Emma Stone, who won Best Actress, had kept her card and envelope, but since there is always a duplicate set of envelopes kept backstage ‘just in case,’ it appears that somehow, it was the duplicate that was handed to Beatty instead of the Best Picture envelope.
The 2017 Academy Awards will now forever be remembered for one thing; the massive blunder that resulted in the wrong movie being awarded Best Picture.
With the world watching, Faye Dunaway declared that La La Land had won the category, and cast and crew took the stage to accept the award.
As it turns out, presenter Warren Beatty had been given a Best Actress envelope in error, which is why, in footage from the event, he appears to look for another card in the envelope and then check with Dunaway.