The world lost its damn mind when La La Land's win for Best Picture was quickly rescinded in favour of the actual favourite film, Moonlight. That crazy Oscars snafu may have been the most awkward thing to ever happen during the industry's biggest night, but at least some people are having fun with it. According to a report from Time Out, a cinema decided to troll an audience with a very timely prank, and it's perhaps the funniest thing to come out of this "wrong envelope" fiasco. (Sorry, La La Land producers.)
Time Out reports that the Rio cinema in Dalston had a little fun with an audience hoping to see Best Picture winner Moonlight. According to the site, the cinema played 20 seconds of La La Land prior to screening the real movie — and even sent in workers to faux fumble around for the "right" film. Fortunately, the audience clearly tuned in for Sunday night's fiasco: According to the report, the sold-out theatre got the joke immediately, and broke into applause.
For movie purists concerned that the prank spoiled a few seconds of Damien Chazelle's movie musical, fear not: Time Out's interview with the Rio's manager revealed that the single-screen community theatre only played a teaser for La La Land, rather than the opening of the actual flick. (So, no: Fans did not have the best song in the film, "Another Day of Sun," ripped away from them so cruelly.)
As much as Moonlight deserves to be known as more than the movie that beat out La La Land (it's the first LGBTQ movie to score Best Picture, and is fantastically moving) cinephiles should appreciate this funny nod to this historic moment in Oscars' history. La La Land may have had another day of sun, but in this case, the audience basked in the moonlight.