Al Pacino Presents Best Picture Oscar, Confuses Everyone

By Emily Richardson | Film | March 11, 2024 |

By Emily Richardson | Film | March 11, 2024 |

Usually, when celebrities present at the Academy Awards, they read out the list of nominees, open the envelope, and announce the winner with some variation of, “And the Oscar goes to…” But not Al Pacino. No, no. You ask a sexy legend like Pacino to present an award, he’s gonna do whatever the hell he wants. HOO-AH!

At last night’s ceremony, Al presented the award for Best Picture. After some bit about Shakespeare, the 83-year-old actor skipped the whole “reading out the nominees” part, and got right down to business: “Ten wonderful films were nominated, but only one will take the award for Best Picture… and, uh, I have to go to the envelope for that. And I will. Here it comes.”

The moment Al opened the envelope, he said, “And my eyes see Oppenheimer.” Wait, was that… was that the winner, then? The audience was unsure. Some applauded, others waited for confirmation. Al proceeded to take the card out of the envelope and double check: “Yes… yes.” [cue orchestra] “Emma Thomas, Charles Roven… what happened?” By then, the audience got it. The winner was indeed Oppenheimer!

Obviously, the moment was extremely confusing and a little anti-climactic. Build some tension, Al! Here’s the video:

Today, a source told E! News that the decision to not read the nominees wasn’t Al’s; it was production’s. I guess cuz the Best Film nominees all got their own little sizzle reels throughout the broadcast, they figured it would be redundant. Presenters Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo also skipped announcing the Best Song nominees earlier in the night. Hmmm, I’m not a fan. As someone who dozed off through half the show, I would have appreciated a reminder.

As for, “My eyes see Oppenheimer”, that was all Pacino. On this morning’s episode of LIVE with Kelly and Mark, host Jimmy Kimmel joked about Al’s unorthodox delivery, via Entertainment Weekly:

“I guess he’s never watched an awards show before,” Kimmel quipped with a laugh. “It seems like everyone in America knows the rhythm of how it’s supposed to go, down to ‘And the Oscar goes to…’ but, uh, not Al.”

You know, as confusing as it was, I think we should all leave Pacino alone. Dude is the father of a 9-month-old baby! Do you know how exhausting that is? Al was probably running on just two or three hours of sleep, we’re lucky his eyes saw anything at all. Rest up, dearest Alfredo.