Jan Chapman said she was “devastated” that her photo was used instead of the late Janet Patterson, a costume designer, in Sunday night’s Academy Awards “In Memoriam” montage Sunday night. Chapman, an Australian film producer, was friends with Patterson, a four-time Oscar nominee who died in October 2016. In an email to Variety, Chapman described how upset she was to see her photo alongside Patterson’s name, occupationand dates in the presentation. RELATED: Was Oscars mix-up a Kimmel prank? “I was devastated by the use of my image in place of my great friend and longtime collaborator, Janet Patterson,” Chapman wrote.”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. I am alive and well and an active producer.” Chapman and Patterson collaborated on the 1993 film “The Piano” and on “Bright Star” in 2009. They met in the 1980sworking in television for ABC.
In a tribute to her friend after her death, Chapman remembered her as “kind, impish, fiercely intelligent, beautiful.”
RELATED: Oscars 2017: Best dressed on the red carpet “She was a visionary,” Chapman wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald. “She was extreme and bold in her economy, subtle and witty. Her vision went to the essence of the work and elevated yet humanized the world.” While the gaffe didn’t go unnoticed on social media, the Academy has yet to respond to the mistake.
Oh dear. The #Oscars put up what I think is a photo of Jan Chapman, instead of Janet Patterson, for the In Memoriam segment. pic.twitter.com/VbnO7u3HoS
— Rhett Bartlett (@dialmformovies) February 27, 2017
Oops. Did #Oscars just show living producer Jan Chapman in place of deceased costume designer Janet Patterson during In Memoriam?!
— Stephen Groenewegen (@swgroenewegen) February 27, 2017
