Warren Beaty talks 'chaotic' Oscars snafu with Graham Norton

'I thought well, maybe this is a misprint'

Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty... with the wrong envelope (Getty)

The Oscars were pretty unremarkable. As expected, La La Land scooped numerous awards, including Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, and Best Production.

But then, something spectacular happened: Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway — through no fault of their own — announced that Damien Chazelle’s film had won Best Picture.

As we all know, Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight was the real winner, leading to an awkward exchange of trophies on-stage and speculation over why the mix-up happened.

Appearing on The Graham Norton Show, Beatty called the event ‘chaos’ while defending his part in the incident and Dunaways.

“I thought well, maybe this is a misprint,” he said. “And then, I shouldn’t foul up the show just because someone made a little error.”

Asked whether he handed the letter to Dunaway to move fault to her, Beatty responded: “My instructions were to take the envelope when I walked out. I couldn’t have it before that. And then I go out, and then I say something, and then I open the envelope and then I give it to Faye and she then says what it says.”

In a final comment, Norton joked how the event was “all anyone could talk about,” to which the actor quipped: “No, that’s not true, people talk about themselves.”

Following the Oscars snafu, the accounting firm PwC - who have overseen the awards since 1934 - were found to blame. The Academy announced they will continue working with PwC but will confiscate phones from handlers in attendance due to the incident.