Emma Stone: ‘I was holding my best actress card the whole time’ 
 
 "La La Land" producer Jordan Horowitz interrupts the Oscars telecast Sunday night to announce that "Moonlight," not "La La Land" was the real winner for best picture. | ABC 
 
 As the gold dust was still settling over the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood following the mistake by presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway during the best picture Oscar announcement, some late developments: 
 
 UPDATE: Just after midnight PST, the accounting firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers (the company that for decades has tallied the Oscar votes), released a statement apologizing for the gaffe: “We sincerely apologize to “Moonlight,” “La La Land,” Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, and Oscar viewers for the error that was made during the award announcement for Best Picture. The presenters had mistakenly been given the wrong category envelope and when discovered, was immediately corrected. We are currently investigating how this could have happened, and deeply regret that this occurred.” 
 
 — Best actress Oscar-winner Emma Stone told reporters backstage at the Oscars telecast that “Of course it was an amazing thing to hear ‘La La Land.’ We would have loved to have won best picture. But we are so excited for ‘Moonlight.’ I think it’s one of the best films of all time. I was also holding my ‘best actress in a leading role’ card that entire time. So whatever story, I don’t mean to start stuff, but whatever story that was, I had that card.” 
 
 — There are two sets of cards for every award, so there is the likelihood that Beatty and Dunaway were handed the wrong envelope. Host Jimmy Kimmel had come forward to inform the cast that “Moonlight” had indeed won, showing the inside of the envelope as proof. “I knew I would screw this up,” said Kimmel, a first-time host. (A closeup of the envelope Beatty was holding shows it is indeed labled “Actress in a Leading Role”) 
 
 — According to the L.A. Times, Beatty “explained that the reason it had taken him so long to read the card was because he was looking at something that said Emma Stone had won. At that point, he showed it to Dunaway, who announced “La La Land.” Beatty assured viewers that the error was unintentional and he wasn’t trying to turn the biggest award into a joke.” 
 
 — It’s not the first time the wrong category winner was an issue at the Oscars. In 1964, Sammy Davis Jr. was handed an envelope for the wrong award, according to ABC News. “Representatives from Oscar’s counting unit at Price Waterhouse had to rush onstage to stop him from blurting out a mistake. He quipped, “Wait’ll the NAACP hears about this.” 
 
 Watch moment Warren Beatty appears to take a second look inside envelope for Best Picture. #Oscars https://t.co/xiLXLizzNd pic.twitter.com/45ELp1GTcE — Good Morning America (@GMA) February 27, 2017 
 
 When it came time to announce the best picture winner, Beatty seemed to be searching the envelope for a second card, and then stalling the announcement while glancing offstage perhaps to signal there was a problem. 
 
 Comedian/talk show host Steve Harvey, who famously announced the incorrect winner’s name of the “Miss Universe” pageant in 2015, tweeted early Monday: 
 
 Good morning everybody! Went to sleep early last night. So… what I miss? #Oscars — Steve Harvey (@IAmSteveHarvey) February 27, 2017 
 
 Contributing: Associated Press 
 
 Reactions from Hollywood on social media started pouring in almost immediately: 
 
 I wrote the ending of the academy awards 2017. @jimmykimmel we really got them! — M. Night Shyamalan (@MNightShyamalan) February 27, 2017 
 
 Maybe I won an Emmy one of the 5 times I lost! Anything is possible. Congrats to #Moonlight. An amazing and deserving best picture winner! — Jesse Tyler Ferguson (@jessetyler) February 27, 2017 
 
 Don’t y’all go blaming the old people for that one. They gave Warren Beatty the wrong envelope. It was probably Putin. #Moonlight #Oscars — Official Wanda Sykes (@iamwandasykes) February 27, 2017 
 
 Congratulations to the Moonlight team. It truly is a beautiful film. Well done — John Legend (@johnlegend) February 27, 2017 
 
 Congrats to everyone involved with Moonlight. Beautiful film, expanding the collective boundaries and pushing forward with hope. — Jeffrey Wright (@jfreewright) February 27, 2017 
 
 And the Oscar goes to…Miss Venezuela! #Oscars — Margaret Cho (@margaretcho) February 27, 2017 
 
 Who did the crime: Bonnie or Clyde? Someone on the staff is in trouble… #Oscars pic.twitter.com/rPIn0do5A3 — Mario Lopez (@MarioLopezExtra) February 27, 2017 
 
 Summary: Deserved win by the Moonlight team Gracious concession by the La La Land team wtf just happened for everyone else#Oscars — Ryan Seacrest (@RyanSeacrest) February 27, 2017 ||||| The spotlight is now on PricewaterhouseCoopers, which has overseen the Academy's ballot-counting process for 83 years. 
 
