Actor Al Pacino recently participated in the 2024 Academy Awards ceremony for the Oscars. The Scarface star presented the best picture category. However, he did so in a very unconventional manner, and now Al Pacino has taken the time to respond to his viral Oscars moment.
As noted by Variety, viewers were surprised when Al Pacino didn’t list the ten nominees for best picture when presenting the award. Surprisingly enough, he opened the envelope and delivered the following line:
“And my eyes see ‘Oppenheimer.'”
It was quiet unexpected and drew a lot of conversation on social media as a result. Now the publication shares the following statement from Pacino who claims that it wasn’t his “intention to omit them.” Here’s how he explained the situation:
“There seems to be some controversy about my not mentioning every film by name last night before announcing the best picture award,” Pacino begins. “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. I was honored to be a part of the evening and chose to follow the way they wished for this award to be presented.”
His statement continues:
“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. ”
Oscars producer Molly McNearney offered her own statement on the matter, confirming that “it was a creative decision.” Specifically because they were “very worried that the show was going to be long” and they’d already showed clips from the ten best picture nominees during the ceremony.
“By the time you get to the end of the show, you’ve seen all 10 best picture clip packages,” McNearney said. “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.”
She admits that it was “a little confusing” for Pacino not to use the traditional line “And the Oscar goes to…” with the following response intended to justify the line’s absence:
“But listen, that’s the excitement of live television. You never know what you’re going to get exactly!”
In addition to viewers, host Jimmy Kimmel shared his own confusion in response to Kelly Ripa after the ceremony ended. He had this to say:
“I guess he’s never watched an awards show before. It seems like everyone in America knows the rhythm of how it’s supposed to go…down to the ‘And the Oscar goes to…’ But not Al Pacino! God bless him.”
It’s certainly an interesting way to shakeup the Oscars. Stay tuned to ScreenGeek for any additional updates as we have them.