Ryan Gosling imposter somehow accepts La La Land’s Best Film award at German ceremony

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Move over 89th Academy Awards, there’s a new screw-up in town, with Germany’s prestigious Goldene Camera Awards being pranked in unbelievable fashion by a Ryan Gosling impersonator.

“The directors couldn’t be here today but someone else agreed to take the award,” host Steven Gaetjen told the audience. “And we are very happy that he is here today, because he is the reason this movie is a huge success.

“Men hold onto your wives and wives hold onto your men, here is the one and only Ryan Gosling.”

A man bearing a very small resemblance to Gosling, since identified as Ludwig Lehner, then strode out onto the stage and launched into an acceptance speech.

Nicole Kidman looked amused in her audience cutaway - Colin Farrell not so much.

The stunt was pulled off by German comedians Joko Winterscheidt and Klaas Heufer-Umlauf, whom “Gosling” thanked in his speech.

The organisers of the Goldene Camera were apparently so eager to have Gosling attend that they accepted terms that he sit out the red carpet and not meet with the ceremony’s host beforehand, allowing the impersonator to go undetected.

He was also surrounded by fake handlers pre-show, providing enough pomp and circumstance that seemingly no-one called out the man as not the real Gosling.

The host apologised to the audience after Lehner left the stage.

“We were sure it would never work,” Heufer-Umlauf told German media industry paper Meedia of the prank.