Oscar sticks to the script
“The Departed,” the crackling crime-drama that won acclaim from both critics and audiences last fall, also earned the love of the members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, who awarded the film four Oscars, including best picture, on Sunday.
In one of the most anticipated moments of the evening, Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas appeared onstage together to present “The Departed” director Martin Scorsese his first best director Oscar.
“Could you double-check the envelope?” Scorsese joked as he took the stage after five previous losses. “So many people have been wishing this for me over the years. I thank you, this is for you.”
The film, which also won best editing and best adapted screenplay, was somewhat of a surprising best picture winner, since it did not carry the kind of social messages that Oscar voters tend to look for in the best picture category.
The rest of 79th annual Academy Awards turned out to be largely predictable, with only one major exception.
Helen Mirren accepted her award for best actress in “The Queen” – one of the night’s foretold wins – with a classy speech that was both poised yet genuinely heartfelt.
“For 50 years and more, Elizabeth Windsor has maintained her dignity, her sense of duty and her hairstyle,” Mirren said of the character she played in the film. “I salute her courage and her consistency, and I thank her, because if it wasn’t for her, I most certainly would not be here.”
“The Last King of Scotland’s” Forest Whitaker also fulfilled Oscar odds, winning best actor for his portrayal of the African dictator Idi Amin. Whitaker, who appeared deeply moved despite having been the early favorite, choked back tears as he spoke about the importance of pursuing one’s dreams.
“When I began acting, it was because of my desire to connect with everyone,” he said. “Acting for me is about believing in that connection, and it’s a connection so strong and so deep, though our combined belief we can create a new reality.’
The best supporting actress race also played out as expected, with Jennifer Hudson emerging victorious for “Dreamgirls.” The former “American Idol” contestant, whose performance in the film was her first movie role, seemed both surprised and overjoyed despite having been heavily favored to win.
“I just have to take this moment,” Hudson said. “I didn’t think I was going to win. Thank you all for helping me keep the faith even when I didn’t believe,” she added, perhaps a reference to her loss on TV’s “American Idol.”
But the best supporting actor race was a mild shocker, with Alan Arkin’s performance in “Little Miss Sunshine” beating out Eddie Murphy’s in “Dreamgirls.” Although Murphy once seemed like a lock in the category, because of his electrifying performance as a James Brown-esque singer in the film, Academy voters finally decided to go another way, perhaps due in part to Murphy’s recent comedy “Norbit,” which was deemed decidedly un-Oscar-like by many viewers.
Former Vice President Al Gore, who had previously joked alongside best actor nominee Leonardo DiCaprio (“Blood Diamond”) onstage about a possible run for the presidency, joined the makers of last summer’s “An Inconvenient Truth” to accept the award for best documentary feature.
“We need to solve the climate crisis,” Gore said. “It’s not a political crisis: It’s a moral crisis.”
“An Inconvenient Truth” also bested “Dreamgirls” for Best Original Song, for Melissa Etheridge’s “I Need To Wake Up.”
The ethnic diversity reflected in this year’s batch of nominees extended to the winners, too. Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro’s Spanish-language fantasy “Pan’s Labyrinth” was one of the night’s big winners. Although it lost the foreign language Oscar to the German drama “The Lives of Others,” the film still won four awards, including art direction, makeup and cinematography, besting Hollywood at an aspect of moviemaking that has always been one of its main strengths.
Clint Eastwood presented an honorary Oscar to legendary composer Ennio Morricone, a previous five-time nominee who never won. Morricone, whose scores are among some of the most memorable of all time (including several of Eastwood’s early Sergio Leone westerns), spoke in Italian as he accepted the award, which Eastwood handily translated.
Host Ellen DeGeneres, who kicked off the telecast with her trademark sense of irreverent, apolitical comedy, kept the tone of the evening light and jovial, which seemed to spread to the audience.
“Most people dream of winning an Academy Award,” DeGeneres said. “I always dreamt of hosting the Academy Awards. Let that be a lesson to you kids: Aim lower.”
DeGeneres also remarked on the large number of non-American actors, writers, directors and technicians in the audience, many of them Oscar nominees. “I think I see a few Americans as well. Of course I’m talking about the seat fillers.
“If there were no blacks, Jews and gays, there would be no Oscars,” DeGeneres continued. “Or anyone named Oscar, when you think about that.”