Who can forget Oscars 2017? It will probably remembered in the history of Academy Awards for its colossal gaffe when Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway presented the Best Picture award to La La Land because of a mix-up in the envelopes. The actual winner was Moonlight.
Fun fact: Beatty and Dunaway will return as presenters for this year’s Oscars. Jimmy Kimmel, who is hosting the awards show second time in a row, told TIME magazine about last year’s goof-up, “I was sitting with Matt Damon (in the audience), and when we determined that something was awry, I thought somebody’s gotta go up there and say something… Denzel Washington actually gave me a signal to let the guys from Moonlight speak, which made sense. Luckily Denzel was thinking, because I really wasn’t…It was like I was walking around in a dream.”
Talking about goof-ups, remember when John Travolta said, “Please welcome the wickedly talented, one and only Adele Dazeem,” to bring ‘Let It Go’ singer Idina Menzel on stage?
Over the years Oscars night has become more than just an award ceremony. The red carpet, the opening monologue, the big surprises and the many many moments keep the cinema lovers hooked throughout. With the Academy Awards just a few days away, we look at some fun facts about the Oscars and relive some memories. Unlike Joe Pesci’s very short acceptance speech, we might have gotten a bit carried away.
The hosts
Actor-comedian Bob Hope has hosted the Oscars 16 times, thereby topping the chart. Agnes Moorehead was the first female host who co-hosted the 20th Academy Awards with Dick Powell in 1947. There have been many following her, including Whoopi Goldberg and Ellen DeGeneres (and her crazy selfie ideas).
The Oscar hosts have created many memorable moments like Chris Rock’s biting opening monologue tackling racism in Hollywood, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin’s grand entry, Jimmy Kimmel’s ongoing his feud with Matt Damon.
Hosting this year’s award ceremony will be a challenge for Jimmy Kimmel as Hollywood is reeling from the aftermath of the Harvey Weinstein scandal and the #MeToo movement.
It’s all happening! #Oscars pic.twitter.com/oxPwGdXKKy
— Jimmy Kimmel Live (@JimmyKimmelLive) February 27, 2018
The infamous snubs
This year, Martin McDonagh not getting nominated in the Best Director category for the brilliant Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is a snub all right. Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick, considered the greatest auteurs of their generation, have never won an Oscar for best director. Even Peter O’Toole, the legendary British actor, never took an Oscar home, not even for his performance in the classic Lawrence of Arabia.
Big moments
In 1973, Marlon Brando declined the Academy Award for Best Actor for his iconic role as Vito Corleone in The Godfather. He boycotted the ceremony and sent Sacheen Littlefeather instead. Littlefeather, who was the the president of the National Native American Affirmative Image Committee, declined the award on Brando’s behalf and gave an impassioned speech against the treatment of the Native Americans by the film and television industry.
Adrien Brody who won the Best Actor Oscar in 2003 for The Pianist planted a big kiss on presenter Halle Berry before starting his speech. The video is one of the top most-watched Oscar acceptance speech videos on YouTube.
And who can forget the 12-minute standing ovation that Charlie Chaplin got on receiving an honorary Oscar.
The upsets
Citizen Kane losing out to John Ford’s How Green Was My Valley in 1942 and Forrest Gump winning over Pulp Fiction and cult classic Shawshank Redemption are considered some of the major upsets in Academy Awards history. Underdog movie Rocky triumphing over Sidney Lumet’s Network and All the President’s Men is also part of the list. It still remains a surprise that Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola did not win the Best Director award for Goodfellas and The Godfather respectively.
Find out more fun facts about this year’s Oscars, click here.