 Was it the Bonnie and Clyde presenter team's fault? A case of the envelopes getting mixed up backstage? Let the finger-pointing begin. 
 
 After a stunning and surreal mistake that may be the worst Academy Awards telecast flub in history, the accounting firm in charge of the ballot-counting process is clarifying its role. 
 
 "We sincerely apologize to Moonlight, La La Land, Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, and Oscar viewers for the error that was made during the award announcement for best picture," said PricewaterhouseCoopers, which has overseen the Academy's ballot-counting process for 83 years. 
 
 The statement added: "The presenters had mistakenly been given the wrong category envelope and when discovered, was immediately corrected. We are currently investigating how this could have happened, and deeply regret that this occurred. We appreciate the grace with which the nominees, the Academy, ABC, and Jimmy Kimmel handled the situation." 
 
 In years past, the firm has provided two sets of winners' envelopes in briefcases that are sent to the Dolby Theatre, one briefcase for either side of the stage. 
 
 In what was was supposed to just be a memorable movie reunion, Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway ended up fumbling the presentation of best picture, as they were apparently holding the best actress envelope instead. 
 
 Not only did Dunaway read off La La Land as the best picture winner, the confusion wasn't fixed until after several members of the Lionsgate movie's team had already spoken. "I opened the envelope and it said 'Emma Stone, La La Land.' That's why I looked at Faye, and at you. I wasn't trying to be funny," Beatty clarified, laughing nervously. 
 
 "This is very unfortunate, what happened. Personally, I blame Steve Harvey for this," emcee Jimmy Kimmel said, trying to salvage the moment with a joke about how Harvey had announced the wrong winner of the "Miss Universe" pageant on live TV in 2015. However, this mistake was far worse. 
 
 Moonlight director Barry Jenkins appreciated the surreal nature of the moment right away, saying onstage: "Very clearly, very clearly, even in my dreams, this could not be true. But to hell with dreams, I’m done with it, ’cause this is true. Oh my goodness." 
 
 At the end of the televised portion, Kimmel added one last jab. "Well, I don’t know what happened. I blame myself for this," he said, referencing his self-effacing joke at the top of the show. "Let’s remember, it’s just an awards show. I mean, we hate to see people disappointed but the good news is, we got to see some extra speeches. We had some great movies. I knew I would screw this show up, I really did." 
 
 La La Land producer Jordan Horowitz had to take a ballot and show the TV audience that, in fact, it said Moonlight. "I was ecstatic, it was amazing. I thought we won an Oscar," Horowitz recalled to The Hollywood Reporter. "Some guys in headsets started buzzing around. It became clear that was something wrong. They took the envelope I had. It said 'Emma Stone, La La Land' on it." 
 
 He added: "It was clear that there was something wrong. We started looking for the best picture envelope. Nobody knew where it was. Then it appeared, they opened it next to me and it said 'Moonlight.'" 
 
 PwC has had Brian Cullinan and Martha Ruiz as co-ballot leaders overseeing the process for several years. The company touted that the ballot briefcases had made stops in 11 cities across the U.S. before making its way to Hollywood for the big day. 
 
 Backstage, Jenkins was asked to explain the moment. "No explanation; things just happen," he said. "I will say I saw two cards. I wanted to see the card, and Warren refused to show the card to anybody before he showed it to me. He said, 'Barry Jenkins has to see the card. He needs to know.'" 
 
 Moonlight breakout star Mahershala Ali, who won in the supporting actor category, was reflective. "It’s very hard to feel joy in a moment like that,” he said, adding: “I feel very fortunate for all of us to have walked away with the best picture award. It’s pretty remarkable.” 
 
 With the top honor yanked away from the frontrunner, La La Land ended the evening with six wins, Moonlight claimed three wins and Hacksaw Ridge and Manchester by the Sea took two awards. 
 
 Emma Stone, who claimed best actress, was cordial when asked about the confusion by reporters. "I f—ing love Moonlight," she said. "Of course it was an amazing thing to hear them say La La Land — we would have loved best picture, but we're so happy for Moonlight." 
 
 Meanwhile, at the Governors Ball, Dunaway wasn't as gregarious about the moment. The presenter told THR, "No, I'm not going to speak about it." 
 
