Al Pacino spoke out about the concerns surrounding his presentation of the 2024 Best Picture Oscar to Oppenheimer, saying it was a choice made by the show’s producers.
The Godfather star Al Pacino caused quite a stir at the 2024 Oscars March 10 when he presented the Best Picture award to Oppenheimer without listing all other nominees first.
Now, the Oscar-winner is now speaking out on the matter, that the presenting style was decided on ahead of time and not a choice he made in the moment.
“There seems to be some controversy about my not mentioning every film by name last night before announcing the best picture award,” the 83-year-old said in a March 11 statement to 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.”
And regardless of the critiques he received, Al Pacino was just thrilled to be there.
“I was honored to be a part of the evening,” he continued, “and chose to follow the way they wished for this award to be presented.”
Typically, the presenter for Best Picture briefly lists the nominees in the category before announcing the winner. Pacino, however, did not, instead telling the audience, “Ten wonderful films were nominated, but only one will take the award for Best Picture—and I have to go to the envelope for that.” He then announced the winner, saying, “My eyes see Oppenheimer.”
And fans were very much divided on the Academy’s choice to go that route.
“Most anti-climatic Best Picture announcement ever,” one Oscar watcher wrote on X. “I wanted to see all of the nominees.” Another joked Pacino’s presentation style was an “Oscar worthy performance in its own right.”
But regardless of how it was announced, Oppenheimer was still the big winner of the night, taking home seven awards including Best Actor for Cillian Murphy, Best Supporting Actor for Robert Downey Jr. and Best Director for Christopher Nolan, in addition to Best Picture.