Scorsese's night, finally. Mirren and von Donnersmarck also shine

26/02/2007

US Mafia drama The Departed was the big winner at the 79th Academy Awards, receiving four of the five Oscars for which it was nominated: Best Picture, Best Director for veteran filmmaker Martin Scorsese (who finally got an Oscar after seven nominations), Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Editing.

The Departed imposed itself over Letters From Iwo Jima, The Queen [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andy Harries
interview: Stephen Frears
film profile], Little Miss Sunshine and Babel, which was the night's biggest disappointment with only one Oscar (Best Score for Argentinean composer Gustavo Santaolalla) out of the seven for which it had been nominated.

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"Could you double-check the envelope, please?" asked an ironic but visibly thrilled Scorsese, who was presented the Oscar by long-time colleagues Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola. "So many people over the years have been wishing this for me – strangers, you know. I walk in the street, people say ‘You should win one’. I go to the doctor's office, in elevators, they say ‘You should win one, you should win one’."

The most predicted award of the night went to Helen Mirren for her brilliant performance as Queen Elizabeth II in Stephen Frears' subtle reflection on the monarch's attitude following the death of Princess Diana in 1997.

"For 50 years and more, Elizabeth Windsor has maintained her dignity, her sense of duty and her hairstyle. She's had her feet planted firmly on the ground, her hat on her head, her handbag on her arm and she's weathered many, many storms, and I salute her courage and her consistency", said Mirren, who despite her long multi-awarded career had never before won an Oscar.

Forest Whitaker's performance as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland [+see also:
trailer
film profile] won him the Best Actor Oscar.

Best Supporting Actor and Actress went to Alan Arkin for Little Miss Sunshine and Jennifer Hudson for Dreamgirls, respectively.

Germany's The Lives of Others [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Florian Henckel von Donners…
interview: Ulrich Muehe
film profile] by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (see Focus) received the Oscar for the Best Foreign Language Film, beating out rival Pan's Labyrinth [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]. Guillermo del Toro's fairy tale for adults (which competed for Mexico although it was a majority co-production by Spain) did, however, pick up Oscars for Art Direction, Cinematography and Makeup.

Clint Eastwood took to the stage to present the Lifetime Achievement Oscar to Ennio Morricone, the 78 year-old Italian composer who has scored over 400 films, including classic spaghetti westerns such as Sergio Leone's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and Once Upon a Time in the West.

Best Picture
The Departed

Best Directing
Martin Scorsese - The Departed

Best Foreign Language Film
Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck - The Lives of Others

Best Actor
Forest Whitaker - The Last King of Scotland

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin - Little Miss Sunshine

Best Actress
Helen Mirren - The Queen

Best Supporting Actress
Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls

Best Adapted Screenplay
William Monahan - The Departed

Best Original Screenplay
Michael Arndt - Little Miss Sunshine

Best Art Direction
Eugenio Caballero, Pilar Revuelta - Pan's Labyrinth

Best Cinematography
Guillermo Navarro - Pan's Labyrinth

Best Documentary Feature
Davis Guggenheim - An Inconvenient Truth