Oscars 2024: Al Pacino’s presentation left some confused

There was no envelop mix up at the Oscars on Sunday, but there was some confusion in the audience when Al Pacino casually announced “Oppenheimer” had won best picture.

The “Godfather” star began to reveal the winner of the night’s top prize by saying, “Ten wonderful films were nominated, but only one will take the award for best picture.”

There was no announcement of the other films nominated in the category before Pacino moved on to the main event.

“I have to go to the envelope for that, and I will. Here it comes. And my eyes see ‘Oppenheimer.’ Yes. Yes.”

There was a pause before the audience began to applaud and the orchestra started playing. The cast and crew of “Oppenheimer” then rose to take the stage to accept the award that most Oscars observers predicted they would win.

Moments before Pacino took the stage, Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel had made a joke about needing to tear up the envelope that had Emma Stone’s name on it for best actress for “Poor Things,” a reference to the best picture mix up of 2017, when “La La Land” was accidentally named the winner before it was announced that “Moonlight” had actually won.

Pacino was just being Pacino, according to Bill Kramer, chief executive of the Academy.

“Everything went beautifully,” Kramer told the New York Times. “He was just having fun up there.”

CNN has reached out to representatives for Pacino for comment.