Ryan Gosling has explained the mysterious fit of the giggles he suffered at last month’s Oscars ceremony.
The La La Land actor was pictured attempting to hold back laughter as it was revealed that his film had incorrectly been awarded best picture.
Gosling’s giggling attracted considerable attention online, with some contrasting it to the horrified reaction of the rest of La La Land’s cast and crew. But Gosling has explained that he was merely expressing his relief that the disruption on stage wasn’t the result of something more serious.
“I was watching people start to have this panicked reaction in the crowd,” he told the Adobe Summit in Las Vegas, according to Entertainment Tonight. “Guys were coming on with headsets and I felt like someone had been hurt.
“I thought there was some kind of medical situation, and I had this worst-case scenario playing out in my head. And then I just heard Moonlight won and I was so relieved that I started laughing,” he added.
Moonlight was belatedly declared the best picture winner after Faye Dunaway mistakenly announced that La La Land had won the award. It emerged that Warren Beatty, who was presenting the award with Dunaway, had been handed the incorrect envelope by representatives of PricewaterhouseCoopers, the accountancy firm that oversees Oscars voting. Academy Awards head Cheryl Boone Isaacs later announced that the PWC partners in question, Brian Cullinan and Martha Ruiz, would be banned from working at future Oscars ceremonies.
Despite the mix-up, Gosling said he was pleased for the eventual best-picture winner. “Truthfully, I was also so thrilled that Moonlight won. It’s such a groundbreaking film, made for a million dollars, an incredible achievement, and I’m so happy for them that they were being recognised,” he said.
