Updated April 25, 2017 21:42:18

Faye Dunaway thought Warren Beatty was just "joking" for effect when he hesitated before handing her the wrong envelope in the agonising Oscars mix-up that saw La La Land mistakenly handed Moonlight's Best Picture award.

The 76-year-old actress has spoken for the first time about the February awards show debacle, which caused chaos at the Hollywood ceremony and stunned millions of live TV viewers.

Dunaway said she failed to pick up her co-presenter's unease before mistakenly reading out "La La Land" for Best Picture when "Moonlight" had won.

"I thought he was joking," Dunaway told NBC.

"I mean, I thought he was stalling — Warren's like that. He likes to hold the power ... it's part of his charm."

The mistake arose after PwC partner Brian Cullinan handed Dunaway and Beatty the back-up envelope for the Actress in a Leading Role category.

Dunaway said she did not notice Emma Stone's name on the card before reading it out and admitted feeling "completely stunned" when she realised her error.

Dunaway now has feelings of guilt and wonders whether she could have prevented the debacle.

"I could have done something, surely. Why didn't I see Emma Stone's name on the top of the card?"

When asked if she felt "stung" by the incident, Dunaway said: "Yeah, completely. And we were, I won't say 'deer in the headlight', but you are completely stunned. You don't know what has happened."

Earlier this month, Warren Beatty briefly told his side of the story in an interview with British chat show host Graham Norton.

"I guess you could say it was chaos," Beatty recalled.

AP

Topics: film-movies, arts-and-entertainment, academy-awards-oscars, united-states

First posted April 25, 2017 16:59:33