The events that transpired at the end of the 2017 Academy Awards will never be forgotten by anyone in the film industry. While the Best Picture prize was won by Moonlight, La La Land was the title that Warren Beatty read from the envelope he was given, and it caused all kinds of intense confusion. It remains a wild Hollywood event to look back upon nearly eight years later, and director Barry Jenkins recently had his own special opportunity to reflect on it while premiering his latest movie, Mufasa: The Lion King, at the same theater where it all went down.
Jenkins was recently a guest on The Jess Cagle Show on SirusXM, and he spoke about the weirdness of the 2017 Oscars with host Jess Cagle and co-host Julia Cunningham – who were also at the Dolby Theater on February 26, 2017 (the former was in the room and the latter was backstage in the press room). The director explained that when he went to the premiere of Mufasa earlier this month, he had a sense of familiarity with the location, but needed his publicist to explain why. He notes that the chaos of the Best Picture winning moment has rendered his memory "a blur." Said the Moonlight filmmaker,
When you win, you walk through all these back hallways and I was like, ‘Why does this feel so familiar?’ She was like, "You were here. This is where you were," and I just have this white light. It's just all a blur, and then when we walk out on stage, you literally have the same field of view. I was like, ‘Holy shit,’ and it's literally the first moment I've ever been on that stage since the moment we walked off.
In addition to Barry Jenkins' memories from the stage, the interview also features Jess Cagle remembering that "it was like society had melted down" during the 89th Academy Awards, and Julia Cunningham recalls a 1940s-esque atmosphere in the press room with panic in the atmosphere and discarded papers flying in the air.
When you make a film that ends up winning the Oscar for Best Picture, it's not ideal for that victorious moment to get wrapped up in bewilderment, but Barry Jenkins does appreciate that Moonlight has most made a massive impact on Academy Awards history. He notes that he still gets recognized as a direct result the madness of that night, but he also simply loves the fact that people are still discovering and watching a movie he is very proud of. Said Jenkins,
I've been traveling a lot for this movie. You're going through immigration or customs like, ‘Oh, so what are you doing here?’ Just a random question. 'I'm a filmmaker.' 'What have you done? Do I know anything?' It's like, 'Well, maybe, but I did have this thing with the envelope at the Oscars.' 'Oh!' Like every time, and so at the very least, it's stamped that film, and I'm really proud of that film and young people are still discovering it and it's very meaningful for them. So if that experience is going to keep that film in a space where young people who need it can find it, all for the good. All for the good.
You can watch the clip from the Jess Cagle Show interview below:
If you've never actually seen Moonlight, or at least haven't seen it in the eight years since it was released and want to give it a rewatch, the film is now available to stream with a Cinemax add-on to you Hulu subscription. The movie is also available for rental and purchase digitally from a variety of online outlets, and it has been released on 4K UHD.
