The Awards

Helen Mirren is poised for the best year of her career after being crowned Best Actress at the 79th Academy Awards last night. It is the 61 year olds 3rd win this year (Golden Globe and BAFTA) for her role in Stephen Frear's The Queen, Helen Mirren's gracious acceptance speech paid tribute to our Queen, saluting her "courage and consistency".

Last nights win was a triumph for British talent. British made film The Last King of Scotland also won Forest Whitaker, who played the self styled dictator Idi Amin, a Best Actor accolade. This was Whitaker's first ever Oscar nomination.

Elsewhere the big splashes were The Departed winning 4 out of its 5 nominations most notably Best Picture for Producer Graham King and Best Director for 8 time nominated Director Martin Scorsese (Goodfellas, Gangs of New York, The Aviator).

Martin Scorsese, seen here receiving his award from Directors Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola, received a standing ovation for finally winning his first ever Oscar for directing The Departed for which he managed to thank the Academy fifteen times during his on stage acceptance speech, "This is the first film I have ever done a film with a plot." Scorsese's The Departed was his highest grossing film yet.

With each of the Best Films nominated winning various awards, the most nominated film Dreamgirls won just the two out of its 8 nominations, including a Best Supporting Actress for previous American Idol contestant Jennifer Hudson. Hudson and Beyonce performed tracks from the film together.

There were also nods for art-house favourites Pan's Labyrinth, Little Miss Sunshine and Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, making this one of the most widest and most international Oscars yet, with a record nominations for Mexico alone.

It was DeGeneres' first time as Oscar host, as well as her first appearance on an Academy Awards telecast. Hosting the awards was a dream come true for Ellen, the second woman to ever host the awards (the first was Whoopi Goldberg). Although a little nervous and not as good as host favourites Chris Rock and Billy Crystal, she was a safe choice, taking pot shots at the stars whilst mingling amongst them. Ultimately, she went down well with the audience, not too cutting edge but funny enough.
 
It has been such an incredible year of films. Our personal favourites The Departed, Babel, Last King of Scotland, The Queen, Blood Diamond, Casino Royale and Apocalypto, and the first year so many comedy roles have been nominated (Borat, The Devil Wears Prada and Little Miss Sunshine), winning an Oscar not only means an increase in what actors can demand but also opens up a lot of choices for them.

It was a shame to not see 8 time nominee Peter O'Toole, who looked a little saddened at what could have been his last moment of Oscar glory, win his category. Nevertheless, with 3 Brits dominating the Best Actress category (Dame Judi Dench, Helen Mirren and 5 time nominee Kate Winslet) it's been a fantastic year for British films with nominations also for Directors Paul Greengrass (United 93), Stephen Frears' (The Queen), screenwriters Peter Morgan (The Queen) and Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat) and films Children of Men, Notes on a Scandal and The Last King of Scotland.

Sky One and Sky Movies will be repeating the full Academy Awards ceremony and the two-hour highlights show over the following week.

A two hour highlights show will be broadcast on Sky One from 10pm on Monday 26th Feb. Hosted by Fearne Cotton The Oscars 2007 Highlights features the best from the live ceremony and red carpet arrivals.

The ceremony will be shown again on Sunday 4th March at 2.00pm on Sky One.

On The Red Carpet

Fashion and the Oscars, with all of Hollywood out in one night the Oscars is the biggest runway show. For a particular designer it means great exposure and for the actresses it means free couture dresses. Veteran red carpet actresses Penelope Cruz and Kate Winslett, with there classic designs, are seen as red carpet favourites.

Helen Mirren "I don't know officially if she [The Queen] has seen it .. ?" On the pressure of being nominated "It would be more comfortable without everyone telling me I was going to win".

Forest Whitaker "So many people worked to make this part work for me. I just want to make sure I thank everyone. You get so overwhelmed you get happy and then the words get stuck in your mind. For me though it's more special being nominated for a performance that tries to say something about life and humanity".

