Oscar glory goes to Scorsese and The Departed

Feb 26, 2007, 13:37 GMT

Director Martin Scorsese holds up his Oscar for Best Director in \'The Departed\' at the 79th Annual Academy Awards at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California, Sunday 25 February 2007. EPA/PAUL BUCK

Los Angeles - The Departed won the Oscar for best movie, and its director, Martin Scorsese, won his first Oscar after seven unsuccessful nominations in a night of glory for the Boston-based crime thriller.

'Could you double-check the envelope?' joked a disbelieving Scorsese as he took the podium to accept his award.

The top acting awards Sunday night went to Briton Helen Mirren for portraying Queen Elizabeth II in the royal drama The Queen and American Forest Whitaker for his role as former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland.

Mirren dedicated her award to the reigning British monarch, saying that for '50 years and more, Elizabeth Windsor has maintained her dignity, her sense of duty and her hairstyle.'

The Departed, which was adapted from the Hong Kong movie Internal Affairs, also won Oscars for best adapted screenplay and film editing, taking a total of four awards at the 79th annual Academy Awards, the most of any film on the night. It was also the most commercially successful movie of any of the major contenders in a lineup that continued the Oscar tradition of honouring movies that more often than not don't set the box office on fire.

The Oscar ceremony, hosted with a deft touch by comedienne Ellen DeGeneres, also lauded the movie Pan's Labyrinth with three Oscars while the independent comedy Little Miss Sunshine won two awards. Babel, which had a leading eight nominations going into the night, ended up with a single Oscar for best score.

The biggest night on the Hollywood calendar kicked off with DeGeneres hailing what she called 'the most international Oscars ever.'

Her words quickly came true as Pan's Labyrinth, a Spanish-language fable set in fascist wartime Spain and directed by Mexican filmmaker Guilermo del Toro, won the first two Oscars of the night for art direction and achievement in makeup. A third Oscar followed for cinematography.

Veteran US actor Alan Arkin, 72, was named best supporting actor for his role in Little Miss Sunshine. Arkin played a rebellious grandfather in the quirky independent comedy about a dysfunctional family road trip. The movie also was cited for best original screenplay.

Jennifer Hudson won the Oscar for best supporting actress for her role as soul singer Effie White in Dreamgirls. The victory marked the pinnacle of a remarkable show-business story for Hudson, 25, who was chosen for what was her first movie role after losing in the final stages of the third season of the hit reality television show American Idol.

An Inconvenient Truth, which followed former US vice president Al Gore as he lectured around the world about the dangers of global warming, was named the best documentary of the year. The film also won an Oscar for best original song for Melissa Etheridge's I Need to Wake Up.

The feel-good penguin romp Happy Feet was named best animated feature while Dreamgirls picked up the Oscar for sound mixing. The prize for sound editing went to Clint Eastwood's Japanese war epic Letters from Iwo Jima.

The Oscars show took place on a damp Los Angeles evening as thousands of film fans lined Hollywood Boulevard to cheer Oscar stars arriving for the most prestigious awards show in the movie world.

Oscar watchers had observed that this year's best-picture contest was one of the most open in years with no standout favourites among the five nominees: Letters From Iwo Jima, Little Miss Sunshine, Babel, The Departed and The Queen.