Warren Beatty re-lives that Oscars moment and says it was 'chaos'

Warren Beatty has described the Oscars blunder which saw him give co-presenter Faye Dunaway the wrong envelope as “chaos”.

The mishap at the Academy Awards saw musical La La Land announced as the winner of the coveted best picture accolade instead of Moonlight.

Warren, 80, was handed the wrong envelope by an accountant from firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, who later apologised and took responsibility for the “unacceptable” mistake.

The Bonnie And Clyde star told Graham Norton: ”I guess you could say it was chaos.”

He will soon be seen in Rules Don’t Apply playing American businessman Howard Hughes, marking his first return to the big screen in 15 years.

Appearing on The Graham Norton show alongside The Durrells star Keeley Hawes, Doctor Who’s Peter Capaldi and singer Jennifer Hudson, Warren – married to actress Annette Bening – explained why he had not made any films of late.

He told Graham: “We have four kids who are all more interesting to me than any 50 movies, but now we are approaching the empty nest period I’m maybe going to make some movies.”

“I have sometimes compared it to vomiting,” he said of his reluctance to make films, adding, “I don’t like to vomit and I rarely vomit, but something builds up, you think about it for a long time, you try to avoid it but finally you think you will feel better if you go ahead and throw up!”

The Hollywood star also famously turned down the role of Superman in the 1970s.

He explained: ”I was offered it, but I didn’t think it was a good idea to put a comic strip into a movie.

“They were insistent I think about it so I got my assistant to go out and buy me some long underwear. I put them on, looked at myself in a full-length mirror and picked up the phone to say, ‘Just forget it’.”

Clearing up a few “myths” that have followed him over the years, he said he did not know if the 1972 song You’re So Vain by Carly Simon was indeed penned about him.

The Graham Norton Show airs on BBC One tonight at 10.30pm