Finally, and thank-you: Martin Scorsese "clutches" his heart (and Oscar) backstage after winning the Academy Award for directing "The Departed".  It was his first win in eight attempts.  (All photos: AMPAS)
 

It was a night of fun, suspense and a few surprises at the 79th Annual Academy Awards.  There were also one long-awaited honor.

Fantastic four: The top acting winners backstage with their prizes: Forest Whitaker, Jennifer Hudson, Helen Mirren and Alan Arkin.

While celebrating this year's Oscar nominees was a central theme emphasized by host Ellen DeGeneres and producer Laura Ziskin, it was quite clear that winning still reigned supreme as "The Departed" absconded with four Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay.  Above winning the biggest prize of the night, Oscar night's biggest moment belonged to Martin Scorsese, whom after eight attempts won his first Oscar, winning Best Director for "The Departed".  Happy and surprised as he met America's three top film directors (Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas) on stage, he quipped, "could you double-check the envelope?" 

The 1957 film "Marty" won best picture honors at the Oscars years ago, and now roughly 50 years later the Academy was saying hello again to Marty -- except this time it was Martin Scorsese.  And it had been a long time coming.  The audience inside the grand Kodak Theatre stood in unison as Mr. Scorsese took the stage.  The director entreated them all to sit down, several times.  "Please", he said.  Scorsese was clearly elated and a little embarrassed that his peers bestowed such admiration and kudos on him.  The director had been nominated in the category for directing such films as "Taxi Driver", "Raging Bull", "GoodFellas", "The Age Of Innocence", "Casino", "Gangs Of New York" and "The Aviator" and came away empty-handed on each of those seven prior occasions.  He breathlessly thanked everyone that he could, paying tribute to earlier winners William Monahan (adapted screenplay) - "thanks to Bill Monahan for writing that crazy script that got me into trouble in the first place", and Thelma Schoonmaker (editing), who won her third editing Oscar.

Early hints of big night for Mr. Scorsese came when a writer for US Magazine in the afternoon went on CNN cable television to disclose a rumor that Mr. Coppola, Mr. Lucas and Mr. Spielberg would present the best director Oscar.  Since the nominations were announced last month, many had said that the best director prize would come down to whether Clint Eastwood ("Letters Of Iwo Jima") would win a third directing Oscar (and second in three years) or the oft-nominated Scorsese would finally break his duck, and it seemed assured that Mr. Scorsese would prevail with the news that three directing legends would present.  With this Oscar Mr. Scorsese joins the world's directing legends.  Some may have thought that "The Departed" was not his best work, but they likely could not argue that Mr. Scorsese deserved the honor on this night.  "The Departed", based on the original 2002 Hong Kong film "Infernal Affairs" (a film that was part of a trilogy) was the first best picture Oscar-winning film based wholly on another film released less than five years prior.  (In fact, "Infernal Affairs", directed by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak, was released in the United States in 2004.)



Cameron Diaz presents the best animated feature Oscar to director George Miller, for "Happy Feet"; director Torill Kove accepting the Oscar for best animated short film "The Danish Poet."

The oft-quoted rule that films nominated for best picture traditionally are released in the U.S. in  December of a film year, was abandoned this year.  Of the best picture nominees only "Letters From Iwo Jima" was released in December.  "Little Miss Sunshine" was released last July, and both "Babel" and "The Queen" were released in October.  Additionally, "The Departed" (which was also released in October 2006 in the U.S.), was one of three best picture nominees that was already available on DVD in the United States before Oscar night arrived.  ("Babel" and "Little Miss Sunshine" were the other two.)  The trend toward selecting a film released in December appears to be waning, at least for the past two years.  Last year's best picture winner, "Crash", was released in May of 2005 in the United States.  "The Departed" was also the second best picture in the last four years that had already grossed over $100 million in the U.S. before Oscar night.  (In 2004, "The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King" had surpassed the $100 million mark in the U.S. before winning eleven Academy Awards.)

Forest Whitaker and Helen Mirren completed a major awards sweep as they were coronated king and queen with wins in their respective lead acting awards.
Mr. Whitaker took a deep breath, let the moment sink in, paused, and then gave a deeply heartfelt speech about the craft of acting, which brought some in the Kodak Theatre to tears.  Whitaker won for "The Last King of Scotland" for playing the brutal dictator of Uganda, Idi Amin, a man whose charisma and magnetism gave way to psychotic and murderous appetites, which sent thousands in the African nation to their deaths under his rule.  During this awards season the actor said he was careful to portray Mr. Amin as a nuanced man, and not as a one-dimensional character that would contribute to the many negative images of blacks on the big screen.  "Receiving this honor tonight tells me that . . . it's possible for a kid from East Texas, raised in South Central L.A. in Carson, who believes in his dreams, commits himself to them with his heart, to touch them, and to have them happen."

Helen Mirren dedicated her Oscar to the reigning Queen of England, Elizabeth Windsor, whom she portrayed in "The Queen".  The current British monarch, now 81 years old, was played by the 61-year-old British actor from Essex, who beamed as she took the stage.  "You know, my sister told me that all kids love to get gold stars, and this is the biggest and best gold star that I have ever had in my life."  She ended her speech which praised the four other nominees in her category and "Queen" director Stephen Frears, with, "ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Queen!"


 
In the surprise of the night, director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's film "The Lives Of Others" won best foreign language film.  Sherry Lansing (right), former studio chairman of Paramount Pictures won the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for her varied humanitarian work and efforts for children, education and fighting cancer.


