Kim Basinger Reflects Back On That Time Her Dress Almost Fell Off At The Oscars

Kim Basinger in 1989's Batman
(Image credit: Warner Bros)

As we look forward to 2023’s Academy Awards, there’s certainly been a lot of viral moments to recall over the years, including when Will Smith slapped Chris Rock and got subsequently banned from the Oscars for his behavior. Other notable moments were when John Travolta said Idina Menzel’s name wrong and Jennifer Lawrence’s fall on stage. As Kim Basinger has now revealed, she almost had one of those much-talked about moments, but thankfully was able to dodge a bullet.

The 69-year-old actress took to Instagram to share one memory from the 1999 Academy Awards when a dress malfunction left her “mortified” on stage. Check it out: 

L.A. Confidential

Kim Basinger in L.A. Confidential

(Image credit: Warner Bros)

Kim Basinger won an Oscar in the Best Supporting Actress category for L.A. Confidential in 1998. 

As the actress from the Fifty Shades of Grey movies recalled, just seconds before she took the Oscars stage to present the acting award, she heard something in the back of her dress pop and she began “shaking” in fear. In the scary moment, she was able to clench her arms to her sides very tight and avert her dress from falling off in front of just about all of Hollywood and millions of viewers at home. 

Basinger took the opportunity to remind others that many times when we see Oscars glam, those in fancy dresses are “sewn in their gowns moments before hitting the red carpet” and often fear falling down or that their stitches won’t hold. I don’t know about you, but this story is definitely going to stick with me once Oscars night rolls around, because her story sounds terrifying. Considering the actress went for a strapless moment at the 1999 awards show, if it had fallen off, Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake’s #nipplegate might have had a predecessor.

With awards season in full swing and the 2023 Oscar nominations out, Kim Basinger decided that she’s going to take the time during this time to share her favorite award show looks over the years. Her 1999 Oscars mishap was the second one she shared. A week ago, the actress also took to social media to share a black gown she wore at the 1998 Golden Globes, when she won her first globe-shaped statue for L.A. Confidential. Here it is: 

Aside from Basinger having an exciting award show history, the actress accumulated over 50 acting credits over the years, including notably playing opposite Michael Keaton in the first Batman movie in order of release date, 1989’s Tim Burton film. While Keaton is set to reprise that role after years of hanging up the cape in The Flash, Basinger’s only upcoming project we know of is a voice role in the upcoming video game Crime Boss: Rockay City

The 2023 Oscars are set to air on ABC on March 12, with Jimmy Kimmel hosting the show. 

Sarah El-Mahmoud
Staff Writer

Sarah El-Mahmoud has been with CinemaBlend since 2018 after graduating from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in Journalism. In college, she was the Managing Editor of the award-winning college paper, The Daily Titan, where she specialized in writing/editing long-form features, profiles and arts & entertainment coverage, including her first run-in with movie reporting, with a phone interview with Guillermo del Toro for Best Picture winner, The Shape of Water. Now she's into covering YA television and movies, and plenty of horror. Word webslinger. All her writing should be read in Sarah Connor’s Terminator 2 voice over.

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