It’s been a few weeks, but it’s still hard to forget the shock and confusion surrounding that notorious Oscars Best Picture announcement flub. Everyone watching at home and milling around on stage was stunned, unaware of what had just happened, and for the most part had insane looks on their faces as everything got slowly sorted out and the realization set in as to just how big a mistake had just taken place.
That is, everyone looked shocked except for one person who just could not stop laughing no matter how hard he tried. Astute viewers — or anyone on the internet in the days following — know that was Ryan Gosling, who had a smirk on his face on stage as he tried to keep his laughter inside. To no avail of course, as he eventually chuckled openly while everybody else hugged and walked off stage. Finally though, after the furor settled down, Gosling has revealed what exactly was going through his mind in that moment.
During a speech at the Adobe Summit, Gosling said,
“What really was happening as I was watching, it was surreal anyway, I was watching people start to have this panicked reaction in the crowd and guys were coming on with headsets and I felt like someone had been hurt. I thought there was some kind of medical situation, and I had this worst case scenario playing out in my head.”
“And then I just heard, ‘Oh, “Moonlight” won,’ and I was so relieved that I started laughing. But truthfully, I was also so thrilled that ‘Moonlight’ won, I know the director…I’ve worked with them before. It’s such a groundbreaking film, made for a million dollars, and incredible achievement and I’m so happy for them that they were being recognized.”
So there you have it. Gosling was so relieved things weren’t completely dire or that an emergency was happening somewhere in the building that he burst out in laughter. And was caught on video as the only one out of a large group looking like he was having a mental break in a moment many will not soon forget.