'Moonlight' Director Barry Jenkins Reveals The Best Picture Speech He Would've Given

It wasn’t the best way to win Best Picture, but Barry Jenkins and the folks behind “Moonlight handled it with class, even if the biggest moment in their career was marred by “envelope gate.” It’s been a helluva journey for Jenkins and co. ever since the film first unspooled last fall, and undoubtedly everyone is still spinning a bit. But in the clearer light of day and away from the glitz and intensity of the Oscars, Jenkins reveals what he would’ve said on that stage had things gone smoothly.

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Speaking with EW, the director again makes clear that he holds nothing against “La La Land” and says he’s “never going to forget Jordan Horowitz,” the producer of the musical who brought the error to light and turned the ceremonies upside down. Jenkins also shared what his speech would’ve been had the envelope mixup not happened:

[Moonlight playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney] and I are this kid. We are Chiron. And you don’t think that kid grows up to be nominated for eight Academy Awards. It’s not a dream he’s allowed to have. I still feel that way. I didn’t think this was possible. But now I look at other people looking at me and if I didn’t think it was possible, how are they going to? But now it’s happened. So what I think of possibility, let’s take it off the table. The thing has happened.

Succinct and lovely, and no matter what happened on Sunday night, “Moonlight” is forever.