Busy Philipps urged Batman Ben Affleck to 'save' Oscars during Best Picture mishap

Yahoo

22-05-2025

Busy Philipps urged Ben Affleck to "save" the night during the Oscars Best Picture mix-up in 2017 "because he was Batman". The 'Girls5Eva' actress had been seated next to the 52-year-old star - who portrayed the Caped Crusader in 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice', 'Justice League', 'Suicide Squad', and 'The Flash' - at the Academy Awards when Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway accidentally announced 'La La Land' had won the night's biggest honour, instead of correctly presenting it to 'Moonlight'. And Busy and best friend Michelle Williams recalled the confusion that occurred immediately afterwards and how they put their faith in Ben. Speaking on her show 'Busy This Week', Busy said: "We knew, cause we were right there in the front row. "We knew something weird was happening. Ben Affleck was next to me. You reminded me just earlier of what I said to him, which I totally forgot." Michelle explained: "You turned to him, and said, 'Do something! Do something!' Because he was Batman, and he was going to save the rest of us. "He was just as shocked as the rest of us." Busy added: "He was literally looking back at Matt Damon, who was sitting right behind his brother [Casey Affleck], who was, like, two doors down from you. And I don't know Ben Affleck. I just was like, 'He's Batman. He's a movie star. He can go onstage and handle it.' He could not. It turns out, it was very difficult to handle." A photo of the stars looking confused went viral at the time but Busy joked her show couldn't afford to use the image, so she and Michelle simply crossed their legs and dropped their mouths open to recreate it. She noted: "It's iconic." Shortly after the mishap took place, Busy, 46, described the confusion and how she and Michelle were among the first to realise what had happened. She explained on her Instagram Story at the time: ''La La Land' got up there, all of a sudden this stage manager or somebody who worked there with a microphone crouched in front of Casey [Affleck] and started whispering into his microphone really urgently and saying, 'It's a mistake! Moonlight is supposed to be Best Picture. It's a mistake! It's a mistake! Moonlight is Best Picture!' 'We all heard it right there — like right in the front. Nobody else heard it.'