Oppenheimer
American Fiction
Anatomy of a Fall
Barbie
The Holdovers
Killers of the Flower Moon
Maestro
Past Lives
Poor Things
The Zone of Interest
Best Actress:
Winner: Emma Stone – Poor Things
Annette Bening – Nyad
Lily Gladstone – Killers of the Flower Moon
Sandra Huller – Anatomy of a Fall
Carey Mulligan – Maestro
Best Actor:
Winner: Cillian Murphy – Oppenheimer
Bradley Cooper – Maestro
Colman Domingo – Rustin
Paul Giamatti – The Holdovers
Jeffrey Wright – American Fiction
Best Supporting Actress:
Winner: Da’Vine Joy Randolph – The Holdovers
Emily Blunt – Oppenheimer
Danielle Brooks – The Color Purple
America Ferrera – Barbie
Jodie Foster – Nyad
Best Supporting Actor:
Winner: Robert Downey Jr – Oppenheimer
Sterling K Brown – American Fiction
Robert De Niro – Killers of the Flower Moon
Ryan Gosling – Barbie
Mark Ruffalo – Poor Things
Best Director:
Winner: Oppenheimer – Christopher Nolan
Anatomy of a Fall – Justine Triet
Killers of the Flower Moon – Martin Scorsese
Poor Things – Yorgos Lanthimos
The Zone of Interest – Jonathan Glazer
Best Original Song:
What Was I Made For? – Barbie (Billie Eilish, Finneas O’Connell)
The Fire Inside – Flamin’ Hot (Diane Warren)
I’m Just Ken – Barbie (Mark Ronson, Andrew Wyatt)
It Never Went Away – American Symphony (Jon Batiste, Dan Wilson)
Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People) – Killers of the Flower Moon (Scott George)
Oscars viewers had varying opinions of how the ceremony’s biggest award was handled
