Scorsese wins at DGA Awards

[Sbaraglia]

Scorsese wins at DGA Awards

'Departed' director wins for Feature Film

By Dave McNary

The Directors Guild of America has selected Martin Scorsese as winner of its top feature trophy for his work on the gangster thriller "The Departed."

It was first victory in seven DGA nominations for Scorsese, who topped Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for "Babel," Bill Condon for "Dreamgirls," Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris for "Little Miss Sunshine" and Stephen Frears for "The Queen."

The award, announced Saturday night in ceremonies at the Century Plaza Hotel, places Scorsese as a front-runner for the Best Director Oscar. The DGA winner, based on voting by 13,400 Guild members, has matched the Oscar winner in 52 of its 58 awards, including last year when Ang Lee won both for "Brokeback Mountain."

Scorsese now faces Frears and Inarritu for the Oscar along with Clint Eastwood for "Letters From Iwo Jima" and Paul Greengrass for "United 93." It's his sixth Oscar directing nomination along with "Raging Bull," "The Last Temptation of Christ," "Good Fellas" "Gangs of New York" and "The Aviator."

"The Departed" has taken in the highest gross among the nominated films with $127 million domestically and nearly $270 million worldwide. Scorsese won the Golden Globe for Best director three weeks ago; since then, "Little Miss Sunshine" won both the top feature film awards from the PGA and SAG.

Scorsese's previous DGA nominations were for "The Aviator," "Gangs of New York," "The Age of Innocence," "Goodfellas," "Raging Bull" and "Taxi Driver." He won the DGA's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003.


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[Sbaraglia]

I agree with you about Scorsese - I hope he does win the Oscar, and I think he will (although the Best Picture award may go elsewhere). However, one quibble: yes, Flags Of Our Fathers was a box office flop, but Letters From Iwo Jima has only been in extremely limited release, and now it has nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, etc. to trumpet in its ads. It may turn out to be a flop, but it is too early to tell right now. Other points: as a movie almost entirely in Japanese, with subtitles, and no Hollywood stars, I don't think either Eastwood or Warner Bros. expected it to be a big moneymaker, and I don't think that's why it was made. Changing its release date from 2007 to December 2006 resulted in Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, etc., so that judgement can't be questioned. In addition, it has been at the top of Japan's box office since its release, so its income may be much higher overseas than here (where, in effect, it is being released in 2007). Finally, according to Entertainment Weekly, the budget for Flags was $90 million; the budget for Letters was $20 million, so the flop vs. moneymaker ratio is different.

 

[gaz1978]

What correlation is there between box office and quality by the way?

Yes, Flags was a "flop". So fucking what? Titanic is the biggest film of all time and its a pile of dog shit.

 

[Sbaraglia]

What correlation is there between box office and quality by the way?

Yes, Flags was a "flop". So fucking what? Titanic is the biggest film of all time and its a pile of dog shit.

I think box office was mentioned in relation to Oscar chances (top grossing nominee usually wins). Oscars aren't always related to quality either. These are movie awards being discussed, after all...

 

[gaz1978]

Personally I'd love to see Scorsese win, but if he does, it just looks like the "sympathy vote". He should have won for both Raging Bull and Goodfellas and we wouldnt be having the debate!

 

[Claudio63]

I have my reservations as to the movie Scorsese will win it for (I don't see him losing). I just don't care for the idea that "the departed" was based on a recent chinese film. I hate it when Hollywood does these remakes, as it justifies people not going to see foreign films. In any case, Scorsese could have / should have won for something original. Too bad he didn't and they have to compensate this year.

 

[Sbaraglia]

I have my reservations as to the movie Scorsese will win it for (I don't see him losing). I just don't care for the idea that "the departed" was based on a recent chinese film. I hate it when Hollywood does these remakes, as it justifies people not going to see foreign films. In any case, Scorsese could have / should have won for something original. Too bad he didn't and they have to compensate this year.

Hm...I like originality, but as with most things, it all depends. Is it only movies that are bad sources? Is it ok to use novels and short stories, like Gone With the Wind, Brokeback Mountain, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Godfather? Kurosawa used John Ford's Westerns as inspirations for Seven Samurai...then The Magnificent Seven was based on Seven Samurai. There have been great remakes like The Maltese Falcon (there was one in 1931, the remake starred Bogart in 1941), great adaptations of stage plays and musicals (The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady, and a plethora of Shakespeare among many other adapted playwrights). Is it only Chinese films that are bad sources? If it's the "cheesy source material" that's being criticized, can there be any cheesier source material than Mario Puzo's The Godfather? Every year there are awards for adapted screenplay and original screenplay; they're different, but neither is more honorable than the other. I wonder if once again it's not the "how can we bestow Best Picture on a movie that's not about the Holocaust, slavery, or another Important Topic?" syndrome. Sometimes the fast, fun "B movie" is the best movie - The Departed reminded me of a movie that I love, Budd Boetticher's The Tall T; I can't explain why without giving away the endings of both, but in addition to the similar endings, both movies fail to fit into the "Important Topic" category of "Best Picture material", but both are fantastically well made movies, fast and furious and gutsy, with great scripts and great direction. Do we have to get moral guidance as well? But again, I'm not sure what the reasoning was for your discontent with the source material being a Chinese film, so I'm kind of grasping at straws.... (For the record, I'm rooting for Letters From Iwo Jima - an Important Topic movie! Even they can be great. )

 

[coco2006]

I have my reservations as to the movie Scorsese will win it for (I don't see him losing). I just don't care for the idea that "the departed" was based on a recent chinese film. I hate it when Hollywood does these remakes, as it justifies people not going to see foreign films. In any case, Scorsese could have / should have won for something original. Too bad he didn't and they have to compensate this year.

