A little more than 24 hours after making headlines over his botched Best Picture Award presentation at the 2024 Oscars, Al Pacino releases a statement about the incident.
During his presentation, Pacino skipped announcing the names of all nominees and just announced the winner. “This is the time for the last award of the evening, and it’s my honor to present it. Ten wonderful films were nominated, but only one will take the award for Best Picture.”
“Only one will take the award for Best Picture,” he stated on stage. “And I have to go to the envelope for that, and I will. Here it comes. My eyes see Oppenheimer.”
The other nominees were American Fiction, Anatomy of a Fall, Barbie, The Holdovers, Killers of the Flower Moon, Maestro, Past Lives, Poor Things, and The Zone of Interest.
In a statement to The New York Post, Al Pacino spoke about what happened. “There seems to be some controversy about my not mentioning every film by name last night before announcing the Best Picture award.”
“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.”
Pacino also stated that he was honored to be part of the evening. He was also happy to be selected to “follow the way” the Academy 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.”
Oscar Producer Speaks Out About Al Pacino’s Presentation
Al Pacino’s statement comes just after the Oscar producer, Molly Nearney spoke to Variety about his presentation. McNearney said Pacino’s presentation was always supposed to be fast.
“It was a creative decision we made,” McNearney confirmed. “Because we were 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. 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.”
McNearney then said they didn’t give Al Pacino a clip package. They also didn’t 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.”