 Rebecca Sun, Mia Galuppo and Scott Feinberg contributed to this article. ||||| What happened at the Oscars is unprecedented. 
 
 The night’s biggest award — Best Picture — was handed to the wrong film, presumed frontrunner La La Land, because presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway were given the wrong envelope. It bore the name of La La Land’s Emma Stone, who had won Best Actress moments before. 
 
 The three credited producers for La La Land were almost through their triumphant speeches — indeed, the third, Fred Berger, was in the middle of speaking — when producer Jordan Horowitz was forced to take the microphone and say the film had lost to Moonlight. 
 
 Report from @JeffreyLAT backstage: Mid @LaLaLand acceptance, stage hand in wings said "Oh, f-ck. Oh my God. He got the wrong envelope." — Amy Kaufman (@AmyKinLA) February 27, 2017 
 
 Essentially everybody involved appeared to believe, initially, that it was a joke, from the moment that Beatty — clearly flummoxed by having an envelope that read “Emma Stone” — tried to make sense of what had happened, only to have the crowd (and his co-presenter Dunaway) think he was unnecessarily prolonging the announcement, to the moment when Berger said, “By the way, we lost.” 
 
 PricewaterhouseCoopers, the accounting firm that counts the Oscar ballots, issued a statement taking the blame for the mix-up: 
 
 We sincerely apologize to Moonlight, La La Land, Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, and Oscar viewers for the error that was made during the award announcement for Best Picture. The presenters had mistakenly been given the wrong category envelope and when discovered, was immediately corrected. We are currently investigating how this could have happened, and deeply regret that this occurred. We appreciate the grace with which the nominees, the Academy, ABC, and Jimmy Kimmel handled the situation. 
 
 On Monday, it further clarified the situation in another statement: 
 
 PwC takes full responsibility for the series of mistakes and breaches of established protocols during last night’s Oscars. PwC Partner Brian Cullinan mistakenly handed the back-up envelope for Actress in a Leading Role instead of the envelope for Best Picture to presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway. Once the error occurred, protocols for correcting it were not followed through quickly enough by Mr. Cullinan or his partner. 
 
 Variety has much more on the mix-up. 
 
 In the moment, though, it was chaos. It’s never happened in the 89-year history of the Oscars (much less in the biggest category), and it seemingly disproved one of the longest-running Oscar urban legends. 
 
 The Oscars have a procedure for what happens if the wrong name is read — but it apparently doesn’t work that well 
 
 Only two people know the names of the Oscar winners before the envelopes are opened and read. They’re always two accountants from PricewaterhouseCoopers, the firm that tabulates Oscar votes, and they carry the results in the famed briefcases that make their way down the red carpet every year. 
 
 PWC’s methods for tabulation are said to be quite rigorous, with lots of double checks and redundancies built into their system, which is designed to make sure the right winner is placed into every envelope. But the firm’s method for correcting the situation if the wrong envelope is handed to the presenters — as apparently happened with Beatty and Dunaway — is clearly not as foolproof. 
 
 As one of those two PWC accountants explains: 
 
 I guess Warren and Leo came from opposite sides https://t.co/wOcicSEg5C pic.twitter.com/EUEf1nO2gi — Ev Williams (@ev) February 27, 2017 
 
 Essentially, the PWC accountants say that in the event of a mix-up, they would signal to a stage manager that the wrong name had been read, and the stage manager would then find a way to halt the proceedings on stage. Indeed, this bit of Oscar trivia is so popular as a “what if” that stories are written about it in the press every year — what would happen if the wrong envelope were opened, or a presenter just decided to take matters into their own hands? 
 
 “We would make sure that the correct person was known very quickly. Whether that entails stopping the show, us walking onstage, us signaling to the stage manager — that’s really a game-time decision, if something like that were to happen. Again, it’s so unlikely,” Brian Cullinan, one of the two accountants (the other is Martha Ruiz) who knew the winners for this year’s awards, told the Huffington Post mere days ago. 
 
 And, granted, the process for announcing the correct winner makes much more sense for, say, Best Actor, where only one person is taking the stage, than it does for Best Picture, where everybody involved in a film swarms to the microphone. But it’s still remarkable that La La Land had all but completed its speeches, and host Jimmy Kimmel was onstage to wrap up the evening before the announcement was made. 
 
