The world according to Dan.

Oscars accountants involved in best picture mix-up won’t be back

The two accountants responsible for the shocking best picture mix-up at the 89th annual Oscars will not work on the show again, a spokesperson for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has confirmed.

According to the Associated Press, which first reported the news, academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs said the organization’s 83-year relationship with the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers remains under review.

PwC accountants Brian Cullinan and Martha Ruiz were in charge of the winners’ envelopes at Sunday’s ceremony, each holding a complete set on opposite sides of the stage. Cullinan handed presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway the wrong envelope for Best Picture, shortly after tweeting a photo (since deleted) of best actress winner Emma Stone. Boone Isaacs told the AP that Cullinan was distracted from his duties.

Beatty was visibly perplexed by what was the second best actress envelope naming Stone the winner for La La Land. He then showed it to Dunaway, who erroneously announced La La Land as the best picture winner. It was only after two minutes — and two and a half acceptance speeches — that the mistake was corrected and Moonlight was declared the real best picture.

The episode stunned Oscars attendees and those watching the broadcast.

Within hours of the blunder, PwC released a statement apologizing “to Moonlight, La La Land, Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, and Oscar viewers for the error.” The firm followed up Monday, taking “full responsibility for the series of mistakes and breaches of established protocols” that caused the mix-up.

The academy was mum until Monday night, finally issuing a statement that said, “We deeply regret the mistakes that were made during the presentation of the Best Picture category during last night’s Oscar ceremony. We apologize to the entire cast and crew of La La Land and Moonlight whose experience was profoundly altered by this error. We salute the tremendous grace they displayed under the circumstances. To all involved — including our presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, the filmmakers, and our fans watching worldwide — we apologize.”

The academy also apologized Wednesday for mistakenly running a photo of a living producer during the Oscars’ annual In Memoriam segment.

‘Moonlight’ wins Best Picture at Oscars after shock ‘La La Land’ mix-up

In the most shocking mix-up in Oscars history, Moonlight won best picture at the Academy Awards — but only after presenter Faye Dunaway announced La La Land as the winner, setting off mass confusion inside the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles.

“I want to tell you what happened,” co-presenter Warren Beatty explainer after the mix-up was revealed. “I opened the envelope and it said Emma Stone, La La Land. That’s why I took such a long look at Faye and at you. I wasn’t trying to be funny.”

“Well, I don’t know what happened. I blame myself for this,” Kimmel joked after the moment. “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 have some great movies. I knew I would screw this show up, I really did. Thank you for watching. I’m back to work tomorrow night on my regular show. I promise I’ll never come back. Good night!”

Speaking after the mix-up had been rectified, Moonlight director Barry Jenkins said, “Very clearly, very clearly in my dreams this could not be true. But to hell with my dreams. I’m done with it because this is true. Oh my goodness.”

He added a note of praise to his La La Land opponents, “And I have to say it is true. It’s not fake. We’ve been on the road with these guys for so long. My love to La La Land. My love to everybody. Man.”

In addition to providing the Oscars with its most surprising moment in history, the Moonlight win represented a huge upset as well. Heading into the night, Damien Chazelle’s musical had been expected to win best picture — and paced the field with 14 nominations, tied for the most ever. La La Land enjoyed success throughout the night as well, winning six total awards, including best director for Chazelle and best actress for Emma Stone.

But Moonlight ultimately walked away with the top prize, along with two other honors: best supporting actor for Mahershala Ali and best adapted screenplay for Jenkins and playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney.

Based on McCraney’s play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue and adapted for the screen by him and Jenkins, Moonlight unfolds over three chapters in the life of a young, gay black man growing up in a rough Miami neighborhood.

That character, Chiron, is played by three different actors over the course of the film (Alex R. Hibbert as a young boy, Ashton Sanders as a teen, and Trevante Rhodes as an adult), while the supporting cast includes Oscar nominee Naomie Harris as Chiron’s mother — who descends into drug addiction as the film progresses — and Ali a local dealer who becomes a father figure to the young Chiron.

