Updated
The best picture gaffe may have dominated headlines but there was another mistake made during the Oscars broadcast, when a photo of an "alive and well" Australian producer was mistakenly used during the In Memoriam montage.
Jan Chapman said she was "devastated" by the use of her image in place of her "great friend and long-time collaborator" Janet Patterson.
Australian costume designer Patterson, who was a four-time Oscar nominee — for The Piano, Portrait of a Lady, Oscar and Lucinda, and Bright Star — died in October 2016.
She was honoured during the In Memoriam segment of the ceremony, but the photo accompanying her name and occupation was of Chapman — who is still living and working.
Chapman is known for films including The Last Days of Chez Nous, Love Serenade and Lantana.
The pair worked together on 1994 film The Piano — for which Chapman was also nominated for an Academy Award.
In a statement released to Variety, Chapman said she was "devastated" by the mistake.
"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 said.
"Janet was a great beauty and four-time Oscar nominee and it is very disappointing that the error was not picked up.
"I am alive and well and an active producer."
During the broadcast, comedian Billy Eichner jokingly tweeted: "If anyone from the In Memorium (sic) is still alive please let us know."
The Academy has not yet commented on the error.
Topics: academy-awards-oscars, event, film-movies, human-interest, united-states
First posted