 Think of everything that had to go wrong here: Not only did the wrong envelope have to be handed to Beatty and Dunaway, but it had to include the name of the one nominee in the Best Actress category who appeared in a film nominated for Best Picture. (Had, say, Natalie Portman won for Jackie, Beatty and Dunaway would have known immediately what had happened.) 
 
 And that Best Picture nominee was the season-long frontrunner — with 14 nominations and six other Oscars to its name from earlier in the evening. So when Beatty and Dunaway announced that it had won, no one batted an eye. 
 
 But this has never happened in the history of the Oscars. The only time that comes close was in 1964, when Sammy Davis Jr. presented the award for Adaptation or Treatment Score but was handed the envelope for Original Score. And that’s a completely different situation, because the two categories had completely different sets of nominees. 
 
 Moonlight won because it smartly ran all season long as the alternative to La La Land 
 
 With La La Land’s loss, one thing becomes clear: You don’t want to be the early Oscar frontrunner. For three years in a row, the frontrunner — Boyhood in 2015, The Revenant in 2016, and La La Land in 2017 — has lost on Oscar night. And they’ve lost in three different ways, too: Boyhood faded in the stretch. The Revenant lost in a tight three-way race (to another early frontrunner, Spotlight). And La La Land lost despite being such a big Oscar frontrunner that I said if it lost, it would be the biggest Oscar upset ever. (And it is, only made more so by the ultra-bizarre circumstances around what happened.) 
 
 Only 12 Years a Slave, which won in 2014, managed to hold on to its frontrunner status from its September 2013 debut through the February 2014 awards. And it was bolstered by the sense that both Gravity and American Hustle were nipping at its heels. (Indeed, Gravity ended up winning seven awards, including Director, but not Picture, while 12 Years a Slave won a supporting acting prize and the Adapted Screenplay award along with Picture — with the situations for both eerily mirroring the La La Land vs. Moonlight split.) 
 
 You have to go all the way back to The Artist in the Oscar season of 2011 and 2012 to find an early frontrunner that essentially cruised through the whole season with nary a speed bump or major competitor. 
 
 And the Oscars’ ranked-choice voting system means that even if you’re not the number one choice of a plurality, you can still be the number two or three choice of a lot of people and pull off the win as those voters’ number one choices drop out. (Read more about this here.) And, indeed, in every other category where Moonlight and La La Land faced off — where a simple plurality carries the day — Moonlight lost. (It lost three of those categories — Cinematography, Score, and Director — to La La Land, and both films lost Editing to Hacksaw Ridge.) 
 
 In the past, the ranked-choice system has tilted toward movies about show business, consensus choices that appealed to the entertainment industry, but in 2017 it clearly worked in Moonlight’s favor. Why? 
 
 Part of this is thanks to a very smart campaign run by the movie’s studio, A24, which essentially spent the entire awards season hanging out in the runner-up slot, never accruing enough momentum to overtake La La Land, but never fading so much that it was out of the running either. And the Academy’s moves toward developing a more diverse membership, bolstered by a large influx of nominees who don’t fit the typical “older, straight white man” Oscar voter mold, could have also worked in Moonlight’s favor. But that outreach didn’t change the makeup over the Oscar voting body overnight. Something else happened. 
 
 Talk to Oscar voters and those connected to them in the weeks leading up to the Oscars, and you heard much more passion for La La Land, but Moonlight was the only other film mentioned at all consistently as everything else faded. (Vulture’s Kyle Buchanan has also talked about this phenomenon.) It certainly didn’t hurt that Moonlight had Plan B Productions — better known as Brad Pitt’s production company — in its corner, either. (Indeed, one of Moonlight’s winners is Pitt’s producing partner Dede Gardner, also an Oscar winner for 12 Years a Slave.) 
 
 Moonlight also reflects the Academy’s acceptance of both racially diverse and LGBTQ themes — notable in the wake of two straight years without acting nominees of color and the previous most famous Oscar upset of them all, which saw the historic gay romance Brokeback Mountain bested by a largely unpredicted victory by Crash. In a way, Moonlight winning is a symbolic exemplar of the Academy tossing off both of those albatrosses, if only for a single year. 
 
 But that’s not the only explanation for Moonlight’s win. Another contributing factor, among many, may be the fact that Donald Trump is president, Hollywood hates that he’s president, and Academy members may have been looking for ways to symbolically push back against his agenda with their votes. Throughout the night, categories kept going to movies that humanized the targets of Trump’s tweets, proposed laws, and vitriol, whether it was the documentary short winner The White Helmets or the Iranian foreign film winner The Salesman. 
 