Lenardo DiCaprio and Peter O'Toole

Leonardo DiCaprio "I was surrounded by great actors and a terrific director who wanted to tell the truth about Sierra Leone. It became an intense experience, our lives were changed" Adding " It's very rare within the Hollywood system that you get to do a film about the world" and on Martin Scorsese's nomination "My favourite director in the world and he's a teacher and it's amazing I get to work with him".

Penelope Cruz (wearing a stunning Versace peach coloured dress) "you have to enjoy the chaos. I'm really happy to be here and in the company of those amazing actresses, 4 out of 5 are European". And on working with Pedro Almodovar for the third time she added "Since the moment I read the script I knew it was going to be a very special move in my career. Every time it has been wonderful, I have made 3 movies with him and now a 4th and each time is wonderful, he is my hero. I think he's really a genius."

Kate Winslett (wearing Valentino) on her 5th nomination "this kind of stuff isn't supposed to happen to someone like me who comes from a small town. But here I am".

Martin Scorsese, Cameron Diaz and Mark Wahlberg

Will Smith comically speaking to Fearne on Sky One "very excited to be hear and it's wonderful time and congrats for being great, Britain" adding "hey to Thandie, hey girl !".

Jennifer Hudson "I won a BAFTA and I just wanted to say thank you to the UK."

Beyonce (wearing Armani) Dreamgirls received the most nominations this year. "It's a wonderful year to be an African American actor. I am honoured they acknowledged all the hard work and I'm glad to be hear to support my co-actors".

Jennifer Lopez, Steven Speilberg and Sacha Baron Cohen

James McAvoy "I'm very proud to be a part of it and the film being nominated. I'm a bit rubbish with all this showbiz mallarchy but I do like a nice suit".

Jodie Foster (one of the academy members) was proud of this year movies "It's the first time in a long time it has been very difficult to check the boxes and first time I can really say I'm so proud to be here."

Penelope Cruz, James McAvoy, Will Smith

Daniel Craig, Gwyneth Paltrow and Cate Blanchett

Nicole Kidman on being an Academy Award winner "It dramatically changes your life. I think People worldwide are more aware of you".

Cameron Diaz "It's so great to come out and be a presenter and support the people you have worked with".

Gael Garcia Bernal "I still haven't met Brad Pitt. We shot in different parts of the world so we still haven't met him. We [The rest of the cast] met for the first time in Cannes last year".

Award Presenters

Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep, who each hold the record for most Academy Award� nominations by actors, in their respective categories joined Oscar� winner Philip Seymour Hoffman as presenters on the 79th Academy Awards. They were joined by Oscar nominees Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert Downey, Jr., Greg Kinnear, Helen Mirren, Clive Owen, Ken Watanabe and Naomi Watts.

Gael Garcia Bernal, Emily Blunt, former Vice President Al Gore and James McAvoy also presented, joined Ben Affleck, Jack Black, Cate Blanchett, Abigail Breslin, Steve Carell, George Clooney, Daniel Craig, Tom Cruise, Pen�lope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Kirsten Dunst, Will Ferrell, Tom Hanks, Hugh Jackman, Diane Keaton, Nicole Kidman, Queen Latifah, Jennifer Lopez, Tobey Maguire, Gwyneth Paltrow, Rachel Weisz, Kate Winslet and Reese Witherspoon.

And the Oscar goes to ...

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE Presented by Reese Witherspoon

  Leonardo DiCaprio in Blood Diamond
  Ryan Gosling in Half Nelson
  Peter O'Toole in Venus
  Will Smith in The Pursuit of Happyness
  Forest Whitaker in The Last King of Scotland
 
PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE Presented by Rachel Wiesz

  Alan Arkin in Little Miss Sunshine
  Jackie Earle Haley in Little Children
  Djimon Hounsou in Blood Diamond
  Eddie Murphy in Dreamgirls
  Mark Wahlberg in The Departed
 
PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE Presented by Phillip Seymour Hoffman

  Pen�lope Cruz in Volver 
  Judi Dench in Notes on a Scandal
  Helen Mirren in The Queen
  Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada
  Kate Winslet in Little Children
 
PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE Presented by George Clooney

  Adriana Barraza in Babel
  Cate Blanchett in Notes on a Scandal 
  Abigail Breslin in Little Miss Sunshine 
  Jennifer Hudson in Dreamgirls  
  Rinko Kikuchi in Babel 
 
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM OF THE YEAR Presented by Cameron Diaz

  Cars (Buena Vista) John Lasseter 
  Happy Feet (Warner Bros.) George Miller 
  Monster House (Sony Pictures Releasing) Gil Kenan 
 
ACHIEVEMENT IN ART DIRECTION Presented by Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig

  Dreamgirls (DreamWorks and Paramount) John Myhre
  The Good Shepherd (Universal) Jeannine Oppewall
  Pan's Labyrinth (Picturehouse) Eugenio Caballero
  Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (Buena Vista) Rick Heinrichs
  The Prestige (Buena Vista) Nathan Crowley
 
ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY Presented by Gwyneth Paltrow

  The Black Dahlia (Universal) Vilmos Zsigmond 
  Children of Men (Universal) Emmanuel Lubezki 
  The Illusionist (Yari Film Group) Dick Pope 
  Pan's Labyrinth (Picturehouse) Guillermo Navarro 
  The Prestige (Buena Vista) Wally Pfister
 
ACHIEVEMENT IN COSTUME DESIGN Presented by Emily Blunt, Anne Hathaway

  Curse of the Golden Flower (Sony Pictures Classics) Yee Chung Man 
  The Devil Wears Prada (20th Century Fox) Patricia Field 
  Dreamgirls (DreamWorks and Paramount) Sharen Davis 
  Marie Antoinette (Sony Pictures Releasing) Milena Canonero 
  The Queen (Miramax, Path� and Granada) Consolata Boyle
 
ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING Presented by Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola

  Babel (Paramount and Paramount Vantage) Alejandro Gonz�lez I��rritu 
  The Departed (Warner Bros.) Martin Scorsese 
  Letters from Iwo Jima (Warner Bros.) Clint Eastwood 
  The Queen (Miramax, Path� and Granada) Stephen Frears 
  United 93 (Universal and StudioCanal) Paul Greengrass
 
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE Presented by Jerry Seinfeld

  Deliver Us from Evil Amy Berg and Frank Donner 
  An Inconvenient Truth Davis Guggenheim 
  Iraq in Fragments James Longley and John Sinno 
  Jesus Camp Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady 
  My Country, My Country Laura Poitras and Jocelyn Glatzer
 
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT Presented by Eva Green, Gael Garcia Bernal

  The Blood of Yingzhou District Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon 
  Recycled Life Leslie Iwerks and Mike Glad 
  Rehearsing a Dream Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon 
  Two Hands Nathaniel Kahn and Susan Rose Behr
 
ACHIEVEMENT IN FILM EDITING Presented by Kate Winslett

  Babel Stephen Mirrione and Douglas Crise 
  Blood Diamond Steven Rosenblum 
  Children of Men Alex Rodr�guez and Alfonso Cuar�n 
  The Departed Thelma Schoonmaker 
  United 93 Clare Douglas, Christopher Rouse and Richard Pearson
 
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR Presented by Clive Owen, Cate Blanchet

  After the Wedding Denmark 
  Days of Glory (Indig�nes) Algeria 
  The Lives of Others Germany 
  Pan's Labyrinth Mexico 
  Water Canada
 
ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKE-UP Presented by Jack Black, John O'Reilly, Will Farrell

  Apocalypto (Buena Vista) Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano 
  Click (Sony Pictures Releasing) Kazuhiro Tsuji and Bill Corso 
  Pan's Labyrinth (Picturehouse) David Marti and Montse Ribe
 
ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES (ORIGINAL SCORE) Presented by Penelope Cruz, Hugh Jackman

