Australian Producer Jan Chapman Featured in ‘In Memoriam’ Segment ... But She’s Not Dead
Sunday night’s Oscars ended with what will, no doubt, go down as the biggest flub in the ceremony’s history — but there was another pretty big gaffe made as well. During the “In Memoriam” segment, a photo of Australian producer Jan Chapman popped up. The only problem? Chapman is alive and well. Chapman’s image appeared beside the name Janet Patterson, an Australian costume designer who did pass away in October 2016. (Patterson was a four-time Academy Award nominee best known for working on period films such as Far From the Madding Crowd and The Piano.)
In other words, whoever put the piece together mixed up the two Aussie women and no one caught it until it was too late. Oops. It didn’t take long for industry folk to catch the error, with many sounding off in tweets to confirm that Chapman was, indeed, still alive.
Naturally, Chapman was a little shocked to see her face on the screen. “I was devastated by the use of my image in place of my great friend and long-time collaborator Janet Patterson,” the producer told Variety, noting that she had even warned Patterson’s reps to take a look at the picture in advance of the Oscars to make sure no mistakes were made. “I had urged her agency to check any photograph which might be used and understand that they were told that the Academy had it covered. Janet was a great beauty and four-time Oscar nominee and it is very disappointing that the error was not picked up,” she said. “I am alive and well and an active producer.”
Patterson and Chapman did know each other well, and had both worked on the 1993 drama The Piano together. (Chapman’s other credits include Lantana, Holy Smoke, and The Last Days of Chez Nous.)
Additionally, Florence Henderson (who died last November) and Garry Shandling (who died last March) were also left out of the segment. Bill Paxton also didn’t make it in, but news that he had passed away from complications from surgery on Saturday only broke a few hours before the show.
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