The biggest surprise of the night was "The Lives Of Others" winning the best foreign language film Oscar.  The film, from Germany, about spy surveillance of actors and all German citizenry by the secret police agency Stasi in the waning years of the German Democratic Republic in the mid and late-1980's, was much lauded by critics around the world, but it was widely expected that Mexico's film, the highly-acclaimed "Pan's Labyrinth", directed by Guillermo Del Toro, would win the prize.  When presenters Ken Watanabe and Catherine Deneueve read the name on the envelope, a visibly shaken Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck was stunned and frozen.  By the time he reach the stage to accept the prize the director admitted that he expected "Pan's Labyrinth" to win.  Still shaken and gasping, he praised California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for teaching him to strike the words "I can't" from his own vocabulary, and paid homage to "Lives" actors Ulrich Muhe and Sebastian Koch, saying, "you're the greatest artists, and don't let anybody tell you otherwise."  This was Mr. Von Donnersmarck's feature film directing debut.

Alan Arkin won best supporting actor for "Little Miss Sunshine" as the foul-mouthed, dope addicted grandfather in a dysfunctional family, in what was considered a mild surprise for some (although this website predicted Mr. Arkin's win back in January.)  A tense moment a snapshot of the five supporting actor nominees just seconds before Mr. Arkin's name was announced showed nominee Djimon Hounsou putting a hand over his face.  He just couldn't look as the atmosphere was so tense.  Eddie Murphy was widely expected to win for his role in "Dreamgirls".  (Michael Arndt's original screenplay won the Oscar prize for "Little Miss Sunshine.")

And as expected, Jennifer Hudson took home the best supporting actress prize for her role as Effie White in "Dreamgirls", a film that came into the 79th Oscars with the most nominations (eight).  Miss Hudson became only the third black woman to win the supporting actress prize (1939-Hattie McDaniel, 1991--Whoopi Goldberg) and the fourth overall in the 79 years of Oscars.  Backstage, she answered a question about the significant gaps between winners with tact and diplomacy.  "I'm sure there were unbelievable performances, but, you know, there's a step, and there's a process to everything, and this [clutching her Oscar at this point] represents a change and a difference."  Hudson's Effie White roused movie-going audiences across America and the world from their seats with applause in the middle of "Dreamgirls" with the film's musical number "And I'm Telling You I Am Not Going."

Onstage, she tearfully gave thanks to "God, whom without none of this would be possible", but first and foremost thanked her grandmother for giving her the inspiration to follow her own voice and doing something that her grandmother, who had a stunning singing voice, did not get the opportunity to fully realize due to the intense racially hostile climate in the U.S. during the first half of the twentieth century.


  
Legendary motion picture score composer Ennio Morricone holds out his Honorary Oscar Award; Former U.S. vice president Al Gore, Producer Laurie David,     
Executive Producer Jeff Skoll, Producer Lawrence Bender and Co-producer Leslie Chilcott flank Davis Guggenheim, who clutches the Oscar for the best documentary feature "An Inconvenient Truth", which he directed.  The film follows Mr. Gore as he travels the world warning about the dangers of climate change.

Willie Burton, Michael Minkler (center) and Bob Beemer accepting their Academy Awards for best sound mixing for "Dreamgirls", which won two Oscars on Oscar night.
A real "Dream" moment: Jennifer Hudson reacts to her name being called as the winner of the best supporting actress Academy Award for "Dreamgirls." To her immediate right is the film's director, Bill Condon.


The 79th Annual Academy Awards nominations had been noteworthy for the diversity of nominees from different countries, including Mexico in particular.  During the actual awards show however, mainly American filmmakers were honored in the major Oscar categories, although "Pan's Labyrinth" started off very well, winning the first two Academy Awards of the evening.  After that, just six of the remaining 22 non-special award Oscar categories were won by filmmakers or artists from countries beyond the United States (the other six winners included Gustavo Santaolalla for the original music score of  "Babel", the only prize for which Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's film won; Milena Canonero, for her costume design for "Marie Antoinette"; and Guillermo Navarro, for his cinematography for "Pan's Labyrinth.")

"An Inconvenient Truth" won best documentary feature, and director Davis Guggenheim was joined onstage with former U.S. vice president Al Gore in celebrating the film and the importance of confronting climate change.  Earlier Mr. Gore was playfully goaded by Leonardo DiCaprio into announcing a run for president of the United States, but as the former candidate began to announce his intentions, the music played him off the stage.  Mockingly, Mr. Gore expressed shock, as Mr. DiCaprio laughed as they started to leave the stage.  The film also garnered a second Oscar as Melissa Etheridge won best original song for "I Need To Wake Up."

Special awards were bestowed upon Sheryl Lansing, the former Paramount Pictures chairwoman and first woman to head a major studio.  Tom Cruise presented the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award Oscar to Ms. Lansing for her abundant humanitarian work.  Clint Eastwood presented prolific motion picture score composer Ennio Morricone with an Honorary Oscar for his work scoring over 85 films in his career.  In Italian, Mr. Morricone tenderly paid tribute to those he touched with his music, as well as to his wife, while Mr. Eastwood translated in English from the teleprompter. 

And host Ellen DeGeneres basked in the Oscars as she capably handled the near four-hour show, which contained just one glitch: the five-second delay failed to cover Will Smith's audible "damn" curse during his remarks, but the faux pas was not a major distraction.  Early on DeGeneres said, "it's been a dream of mine since I was a little girl, I've always wanted to host the Academy Awards.  It's a dream come true."

For the winners at the Kodak Theatre on this very special night, dreams came true as well.



Poetic justice and pride: Jennifer Hudson holds her best supporting actress Oscar aloft.  She won for her role as Effie White in "Dreamgirls".  In 2004 she had been voted off television's "American Idol" by a majority of Americans.  In late 2005 she went on to beat 2004's "Idol" winner Fantasia Barrino during an audition that included more than 800 others for the role of Effie White in "Dreamgirls."