  Babel (Paramount and Paramount Vantage) Gustavo Santaolalla 
  The Good German (Warner Bros.) Thomas Newman 
  Notes on a Scandal (Fox Searchlight) Philip Glass 
  Pan's Labyrinth (Picturehouse) Javier Navarrete 
  The Queen (Miramax, Path� and Granada) Alexandre Desplat
 
ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES (ORIGINAL SONG) Presented by Queen Latifah, John Travolta

  I Need to Wake Up from An Inconvenient Truth Music and Lyric by Melissa Etheridge 
  Listen from Dreamgirls, Music by Henry Krieger and Scott Cutler, Lyric by Anne Preven 
  Love You I Do from Dreamgirls, Music by Henry Krieger, Lyric by Siedah Garrett 
  Our Town from Cars, Music and Lyric by Randy Newman 
  Patience from Dreamgirls, Music by Henry Krieger, Lyric by Willie Reale
 
BEST MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR Presented by Jack Nicholson, Diane Keaton

  Babel Alejandro Gonz�lez I��rritu, Jon Kilik, Steve Golin, Producers 
  The Departed Graham King, Producer
  Letters from Iwo Jima Clint Eastwood, Steven Spielberg, Robert Lorenz
  Little Miss Sunshine David T. Friendly, Peter Saraf and Marc Turtletaub
  The Queen Andy Harries, Christine Langan, Tracey Seaward

 BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM Presented by Abigail Breslin, Jaden Smith

  The Danish Poet (National Film Board of Canada) Torill Kove 
  Lifted (Buena Vista) Gary Rydstrom 
  The Little Matchgirl (Buena Vista) Roger Allers and Don Hahn 
  Maestro (Szimplafilm) Geza M. Toth 
  No Time for Nuts (20th Century Fox) Chris Renaud and Michael Thurmeier
 
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT Presented by Abigail Breslin, Jaden Smith

  Binta and the Great Idea (Binta Y La Gran Idea) Javier Fesser, Luis Manso 
  �ramos Pocos (One Too Many) (Kimuak) Borja Cobeaga 
  Helmer & Son Soren Pilmark, Kim Magnusson 
  The Saviour (Australian Film Television and Radio School) Peter Templeman, Stuart Parkyn 
  West Bank Story Ari Sandel
 
ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING Presented by Alan Arkin, Greg Kinnear

  Apocalypto Sean McCormack and Kami Asgar 
  Blood Diamond Lon Bender 
  Flags of Our Fathers Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman 
  Letters from Iwo Jima Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman 
  Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest Christopher Boyes, George Watters II
 
ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND MIXING Presented by Jessica Biel, James McAvoy

  Apocalypto Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell and Fernando Camara 
  Blood Diamond Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer and Ivan Sharrock 
  Dreamgirls Michael Minkler, Bob Beemer and Willie Burton 
  Flags of Our Fathers John Reitz, Dave Campbell, Gregg Rudloff, Walt Martin 
  Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest Paul Massey, Christopher Boyes, Lee Orloff
 
ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS Presented by Robert Downey Jr., Naomi Watts

  Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest John Knoll, Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson and Allen Hall 
  Poseidon Boyd Shermis, Kim Libreri, Chaz Jarrett and John Frazier 
  Superman Returns Mark Stetson, Neil Corbould, Richard R. Hoover and Jon Thum
 
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY Presented by Helen Mirren, Tom Hanks

  Borat Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan Screenplay by Sacha Baron Cohen & Anthony Hines & Peter Baynham & Dan Mazer
  Children of Men Screenplay by Alfonso Cuar�n & Timothy J. Sexton and David Arata and Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby 
  The Departed Screenplay by William Monahan 
  Little Children Screenplay by Todd Field & Tom Perrotta 
  Notes on a Scandal Screenplay by Patrick Marber 
 
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY Presented by Tobey McGuire, Kirstin Dunst

  Babel Written by Guillermo Arriaga 
  Letters from Iwo Jima Screenplay by Iris Yamashita, Story by Iris Yamashita & Paul Haggis 
  Little Miss Sunshine Written by Michael Arndt 
  Pan's Labyrinth Written by Guillermo del Toro 
  The Queen Written by Peter Morgan