Yikes! Australian film producer Jan Chapman is alive and well, despite being featured in the In Memoriam segment during the 2017 Oscars on Sunday, February 26. Watch the video above.
Chapman’s photo was used to represent Janet Patterson, an Australian costume designer who died in October 2016. (Details on her death and age were not provided at the time.) She was a four-time Academy Award nominee and was best known for working on period films such as Far From the Madding Crowd and The Piano.
This came up in the In Memoriam section at #Oscars2017. But isn’t this (living) Australian film producer Jan Chapman? pic.twitter.com/YKIMGBUv5E
— David Berthold (@DavidBerthold) February 27, 2017
Some viewers were quick to notice the mix-up. “This came up in the In Memoriam section at #Oscars2017. But isn’t this (living) Australian film producer Jan Chapman?” one person tweeted.
A second added: “Oops. Did #Oscars just show living producer Jan Chapman in place of deceased costume designer Janet Patterson during In Memoriam?!” (Florence Henderson and Garry Shandling were also left out of the segment.)
Chapman addressed the mistake in an email to Variety. “I was devastated by the use of my image in place of my great friend and long-time collaborator Janet Patterson. I had urged her agency to check any photograph which might be used and understand that they were told that the Academy had it covered,” she wrote. “[It’s] very disappointing… I am alive and well and an active producer.”
Of course, that wasn’t even the biggest blunder of the night. La La Land was initially announced the winner for Best Picture, even though Moonlight really won the top honor. Presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway were handed the wrong envelope before they took the stage, and the La La Land cast and crew were interrupted during their acceptance speech.
“This is not a joke,” La La Land producer Jordan Horowitz announced after finding out the truth. The crowd gasped as the casts of each film switched places. “It’s very unfortunate,” host Jimmy Kimmel said.