“There was a time when I thought this movie was impossible because I couldn’t bring it to fruition I couldn’t bring myself to tell another story so everybody behind me on this stage said no, that’s not acceptable,” Jenkins said in accepting the Oscar on Sunday night. “So I just wanna thank everybody up here behind me. Everybody out there in that room because we didn’t do this. You guys chose us. Thank you.”

Moonlight was nominated in the best picture category alongside Arrival, Fences, Hidden Figures, Hacksaw Ridge, Hell or High Water, La La Land, Lion, and Manchester by the Sea.

Oscars attack Trump: Celebs unleashed on Hollywood’s big night

The first salvo against Donald Trump was fired only a few minutes into the Oscars — and then they just kept on coming.

In what might be an unprecedented numbers of jokes, allusions, and sincere articulations inspired by a single person during an awards telecast, Hollywood’s most luminous tackled Trump and his policies during the the 89th annual Academy Awards. From host Jimmy Kimmel’s opening monologue, to the acceptance speeches, to those blue ribbons on tuxedo lapels, there were direct and indirect references to the 45th president throughout the ceremony.

The Oscars got underway with a joyous opening musical number by Justin Timberlake performing best original song nominee “Can’t Stop the Feeling” that brought the crowd to its feet. Then Kimmel took the stage and threw out a slew of POTUS jokes.

“This is being watched live by millions of people in 225 countries that now hate us,” Kimmel told the Dolby Theater (full monologue video below).

Kimmel also had this to say: “I want to say thank you to President Trump. Remember last year when it seemed like the Oscars were racist? … It’s gone thanks to him.”

And this: “In Hollywood, we don’t discriminate against people based on what countries they come from. We discriminate on them based on their age and weight.”

Kimmel also made jokes about “mediocre” and “overrated” Meryl Streep — a reference to Trump’s criticism of the actress, who slammed him during the Golden Globes last month.

And the ABC late-night host noted that actors will give speeches that “the president will tweet about in all caps during his 5 a.m. bowel movement tomorrow.”

But Kimmel also surprised by throwing out this plea for unity: “If every person watching this show … if every one of you took a minute to reach out to someone you disagree with, someone you like and have a positive, considerate conversation — not as liberals and conservatives, but as Americans — we could make America great again.”

Yet the host noted that he’s probably the wrong person to unite the country. “I can’t do that,” Kimmel said as the camera shifted to showing Hacksaw Ridge director Mel Gibson, a best director nominee, seated in the audience. “There’s only one Braveheart in this room — and he’s not going to unite us either.”

After the monologue, Kimmel was far from done: “Doctor Strange was nominated for special effects — and also Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.”

Later, when Iranian director Asghar Farhadi won for The Salesman, the award was accepted on his behalf by Anousheh Ansari, famed for being the first female space tourist. Ansari read a blistering letter from Farhadi, who declared last month he would not attend the Oscars in the wake of Trump’s executive order blocking citizens from Iran and six other predominantly Muslim countries from entering the U.S. (The ban has since been halted by judicial decisions.)

“I’m sorry I’m not with you tonight,” Farhadi said via the letter. “My absence is out of respect for the people of my country and from the other six nations whom have been disrespected by the inhumane law which bans immigrants entry into the U.S.” Ansari was interrupted by cheers here, then continued: “Dividing the world into the ‘us and our enemies’ categories creates fear — a deceitful justification for aggression and war. These wars prevent democracy and human rights in countries which themselves have been victims of aggression. Filmmakers can turn their cameras to capture shared human qualities and break stereotypes of various nationalities and religions. They create empathy between us and others — an empathy we need today more than ever.”