 And what better film to embrace if you want to send a message to the president — symbolically — than a beautiful, aching, artistic drama about a poor, gay black man coming of age? 
 
 Oh, right, this also vindicates Marisa Tomei 
 
 One of those weirdo bits of Oscar lore — which was even hinted at in Entertainment Weekly and the Hollywood Reporter — is that when announcing the winner of Best Supporting Actress in 1993, Jack Palance read the wrong name. 
 
 He read Marisa Tomei of My Cousin Vinny, when it should have been any of the other nominees. The best explanation — Tomei was the only American in a category full of Brits, so her upset was a victory for patriotism and country — paled in comparison to the idea of an old man just making up a winner. 
 
 PWC has always insisted this was not the case, that they would have rushed the stage if Palance had actually read the wrong name. But the urban legend persisted because, well, nothing had ever happened to disprove it. 
 
 Until now, when the biggest award of the night was announced to go to the wrong film, and everybody still watching the Oscars thought there was a different Best Picture winner for more than a minute, when the procedure asserted itself for the first time in Oscars history. 
 
 It was a hell of a way to end the evening, only made more so by the fact that it accidentally vindicates Marisa Tomei after 24 years of whispers about the invalidity of her Oscar. Good for you, Marisa! You, too, are a winner! 
 
 Update: Some wording in this piece has been changed to better reflect the confluence of events that led to Moonlight’s Best Picture win. 
 
 Update 2: We’ve added a later statement from PricewaterhouseCoopers. ||||| Warren Beatty exits the stage after announcing the award for best picture at the Oscars on Sunday, Feb. 26, 2017, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP) (Associated Press) 
 
 LOS ANGELES (AP) — It was one of the most awkward moments in the history of the Oscars, of television, in entertainment, heck maybe in American history. 
 
 And somehow Warren Beatty, Hollywood's ultimate smooth leading man, was at the center of it, and the accounting firm that is responsible for the integrity of Oscar voting apologized and was vowing a full investigation. 
 
 The producers of "La La Land" were nearly done with their acceptance speeches for Best Picture, the Oscar broadcast's credits sequence about to roll, when a stir of whispers began on stage. Moments later "La La Land" producer Jordan Horowitz returned to the microphone and said "Moonlight won Best Picture" and insisting that "this is not a joke." 
 
 The collective jaw of the crowd at the Dolby Theatre — and of America — remained dropped long after they became convinced it was no joke, but what academy historians later called an apparently unprecedented Oscar error. The accounting firm PwC, formerly Price Waterhouse Coopers, said early Monday that Beatty and Dunaway had been given the wrong envelope. 
 
 "We sincerely apologize to 'Moonlight,' 'La La Land,' Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, and Oscar viewers for the error that was made during the award announcement for Best Picture," a statement from the firm said. "The presenters had mistakenly been given the wrong category envelope and when discovered, was immediately corrected. We are currently investigating how this could have happened, and deeply regret that this occurred." 
 
 The statement came several hours after the chaotic ending, which featured Beatty returning to the mic to explain that he had opened the envelope and he was confused when it read "Emma Stone, La La Land." He had shown it to co-presenter Faye Dunaway briefly, as though he wanted her to read it, which she did, apparently assuming the Emma Stone part was off but the "La La" part correct. 
 
 "It's one of the strangest things that's ever happened to me," Beatty said backstage. "Thank God there were two of us up there," Dunaway responded. 
 
 The actress then asked Beatty, "Who else should I tell?" 
 
 "Everybody," he said. 
 
 At that point, a security guard tried to take the real envelope and Beatty said, "Security is not getting this. I'm giving it to (Moonlight director) Barry Jenkins at a later time." Beatty also refused to show it to anyone else. 
 
 ABC News, tweeting about the ceremony broadcast on its network, said the envelope held by Beatty read, "Actress in a leading role." A close-up photo of Beatty onstage verified that. 
 
 PwC has counted votes and provides winner envelopes for the Oscars and has done so for more than 80 years. 
 
 When the firm's representatives realized the mistake, they raced onstage to right it, but too late, officials told The Associated Press. 
 
 The result was a bizarre scene with the entire cast of both movies standing together on stage exchanging sympathetic awkward stares and hugs. 
 
 The crowd had to rouse itself from its stunned stupor to try to give "Moonlight" its just due for winning the big award. And as the credits rolled, usually bringing sweet relief after a long night, people appeared hesitant to leave in their disbelief. 
 
