Al Pacino finally spoke up on his mess up at the Oscars this year. The actor said that he was following the instructions of the Oscars producers when he did not name any of the other best picture nominees while announcing Oppenheimer as the winner of the show’s biggest category.
Pacino was the Oscars night’s final presenter and announced Oppenheimer as the best picture winner without naming the full slate of nominees, as is tradition.
Al Pacino addresses the Oscar blunder
Al Pacino forgot to announce the 10 films that were up for the category of Best Picture and went ahead to open the winners’ envelope. In a break from tradition, Pacino, 83, did not recap all 10 nominees in the category before announcing the winner. “Here it comes. And my eyes see Oppenheimer,” he declared.
Pacino issued a statement saying it was not his choice to exclude a reading of the list of nominees, reported Variety and CNN. He shared the statement after announcing Oppenheimer as the winner at the Oscars.
“There seems to be some controversy about my not mentioning every film by name last night before announcing the best picture award,” Pacino said in his statement, per Variety. “I just want to be clear it was not my intention to omit them, rather a choice by the producers not to have them said again since they were highlighted individually throughout the ceremony.”
The actor continued, “I was honored to be a part of the evening and chose to follow the way they wished for this award to be presented. I realize being nominated is a huge milestone in one’s life and to not be fully recognized is offensive and hurtful.”
“I say this as someone who profoundly relates with filmmakers, actors and producers so I deeply empathize with those who have been slighted by this oversight and it’s why I felt it necessary to make this statement,” concluded Pacino.
After the Oscars, the telecast’s producer, Molly McNearney, shared in an interview with Variety that omitting the list of nominees was a creative decision. She explained that the team was “very worried that the show was going to be long.”
“By the time you get to the end of the show, you’ve seen all 10 best picture clip packages,” shared McNearney. “People just want to hear who wins, and they’re pretty ready for the show to be over. At least that’s what we anticipated. So, we did not give him a clip package. We did not give him nominations to read. I apologize if our decision to not have to read through all those nominations put him in a tough spot.”
The producer also confessed that the actor’s choice not to say the phrase, “And the Oscar goes to…” may have made the announcement “a little confusing.” “But listen, that’s the excitement of live television,” added McNearney. “You never know what you’re going to get exactly!”
Al Pacino announces project of a lifetime after Oscars blunder
Al Pacino will publish his all-tell memoir, Sonny Boy: A Memoir, on October 8, spanning his six-decade career in Hollywood. Penguin Press announced the release, and Pacino will also narrate the ebook/audiobook for the book.
Pacino, known for his performances in films from 1969-2004, may win a Grammy for the audio version, completing his “EGOT” status. He was nicknamed “Sonny,” a reference character Alan Parker’s 1980 film Fame, because he was known to be a rebellious teenager back in Manhattan’s High School of Performing Arts.
“I wrote Sonny Boy to express what I’ve seen and been through in my life,” the actor told PEOPLE.
“It has been an incredibly personal and revealing experience to reflect on this journey and what acting has allowed me to do and the worlds it has opened up. My whole life has been a moonshot, and I’ve been a pretty lucky guy so far,” he added.
Pacino has won and been nominated for many awards during his acting career, including nine Oscar nominations and five BAFTA nominations for his film work, 19 Golden Globe nominations and seven SAG Award nominations, each recognizing both his film and TV work, three Primetime Emmy Award nominations solely for his work on television, and three Tony Award nominations for his stage work.
In 2007, the American Film Institute awarded Pacino with a lifetime achievement award and, in 2003, British television viewers voted Pacino as the greatest film star of all time in a poll for Channel 4.