Trump’s immigration policy was also in the spotlight when The White Helmets — about the Syrian civil war — won best documentary short. U.S. immigration authorities reportedly barred its 21-year-old cinematographer Khaled Khateeb from traveling to Los Angeles for the Oscars. Director Orlando von Einsiedel noted, “It’s very easy to feel these guys have been forgotten, the war has been going on for six years, if everyone here could just stand up and remind them that we all care that this war ends as quickly as possible.”

Likewise when Barry Jenkins who won best-adapted screenplay for Moonlight along with Tarell Alvin McCraney, he told viewers, “All you people out there who feel like there’s no mirror for you, that your lives are not reflected, The Academy has your back, the ACLU has your back, we have your back, and for the next four years we will not leave you alone, we will not forget you.”

In another instance, actor Gael Garcia Bernal took a shot at Trump’s border wall plan while introducing best animated film: “Flesh and blood actors are migrant workers. We travel all over the world. We construct families, we build life, but we cannot be divided. As a Mexican, as a Latin American, as a migrant worker, as a human being, I’m against any form of wall that wants to separate us.”

And when Zootopia won that animation category, director Rich Moore pointedly noted, “We are so grateful to audiences to audiences all over the world who embraced this film with this story of tolerance being more powerful than fear of the Other.”

After so many references to Trump policies, Kimmel even tweeted to the president while on stage.

But wait, there was more: After Swedish cinematographer Linus Sandgren won for La La Land, Kimmel threw out a quip referencing Trump’s much-debated comment last week suggesting Sweden was attacked: “We’re so sorry about what happened in Sweden last week. We hope your friends are okay.”

And even when presenting the final award of the night — best picture — Warren Beatty along with Faye Dunaway seemed to allude to the topic at hand as well. “Our goal in politics is the same as our goal in art — and that’s to get to the truth,” Beatty said. [Movies] show us the increasing diversity in our community and a respect for diversity and freedom all over the world.”

(After that, of course, Trump was quickly forgotten amid the jaw-dropping chaos of Dunaway reading the wrong winner, but that’s a whole other story).

Sunday’s ceremony was expected to one of the most politicized in memory given Hollywood largely standing in opposition to President Trump and his policies. Even on the red carpet before the show began, several stars were spotted wearing the blue “Stand with the ACLU” ribbons. While the nonprofit organization is considered nonpartisan, its mission to protect “individual rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and law of the U.S.” has become rather topical of late as the ACLU has mobilized an effort to resist Trump’s deportation plans.

On Saturday, Hollywood had a warm-up round at the Film Independent Spirit Awards, where Casey Affleck used his acceptance speech for best actor to call out Trump’s policies as “abhorrent” and “un-American.”

Moonlight sweeps Film Independent Spirit Awards

SANTA MONICA, CALIF.—Sunday might be dominated by La La Land, but Saturday belonged to Moonlight.

Barry Jenkins’s luminous coming-of-age tale swept Saturday’s Film Independent Spirit Awards, taking home six awards including best feature. Moonlightwon every award it was nominated for at the 32nd annual indie awards, the dressed-down, beachside ceremony held the day before the Academy Awards.

Moonlight won for its directing, screenplay, cinematography and editing. It was also honoured for its ensemble cast in the Spirit Awards’ Robert Altman Award. Backstage, Jenkins said its tale of a poor, young, black kid in Miami stood in stark contrast to President Donald Trump’s administration.

“I think Moonlight exists as a beacon of inclusivity,” Jenkins said, flanked by his African-American cast and producers.

The afternoon ceremony frequently had a strong political tenor. Casey Affleck, who won best actor for Manchester by the Sea, wore a shirt with the word “love” in Arabic.

“The policies of this administration are abhorrent and will not last,” Affleck said accepting his award. Backstage, he spoke about “the torrent of terrifying news that comes out of Washington every day.”

Some Oscar contenders were missing their presumed rivals at the Spirit Awards, which only nominated films made for $20 million or less (and thus disqualifying the Academy Awards favourite La La Land). But if Moonlight, nominated for eight Oscars including best picture, is to pull off the upset Sunday, it has some history on its side. The last three Spirit Awards best-feature winners — Spotlight, Birdman, 12 Years a Slave — all went on to win best picture at the Oscars.

