--- title: Oscars 2017: Warren Beatty Explains La La Land Mistake description: He and Faye Dunaway accidentally announced La La Land had won best picture, when in fact Moonlight was the winner. Here's how it happened. canonical: https://time.com/4683501/oscars-2017-best-picture-warren-beatty/ author: Eliana Dockterman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-27T05:40:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T03:32:10.005Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Watch Warren Beatty Explain How the Wrong Best Picture Oscar Winner Was Announced og:description: He and Faye Dunaway accidentally announced 'La La Land' had won best picture, when in fact 'Moonlight' was the winner og:url: https://time.com/4683501/oscars-2017-best-picture-warren-beatty/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0831173a55046313/6988bc16a988cae0ca6bb27e/gettyimages-645721308.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 89th Annual Academy Awards - Show og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch Warren Beatty Explain How the Wrong Best Picture Oscar Winner Was Announced twitter:description: He and Faye Dunaway accidentally announced 'La La Land' had won best picture, when in fact 'Moonlight' was the winner twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0831173a55046313/6988bc16a988cae0ca6bb27e/gettyimages-645721308.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch Warren Beatty Explain How the Wrong Best Picture Oscar Winner Was Announced  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Feb 27, 2017 5:40 AM UTC  HOLLYWOOD, CA - FEBRUARY 26: Actors Faye Dunaway (L) and Warren Beatty speak onstage during the 89th Annual Academy Awards at Hollywood & Highland Center on February 26, 2017 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images) HOLLYWOOD, CA - FEBRUARY 26: Actors Faye Dunaway (L) and Warren Beatty speak onstage during the 89th Annual Academy Awards at Hollywood & Highland Center on February 26, 2017 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)Kevin Winter—Getty Images  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Feb 27, 2017 5:40 AM UTC When Warren Beatty first opened the envelope to announce the winner for the [Best Picture Oscar](http://time.com/4680083/oscars-2017-winners-list/) Sunday night, he looked confused. He looked over to his co-presenter, Faye Dunaway for reassurance. “You’re impossible,” she said. “Come on.” He handed her the envelope, and Dunaway announced that _La La Land_ was the winner. Except _La La Land_ didn’t win. [_Moonlight_ did](http://time.com/4683500/oscars-2017-wrong-best-picture-announced/). The _La La Land_ creators were already giving their acceptance speeches when producers from the Oscars came on stage to tell them about the mixup. As the _La La Land_ creators and stars left the stage and the bewildered but elated _Moonlight_ winners took their place, Beatty came on stage to explain the mixup. “I want to tell you what happened. I opened the envelope and it said Emma Stone _La La Land_,” he explained. Stone had just won the Best Actress nominee for the film. “That’s why I took such a long look at Faye and at you. I wasn’t trying to be funny. This is _Moonlight_, the Best Picture.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4683501/oscars-2017-best-picture-warren-beatty/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4683501/oscars-2017-best-picture-warren-beatty/"},"headline":"Watch Warren Beatty Explain How the Wrong Best Picture Oscar Winner Was Announced","datePublished":"2017-02-27T05:40:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T03:32:10.005Z","description":"He and Faye Dunaway accidentally announced La La Land had won best picture, when in fact Moonlight was the winner","url":"https://time.com/4683501/oscars-2017-best-picture-warren-beatty/","keywords":["awards","Oscars 2017"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0831173a55046313/6988bc16a988cae0ca6bb27e/gettyimages-645721308.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0831173a55046313/6988bc16a988cae0ca6bb27e/gettyimages-645721308.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"89th Annual Academy Awards - Show","caption":"89th Annual Academy Awards - Show","creditText":"Kevin Winter—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/awards/","name":"awards"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4683501/oscars-2017-best-picture-warren-beatty/","name":"Watch Warren Beatty Explain How the Wrong Best Picture Oscar Winner Was Announced"}}]}] ```