 "It made a very special feeling even more special, but not in the way I expected," a bemused Jenkins, co-writer and director of "Moonlight," said backstage. 
 
 "The folks at 'La La Land' were so gracious," he added. "I can't imagine being in their position and having to do that." 
 
 Filmmaker Kenneth Lonergan, who won a best screenplay award for "Manchester by the Sea," cracked wise backstage: "It turns out that we actually won best picture, which we're really happy about," he said. 
 
 The ceremony's chaotic scene immediately raced to the top of all-time Oscar moments, far more stunning than the nude man who raced across the stage in 1974 as part of the "streaking" fad. 
 
 And it immediately evoked Steve Harvey's recent gaffe of naming the wrong Miss Universe winner. 
 
 The Miss Universe Twitter account quickly let the Oscars know they felt their pain. 
 
 "Have your people call our people, we know what to do," the tweet read. 
 
 That was the beginning of a Tweet pile-on that may be the biggest of all time, with many declaring that "La La Land" won the popular vote while "Moonlight" won the electoral college. 
 
 But this stage, and this audience, were far, far bigger and are likely to last far, far longer in collective memory. 
 
 ___ 
 
 AP writers Lynn Elber, Beth Harris and Lindsey Bahr contributed to this report. ||||| UPDATED: In his fourth year of handling envelopes for the winners of the Academy Awards, PricewaterhouseCoopers partner Brian Cullinan picked a bad time for a miscue — pulling the envelope for what was supposed to be the best picture winner from the wrong pile. 
 
 As a result, presenter Warren Beatty carried the wrong envelope Sunday night, meaning that his on-stage partner, Faye Dunaway, announced “La La Land” was the winner of the night’s top prize. “Moonlight” was actually the best picture winner. 
 
 Tim Ryan, the accounting firm’s U.S. chairman and senior partner, offered an explanation Monday of the unprecedented miscue, along with his profuse apologies to the Motion Picture Academy and to the filmmakers behind the two movies. 
 
 “We clearly made a mistake and once the mistake was made we corrected it and owned up to it,” said Ryan, attributing the foul-up to “human error.” 
 
 Ryan said he had spoken to Cullinan about the episode at length. “He feels very, very terrible and horrible. He is very upset about this mistake. And as a firm, given that he is a partner of our firm, it is also my mistake and our mistake and we all feel very bad.” 
 
 Related Trump: Oscars Best Picture Flub Occurred Because Show ‘Focused So Hard’ on Him 
 
 Cullinan was positioned stage left during the evening. His colleague, Martha Ruiz, stood in the wings, stage right, Ryan said. Each had a pile of envelopes for presenters entering from their side of the stage and then a pile of “backup” envelopes for the presenters entering from the other side of the stage at the Dolby Theatre. 
 
 Cullinan pulled the lead actress envelope that was in the “backup” pile and handed it to Beatty. “There’s a stack for the backups and the ones that are not the backups and he took from the wrong stack,” Ryan explained. 
 
 Beatty hesitated twice after opening the envelope, apparently confused when he saw both the name of lead actress winner Emma Stone and “La La Land.” Not understanding Beatty’s hesitation, Dunaway said: “You’re impossible. C’mon.” Beatty then showed her the card and Dunaway announced: “La La Land.” 
 
 Asked if Beatty and Dunaway could have recognized the error, Ryan said: “No, look, it’s our job, not theirs.” 
 
 The PwC chairman said that both Cullinan and Ruiz, who had memorized all of the winners, as per company procedure, realized instantly that an error had been made. “Martha … immediately recognized that was not who won,” Ryan said. “She opened up her backup envelope to confirm her memory.” Cullinan immediately told members of the production team of the error, Ryan said. 
 
 Procedure for such a mistake calls for the PwC employees to then take the stage, along with members of the production staff, to correct the error, Ryan said. He did not know why it took more than two minutes for the correction to be made, with “La La Land” producer Jordan Horowitz delivering the news to the world that “Moonlight” was the real best picture winner. 
 
 “This is the first time in over 80 years that there has ever been a problem and again we are very disappointed in ourselves,” Ryan said. “I have reached out to the Academy and shared with them that we take full responsibility that Brian had made the mistake and the firm takes responsibility for that.” 
 
 Ryan said he was not focused now on whether the flub would hurt the firm’s relationship with the Academy or its prospects of returning for another year of counting the ballots. “I expect us to get something like this right and our focus right now is just on making sure the academy and the rest of the folks know that and the rest will play out,” Ryan said. “We are very proud of being associated with the Academy Awards. It’s good for our brand. It’s good for our people. So while I am concerned I hope we will be judged on how quickly we reacted and owned up to the issue.” 
 