Host Nick Kroll and John Mulaney maintained a rigorously irreverent tone through a ceremony often punctuated by belly laughs. In their opening monologue, Kroll mockingly defended the common charge of “liberal elitism” often thrown at Hollywood events like the Spirits.

“We’re not in a bubble. We’re in a tent,” Kroll said, referring to the Spirits’ home in Santa Monica, California. “We’re fringe artists on a California beach. If we leaned any further to the left, we’d topple into the ocean.”

Instead of a lengthy in memoriam reel, they opted instead for a highlight of those who didn’t die, singling out Milos Foreman and Tim Allen while Andy Samberg, doing his best Eddie Vedder, sang Pearl Jam’s “Alive.”

Best actress went to Isabelle Huppert, the French actress of Elle, who bested Natalie Portman and Annette Bening. Just as Affleck wasn’t up against Oscar favourite Denzel Washington in best actor, the best actress category was missing Emma Stone of La La Land.

Molly Shannon, the former Saturday Night Live cast member, supplied one of the afternoon’s highpoints. She was visibly overjoyed by winning best supporting actress for her performance in Other People. She concluded her speech by exclaiming, “I really truly feel like a … SUPERSTAR!” — aping her old SNL character.

Other awards also went to films far outside the Oscar candidates. Robert Eggers’s well-researched The Witch, set in 17th-century Massachusetts, won for both best first feature and best first screenplay. He thanked the Puritans for “writing down so much stuff.”

Ezra Edelman’s O.J.: Made in America took best documentary. Best foreign language film went to Maren Ade’s Toni Erdmann.

The Cassavettes Award, which honours the best feature made for less than $500,000 went to Andrew Ahn’s Korean gay-immigrant drama Spa Night. Taking the stage Ahn first remarked, “I’m going to barf,” but quickly collected himself, speaking tenderly about his parents’ acceptance of their gay son and the need for acceptance of immigrants, gays and other communities.

“We are part of this great country,” Ahn said. “And we are undeniable.”

‘Batman v Superman,’ ‘Hillary’s America’ top Razzie Awards

LOS ANGELES—Neither Batman nor Dinesh D’Souza could finagle their way out of a Razzie.

The annual Golden Raspberry Awards bestowed a tying four “honours” to both D’Souza’s documentary “Hillary’s America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party” and the superhero blockbuster “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.”

D’Souza’s film was named the worst picture of the year on Saturday, and the conservative author got both worst director (with co-director Bruce Schooley) and worst actor for playing himself. Worst actress went to Rebekah Turner who played Hillary Clinton.

“This is absolutely fantastic,” said D’Souza in a video statement. “My audience loves the fact that you hate me. Thank you.”

Not to be outdone, Zack Snyder’s $250 million “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” also picked up four “wins” including worst remake, worst screenplay and worst screen combo for its dueling stars Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill. Jesse Eisenberg was also singled out as the worst supporting actor for his over-the-top portrayal of Superman baddie Lex Luthor.

Both films were widely panned by critics upon their release — D’Souza’s film for being biased and sensationalist and Snyder’s for its messiness. While D’Souza’s outing is likely a one-time deal, there is more to come in the DC Comic Book Universe from Snyder whose “Justice League” hits theatres in Nov.

Another poorly received film, “Zoolander 2,” got away with only one award, which went to Kristen Wiig for worst supporting actress.

The organization also bestowed the “redeemer” award to Mel Gibson, who was previously nominated for “The Expendables 3” and this year has climbed back up to the ranks to more prestigious awards. Gibson is nominated for a best director Oscar for his World War II film “Hacksaw Ridge.”

The Razzie Awards are determined by around 1,000 voting Razzie members from 25 countries, while Worst Screen Combo was voted on by “thousands” through a Rotten Tomatoes partnership.