After 5 previous losses, Martin Scorsese finally received his long-deserved Oscar for Best Director at the 79th Annual Academy Awards, which took place at Hollywood Boulevard’s Kodak Theatre on Sunday, Feb 25, evening (Singapore, morning).

The 65-year-old legendary director, who was previously nominated in the category for his work on Raging Bull (1980), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), Good Fellas (1990), Gangs of New York (2002) and The Aviator (2004), received his first statuette from long-time friends and acclaimed directors, Steven Speilberg, Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas.

“Could you double check the envelope?” joked Scorsese, whose win roused a standing ovation and roaring cheers in the 3,400-seater theatre. “I’m overwhelmed by this honour from the Academy and also the honour of being presented [with this] by my old friends. We go back 37 years.

 

“So many people over the years have been wishing this for me. I’ll go into the doctor’s office or elevators and people will say ‘you should win one’.”

Scorsese’s film, The Departed, also received top honours in the category of Best Motion Picture of the Year and brought home the gold for editing and adapted screenplay. Overall, the film scored victory in 4 of the 5 categories it was nominated in. Its star, Mark Wahlberg, who was nominated in the supporting actor category, lost to Alan Arkin for his role as angsty Grandpa in Little Miss Sunshine.

Sunshine’s writer, Michael Arndt, also picked up the award for original screenplay.

Forest Whitaker received the Best Actor Oscar for his turn as General Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland and Helen Mirren, who was frontrunner in the Best Actress in a Leading Role category after her Golden Globe, SAG award and BAFTA wins, triumphed for her role as Queen Elizabeth II in Stephen Frears’ The Queen.

“My sister told me that all kids loved to get gold stars and this is the biggest and the best gold star that I have ever had in my life,” said Mirren, who was nominated twice previously, both in the supporting actress category, for The Madness of King George (1994) and Gosford Park (2001).

Mirren’s gold was the only victory for the film, which began the evening with 6 nominations.

Babel faced a similar situation, winning only 1 Oscar for original score for Gustavo Santaolalla, despite being the most nominated Beat Picture contender with 7 nominations. This is Santaolalla’s 2nd win in 2 years. He won the same category last year for his work in Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain.

Dreamgirls, which topped the nominations this year with 8 nods but failed to garner a Best Picture and Best Director nomination, won Best Sound Mixing and Best Supporting Actress for Jennifer Hudson for her debut feature film performance as Effie White.

“I can’t believe this,” said Hudson during her acceptance speech. “Look what I can do.” The finalist of the hit television show, American Idol (Season 3), paid tribute to her late grandmother, whom she referred to as her “biggest inspiration” and thanked especially her family and Jennifer Holliday, who played the same role in the original broadway production.

Dreamgirls was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor (Eddie Murphy), Costume Design, Art Direction and took 3 of the 5 spots in the Best Original Song category with Listen, Love You I Do and Patience. Despite the multiple nods, the film lost the song award to singer-songwriter, Melissa Etheridge, for I Need To Wake Up from the documentary, An Inconvenient Truth.

An Inconvenient Truth, presented by former United States Vice President, Al Gore, also brought home the Oscar for Documentary Feature.

Mexico made its mark at the ceremony with nominations in 16 categories shared among 3 Mexican films – Babel (directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu), Pan’s Labyrinth (by Guillermo del Toro) and Children of Men (by Alfonso Cuarón). It won a total of 4 statuettes – original score for Babel and art direction, cinematography and makeup for Pan’s Labyrinth.

Britain played a similar game with 19 of its citizens sharing 13 nominations for The Queen, United 93, Monster House, Notes on a Scandal, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, The Illusionist, Blood Diamond, Little Children, and Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.

Mirren was the only British winner of the evening.

Following are the winners (marked ***) for the 79th Annual Academy Awards:

Best Motion Picture of the Year:

Babel
The Departed***
Letters From Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen

Best Actor in a Leading Role:

Leonardo DiCaprio, Blood Diamond
Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson
Peter O’Toole, Venus
Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness
Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland***

Best Actress in a Leading Role:

Penelope Cruz, Volver
Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal
Helen Mirren, The Queen***
Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada
Kate Winslet, Little Children

Best Actor in a Supporting Role:

Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine***
Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children
Djimon Hounsou, Blood Diamond
Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls
Mark Wahlberg, The Departed

Best Actress in a Supporting Role:

Adriana Barraza, Babel
Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal
Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine
Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls***
Rinko Kikuchi, Babel

Best Achievement in Directing:

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Babel
Martin Scorsese, The Departed***
Clint Eastwood, Letters From Iwo Jima
Stephen Frears, The Queen
Paul Greengrass, United 93

Best Foreign Language Film:

After the Wedding, Denmark
Days of Glory, Algeria
The Lives of Others, Germany***
Pan’s Labyrinth, Mexico
Water, Canada

Best Adapted Screenplay:

Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Peter Baynham, Dan Mazer and Todd Phillips, Borat Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Alfonso Cuaron, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, Children of Men
William Monahan, The Departed***
Todd Field and Tom Perrotta, Little Children
Patrick Marber, Notes on a Scandal

Best Original Screenplay:

Guillermo Arriaga, Babel
Iris Yamashita and Paul Haggis, Letters From Iwo Jima
Michael Arndt, Little Miss Sunshine***
Guillermo del Toro, Pan’s Labyrinth
Peter Morgan, The Queen

Best Animated Feature Film:

Cars
Happy Feet***
Monster House

Achievement in Art Direction:

Dreamgirls
The Good Shepherd
Pan’s Labyrinth***
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
The Prestige

Achievement in Cinematography:

The Black Dahlia
Children of Men
The Illusionist
Pan’s Labyrinth***
The Prestige

Achievement in Sound Mixing:

Apocalypto
Blood Diamond
Dreamgirls***
Flags of Our Fathers
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

Achievement in Sound Editing:

Apocalypto
Blood Diamond
Flags of Our Fathers
Letters From Iwo Jima***
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

Achievement in Original Score:

Babel, Gustavo Santaolalla***
The Good German, Thomas Newman
Notes on a Scandal, Philip Glass
Pan’s Labyrinth, Javier Navarrete
The Queen, Alexandre Desplat

Achievement in Original Song:

“I Need to Wake Up”, Melissa Etheridge (An Inconvenient Truth)***
“Listen”, Henry Krieger, Scott Cutler and Anne Preven (Dreamgirls)
“Love You I Do”, Henry Krieger and Siedah Garrett (Dreamgirls)
“Our Town”, Randy Newman (Cars)
“Patience”, Henry Krieger and Willie Reale (Dreamgirls)

Achievement in Costume:

Curse of the Golden Flower
The Devil Wears Prada
Dreamgirls
Marie Antoinette***
The Queen

Best Documentary Feature:

Deliver Us From Evil
An Inconvenient Truth***
Iraq in Fragments
Jesus Camp
My Country, My Country

Best Documentary (short subject):

The Blood of Yingzhou District***
Recycled Life
Rehearsing a Dream
Two Hands

Achievement in Film Editing:

Babel
Blood Diamond
Children of Men
The Departed***
United 93

Achievement in Makeup:

Apocalypto
Click
Pan’s Labyrinth***

Best Animated Short Film:

The Danish Poet***
Lifted
The Little Matchgirl
Maestro
No Time for Nuts

Best Live Action Short Film:

Binta and the Great Idea (Binta Y La Gran Idea)
Eramos Pocos (One Too Many)
Helmer & Son
The Saviour
West Bank Story***

Achievement in Visual Effects:

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest***
Poseidon
Superman Returns

For more information about the Oscars, visit www.oscar.com.