Jewish ‘La La Land’ producer takes starring role in Oscars gaffe
Despite losses for Jordan Horowitz and Natalie Portman, Jewish Hollywood stars still score big at Academy Awards
“La La Land” producer Jordan Horowitz was in the midst of his acceptance speech for winning the Best Picture award at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles when he found out that all was not right for his big moment.
He was a stand-in for the night’s actual big winner.
“Moonlight” was named Best Picture at the 2017 Academy Awards two minutes after the cast of the film “La La Land” arrived on stage having been mistakenly announced by Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty as the award winners.
The presenters, it turned out, had been given the wrong envelope by tabulators PwC, in this case the one awarding Emma Stone for best actress for her role in “La La Land.” It was not immediately clear how the wrong envelope ended up in the hands of the “Bonnie and Clyde” stars.
Horowitz, holding someone else’s statuette, realized the mistake when he was approached onstage by Academy security in the closing minutes of the Sunday night broadcast from Los Angeles.
Look at Warren Beatty check the envelope a second time. He knew something was wrong #Oscars pic.twitter.com/ko27lOetiB
— Hawkeye KSCS DJ (@HawkeyeOnAir) February 27, 2017
“There’s a mistake,” Horowitz said into the microphone onstage. “This is not a joke, ‘Moonlight’ has won best picture.” He then flashed for the cameras the card from which Dunaway and Beatty should have read.
“I’m going to be really proud to hand this to my friends from ‘Moonlight,’” Horowitz said, raising the golden Oscar statuette that he had been handed.
As confusion and bafflement overwhelmed those in the Dolby Theatre and at home on their couches, “Moonlight” director Barry Jenkins and “La La Land” director Damien Chazelle shared a hug at the back of the stage, out of sight from the television cameras.
“I wasn’t trying to be funny,” Beatty explained, saying he had seen the name Emma Stone from “La La Land” when he opened his envelope.
“The folks of ‘La La Land’ were so gracious. I can’t imagine being in their position and having to do that,” Jenkins told reporters backstage afterward. “It was unfortunate that things happened as they did but, goddamn, we won best picture.”
The cast of “La La Land” still took home six Oscars, after being nominated for 14, tying the record set by “All About Eve” and “Titanic.”
Hours later, Horowitz, who was cheered for being a good sport, said on twitter that he was “Humbled,” congratulating “Moonlight” again.
Humbled. And once again: congrats to Moonlight. A truly beautiful picture made by some even more beautiful people. https://t.co/sOP1K0EiwW
— Jordan Horowitz (@jehorowitz) February 27, 2017
Among those to hop on stage to accept the Oscar for “Moonlight” was producer Jeremy Kleiner, who like Horowitz is a Member of the Tribe.
Emma Stone won Best Actress for her performance in “La La Land,” beating Jewish actresses Natalie Portman and Isabelle Huppert, and Casey Affleck won Best Actor for his role in “Manchester By the Sea”; in the category of Best Supporting Actress, Viola Davis won for her role in “Fences,” and Mahershala Ali won for his performance in “Moonlight.”
During his acceptance speech, Ali thanked his teacher Zelda Fichandler, a Jewish stage producer, director and educator who was chair of the graduate acting program and Master Teacher of Acting and Directing at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.
Chazelle, who won Best Director, grew up in a Catholic household in Princeton, New Jersey, but attended Hebrew school for four years after his parents became dissatisfied with his religious education at a church Sunday school.
Composter Justin Hurwitz, Chazelle’s Jewish roommate at Harvard University, won for Best Original Score and for Best Original song for “City of Stars,” from “La La Land.” Benj Pasek, who is Jewish, and Justin Paul wrote the song’s lyrics. During the acceptance speeches Pasek thanked his mother, who he said “let me quit the JCC soccer league to be in a school musical.”
Kenneth Lonergan, whose mother and stepfather are Jewish, took home an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for “Manchester By the Sea.” He had also been nominated for best director.
Ezra Edelman, who with Caroline Waterlow won in the category Best Documentary Feature for “O.J.: Made in America,” is the son of Marian Wright Edelman and Peter Edelman, among the founders of the New Israel Fund. Ezra Edelman also serves on the board of Americans for Peace Now.
“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” based on the 2001 book by Harry Potter series author J.K. Rowling, which features two Jewish characters, took an Oscar in the Best Costume Design category.
Among the actors who died since the last Academy Awards ceremony were Jewish thespians Gene Wilder, Anton Yelchin, and Carrie Fisher.
AP and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
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