 Watch the moment unfold below: ||||| Owning it. PricewaterhouseCoopers, the auditing firm that handles the Oscars votes, said that they didn’t act “quickly enough” to fix the epic Best Picture flub at the 89th annual Academy Awards on Sunday, February 26. 
 
 “PwC takes full responsibility for the series of mistakes and breaches of established protocols during last night’s Oscars,” the company wrote in a statement, released late Monday, February 27, hours after they apologized for the gaffe in another earlier statement. 
 
 According to PwC, their partner Brian Cullinan accidentally handed presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway the envelope containing the winner of Best Actress, which was La La Land’s Emma Stone. After realizing their error, Beatty, 79, explained to the audience and viewers at home, "I opened the envelope and it said, 'Emma Stone, La La Land.' That's why I took such a long look at Faye. … I wasn't trying to be funny." 
 
 Eddy Chen/ABC via Getty Images 
 
 In their statement, PwC apologized for the way they handled the situation. “Once the error occurred, protocols for correcting it were not followed through quickly enough by Mr. Cullinan or his partner,” the statement continued. 
 
 The company also expressed remorse for those roped into the snafu, including Beatty, Dunaway, 76, and host Jimmy Kimmel, as well as the casts of La La Land and Moonlight. 
 
 “We wish to extend our deepest gratitude to each of them for the graciousness they displayed during such a difficult moment,” the statement said. “For the past 83 years, the Academy has entrusted PwC with the integrity of the awards process during the ceremony, and last night we failed the Academy.” 
 
 Tim Ryan, PwC’s U.S. chairman and senior partner, addressed the drama during an interview with Variety on Monday. “We clearly made a mistake, and once the mistake was made, we corrected it and owned up to it,” he said, adding that Cullinan “feels very, very terrible and horrible” about the mix-up. 
 
 “He is very upset about this mistake,” Ryan added. “And as a firm, given that he is a partner of our firm, it is also my mistake and our mistake, and we all feel very bad.” 
 
 Want stories like these delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up now for the Us Weekly newsletter! ||||| As of mid-Tuesday, officials at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences were still reviewing Sunday night’s Oscar debacle, when La La Land was mistakenly announced as Best Picture instead of Moonlight, and they were still considering possible fixes. An Academy spokeswoman declined to discuss the next steps. But people briefed on the matter dropped some hints. One change, according to a person familiar with the discussions, would involve stationing two auditors — from PricewaterhouseCoopers or otherwise — at each stage entrance, rather than one on each side, as was done until now. 
 
 The extra auditor would act as a fail-safe, presumably keeping anyone from handing presenters the wrong envelope, as happened to Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway on Sunday. According to this person, the present two-auditor system — under which each holds a duplicate set of envelopes on each side of the stage — is designed not so much for safety as convenience: Presenters may enter from left or right, and the idea has been to have envelopes available on both sides. 
 
 Another person said Academy officials are looking hard at the Emma Stone tweet posted by PwC auditor Brian Cullinan just before Dunaway announced the wrong winner onstage. The review, which has been a nonstop process since Sunday night, should make clear whether there was indeed a policy violation, and, if so, what might be done about it. 
 
 Increasingly, Sunday’s last-minute breakdown looks like a compound fracture. An auditor handed off the wrong envelope. Beatty mulled it, then passed it to Dunaway, who proclaimed La La Land the winner without accounting for the announcement’s mention of best actress Stone. Those involved conferred while the announcement and mistaken thank-yous proceeded. No producer halted the process by stepping on-camera or having someone in the booth call a halt. The host, Jimmy Kimmel, was not immediately available to intervene; he was prepping a last-minute coda involving his faux nemesis Matt Damon. In the end, no one looked good. ||||| How could the wrong film have been named as the winner of the Oscars’ most important award? Here are the pictures that tell the story 
 
 Anatomy of an Oscars fiasco: how La La Land was mistakenly announced as best picture 
 
 It will go down in Oscars history as the most awkward, embarrassing moment of all time: an extraordinary failure in the Oscars voting procedure. The traditional high point of the marathon Oscars telecast collapsed in ignominy as organisers were forced to acknowledge that the wrong film – La La Land – had been named best picture winner, instead of the actual victor, Moonlight. We piece together the sequence of events that led to the chaotic scenes. 
 
