The Departed Wins Scorsese Oscar Gold

By Rich Drees

     February 26, 2007- After being passed over for an Academy Award Oscar statue seven previously times, nomination number eight proved to be lucky for director Martin Scorsese, who won a Best Directing Academy Award last night for his film The Departed. It was one of four Oscars the film took home, including Best Picture.

     “Could you double check the envelope?” Scorsese self-deprecatingly quipped as he took the stage to accept the award from directors Francis Ford Coppolla, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. Scorsese had been previously nominated five other times for Best Director and twice for Best Adapted Screenplay.

     It was an award many felt a long time overdue.

     “To be standing here where Martin Scorsese just won his Oscar is such a joy,” stated The Departed’s producer Graham King moments later when he took to the stage to accept the statue for Best Picture. The epic film about cops, mobsters and corruption also earned Oscars for Scorsese’s long-time collaborator editor Thelma Schoonmaker and William Monahan for Best Adapted Screenplay.

     Although the popular musical Dreamgirls lead the pack with the eight Oscar nominations, the film was virtually shut out at the awards, winning only two Oscars- one for Best Supporting Actress for newcomer Jennifer Hudson and one for Sound Mixing. An emotional Hudson thanked her grandmother for being an inspiration. The actress, who got her start singing in the church choir as a child, told the audience “Look what God can do!”

     Director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu‘s Babel fared even worse. Nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, it won only for Best Score. Inarritu‘s fellow Mexican director, Guillermo del Toro, fared a little better with his film Pan’s Labyrinth. Nominated for six Academy Awards, it won the first two awards of the evening for art direction and makeup but lost Best Foreign Language film to the German film The Lives Of Others and Best Original Screenplay to Michael Arndt for Little Miss Sunshine.

     The Best Actor and Actress awards went to performances of world leaders. Forrest Whitaker won for his portrayal of brutal dictator Idi Amin in The Last King Of Scotland while Helen Mirren won for her role as Queen Elizabeth in The Queen. "My sister told me that all kids like gold stars and this is the biggest gold star there is," enthused Mirren while brandishing her Oscar over her head. Alan Arkin took the Best Supporting Actor award for his work in the quirky comedy Little Miss Sunshine.

     The popular, though polarizing, global warming documentary An Inconvenient Truth captured Academy Awards for both Best Documentary and Best Original Song. Director Davis Guggenheim thanked his film’s star, former presidential candidate Al Gore for being the inspiration to make the film.

     The awards ceremony was not without hitches. Despite host Ellen DeGeneres noting the international flavor of many of the nominees, she still referred to Penelope Cruz as Mexican instead of Spanish. Also, the telecast’s voiceover stated that William Monahan’s script for The Departed was based on a Japanese script when it was based on the Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs.

     You can view a complete list of the winners here.