Oscars 2017: Warren Beatty refused to run away from #EnvelopeGate despite wife's warnings

Shortly after incident, Bonnie and Clyde star got a call from wife Annette Bening insisting he keep his head down.

Oscars 2017: Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty — Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty on-stage at the Oscars 2017, shortly before they wrongfully announced La La Land as the best picture winner Mark Ralston / Getty

The 89th Academy Awards were expected to be a pretty predictable affair. But on Sunday 26 February, an unprecedented mistake was made at the Oscars 2017; the wrong film was named best picture.

The Bonnie and Clyde male lead revealed to the Daily Mail's Baz Bamigboye that he received a phone call from his wife, actress Annette Bening, shortly after the incident. He explained she was keen for him to come straight home – so as to avoid getting more involved in the blame-game but Beatty was adamant he did nothing wrong and stayed to face the music at the Governors Ball instead.

Screen legends Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty took to the stage to announce La La Land as the best film of the last 12 months, only to discover the accolade was meant to go to Moonlight. Now, Beatty has explained the aftermath of the chaotic incident.

"I [had] the card. I [had] the envelope with La La Land and Emma Stone's name and I'm keeping hold of it awhile. I bet you all thought I was doing some schtick to prolong the moment but I wasn't. I was confused because the card read 'Emma Stone, La La Land'," he explained. "I hope this isn't remembered like the streaker incident."

The blunder occurred due to the winners' name cards being mixed up by official handlers from accountancy firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers. A spokesperson from PwC stated: "We sincerely apologise to Moonlight, La La Land, Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway and Oscar viewers for the error. The presenters had mistakenly been given the wrong envelope and when discovered [it] was immediately corrected. We are investigating how this could have happened... We appreciate the grace with which the nominees, the Academy, ABC and [host] Jimmy Kimmel handled the situation."

During the after-parties, Bamigboye also caught up with Andrew Garfield (whose film Hacksaw Ridge was also up for the best picture accolade). Talking of the fiasco, he said: "You actually couldn't make this up... it was heartbreaking. But there was something beautifully symbolic seeing the two ensembles of both films mingling on stage."