 1. Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty emerge from the back of the stage to announce the best picture win. 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Photograph: Kevin Winter/Getty Images 
 
 2. A close-up photograph shows Beatty is clearly carrying a winner’s envelope for best actress – the award for which (to La La Land’s Emma Stone) has just taken place. 
 
 3. Beatty begins to read out the winners card, and is obviously puzzled by what he is reading, looking in the envelope to see if there is anything else in there. 
 
 4. Beatty, uncertain, hands the card to Dunaway, who doesn’t appear to know anything is wrong, and presumably reads out the only film title she can see: La La Land. 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Photograph: Kevin Winter/Getty Images 
 
 5. As the second La La Land producer to take the mic, Mark Platt (front), gives his thank you speech, a member of the show’s staff (in headset) takes back the envelopes that have been given to the La La Land producers Jordan Horowitz (holding Oscar) and Fred Berger. 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Photograph: Kevin Winter/Getty Images 
 
 6. By now, the La La Land team know they havn’t actually won. Producer Fred Berger takes over the mic and gives a speech anyway, finishing with: “We lost.” Behind him, the representatives of PricewaterhouseCoopers, who oversee the Oscar vote – Brian Cullinan (holding envelope) and Martha Ruiz (in red dress) – are on stage, examining the envelopes. The accountancy firm have apologised and promised an investigation. 
 
 7. Horowitz holds up his hand to stop the celebrations as the La La Land crew acknowledge that they haven’t won. “This is not a joke,” he tells the audience. 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Photograph: Kevin Winter/Getty Images 
 
 8. By now Beatty has been given the right card, and Horowitz takes it out of his hand and holds it up. Moonlight is clearly the winner. 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Photograph: Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images 
 
 9. As the Moonlight team come forward, Beatty steps out front to explain to Kimmel and the La La Land team what happened. The card he had been given, he says, read “Emma Stone, La La Land”. “I wasn’t trying to be funny.” 
 
 10. Horowitz hands his Oscar to Barry Jenkins, Moonlight’s director. 
 
 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Photograph: Kevin Winter/Getty Images 
 
 11. Jenkins closes the show by summing up the extraordinary turn of events. “Even in my dreams this could not be true. But to hell with it, I’m done with dreams – because this is true.”
– Bonnie and Clyde appear to be off the hook after the most shocking moment in Oscars history—the blunder that saw La La Land announced as Best Picture, only for Moonlight to be declared the real winner when the former film's producers had almost finished their speeches. Accounting firm PwC, which oversees the ballot-counting, says Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway were handed the wrong category envelope. "We are currently investigating how this could have happened, and deeply regret that this occurred," the company formerly known as Price Waterhouse Coopers said in a statement to the AP, apologizing to the presenters, both movies, and Oscars viewers for the fiasco. A roundup of coverage: The Guardian has photos showing moment by moment how things went wrong. Beatty can be seen carrying the red envelope for "Actress in a Leading Role," which he opens, then hands to Dunaway. He later said he was confused because it said "Emma Stone: La La Land." She reads out the movie title. With the La La Land team on stage, Oscars overseers can be seen examining the envelope. USA Today reports that as the La La Land team went on stage, a PwC accountant backstage shouted "He took the wrong envelope!" and ran onstage. "I was ecstatic, it was amazing. I thought we won an Oscar," La La Land producer Jordan Horowitz tells the Hollywood Reporter. But then, "some guys in headsets started buzzing around. It became clear that something was wrong." The New York Times has a transcript of the chaotic minutes onstage. "I'm going to be really proud to hand this to my friends from Moonlight," says Horowitz graciously. La La Land star Ryan Gosling could be seen apparently trying not to laugh during the mix-up, though the BBC's Martha Kearney says he had a "face like thunder" while waiting for a limo after the ceremony. This has never happened before in any category in Oscars history, Vox reports in a look at how PwC handles the envelopes—and at its procedure for handling mix-ups. "It was very quick, I can't talk about it. The card read that way. It was a very odd thing," Dunaway tells the Telegraph, adding: "It wasn't Warren's fault." La La Land star Stone told the media she was excited for Moonlight, which she considers one of the best movies of all time, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. But she added: "I was also holding my Best Actress in a Leading Role card that entire time. So whatever story, I don’t mean to start stuff, but whatever story that was, I had that card." Variety notes that it was also a shock to many that Moonlight had won Best Picture at all, though it had won more best film prizes from critics groups than La La Land. It turns out there was a second big fail on Sunday night.