The original chinese film was superior in any level... a lot of chinese directors are awesome... I just saw these amazing movies "Election 1" and "Election 2", directed by Johnny To... wow... I guess they'll remake these ones too... grrrr....

About "The Departed", I heard they planned to remake the prequel, too... how ridiculous is that ?... "Infernal Affairs " 2 & 3 were not even good films...

 

[Sbaraglia]

The original chinese film was superior in any level... a lot of chinese directors are awesome... I just saw these amazing movies "Election 1" and "Election 2", directed by Johnny To... wow... I guess they'll remake these ones too... grrrr....

About "The Departed", I heard they planned to remake the prequel, too... how ridiculous is that ?... "Infernal Affairs " 2 & 3 were not even good films...

Yeah, I definitely didn't mean to put down Infernal Affairs!!! I was just trying to ferret out possible meanings for the unhappiness with The Departed being based on it...I don't care whether a movie is a remake of Showgirls or an adaptation of Hamlet, it might be great or it might be bad.

And I wish Johnny To were more available in America!!!

 

[Claudio63]

Hm...I like originality, but as with most things, it all depends. Is it only movies that are bad sources? Is it ok to use novels and short stories, like Gone With the Wind, Brokeback Mountain, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Godfather? Kurosawa used John Ford's Westerns as inspirations for Seven Samurai...then The Magnificent Seven was based on Seven Samurai. There have been great remakes like The Maltese Falcon (there was one in 1931, the remake starred Bogart in 1941), great adaptations of stage plays and musicals (The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady, and a plethora of Shakespeare among many other adapted playwrights). Is it only Chinese films that are bad sources? If it's the "cheesy source material" that's being criticized, can there be any cheesier source material than Mario Puzo's The Godfather? Every year there are awards for adapted screenplay and original screenplay; they're different, but neither is more honorable than the other. I wonder if once again it's not the "how can we bestow Best Picture on a movie that's not about the Holocaust, slavery, or another Important Topic?" syndrome. Sometimes the fast, fun "B movie" is the best movie - The Departed reminded me of a movie that I love, Budd Boetticher's The Tall T; I can't explain why without giving away the endings of both, but in addition to the similar endings, both movies fail to fit into the "Important Topic" category of "Best Picture material", but both are fantastically well made movies, fast and furious and gutsy, with great scripts and great direction. Do we have to get moral guidance as well? But again, I'm not sure what the reasoning was for your discontent with the source material being a Chinese film, so I'm kind of grasping at straws.... (For the record, I'm rooting for Letters From Iwo Jima - an Important Topic movie! Even they can be great. )

I don't mind remakes as a whole, but they usually pick good films as a source and I think that's pointless. A good flmmaker ought to get a bad film and make it better. Leave the good ones alone. For example I loved "Open your eyes"and saw no point in watching it again with Tom Cruise in Vanilla Sky. But the worst part was that I consider Cameron Crowe one of the U.S.'s most original writters, and there he was wasting his talent remaking someone else's very recent movie instead of creating new characters and stories. Scorsese ought to do the same, it's not as if he lacks imagination.

Some remakes are interesting enough - as Kurosawa's takes on Shakespeare or the westerns based on Kurosawa's films. But these remakes I consider creative, they're based on someone else's source material but they build on it. I can't speak for "the Departed as I haven't seen it yet, but I know Scorsese's remake of Cape Fear was a waste of my time (excepting perhaps Juliette Lewis's performance). In any case, Scorsese could be creating instead of aping - I've heard it's scene by scene remake but with a better budget.

About books and plays as source material, I find no problem as they are different media to film - I'm not one of those who believes the film should be faithful to the book as that's impossible - if I want to experience a book, I read it - I can't expect the same experience from a film (nor is a novelization of a film going to be the same as its source material). Plays are certainly more similar to films, but I don't live in the U.S., and the only way I'll be seeing what "Dreamgirls"is all about is by seeing the film, whether or not it makes the musical justice. Still, I'm sure that seeing Mary Martin in "The Sound of Music"must have been a treat, but it isn't the same as watching Julie Andrews on the actual Alps. Which Von Trapp is better or worse is not an issue, it's just two different experiences. A film remake of "Sound of Music"? Britney Spears or Beyonce instead of Julie Andrews? You're welcome to it, but I'd skip it and rant. In any case it's been 40 years since that one and a remake wouldn't be too much of a sin. But "Infernal affairs"was made 4 years ago. Is it dated? What's the point of remaking it? Why waste america's premiere filmmaker to re-do a film so american audience won't have to read subtitles or watch oriental faces instead of Leo.

 

[coco2006]

Yeah, I definitely didn't mean to put down Infernal Affairs!!! I was just trying to ferret out possible meanings for the unhappiness with The Departed being based on it...I don't care whether a movie is a remake of Showgirls or an adaptation of Hamlet, it might be great or it might be bad.

And I wish Johnny To were more available in America!!!

I agree with you.

Move to France... all his movies have been released here... great filmography !

 

[Danugh]

I only want him to win the oscar IF he really was the best director this year.

I cant stand this utter crap about " he is due", and "Clint has won already."

It shouldnt matter if Clint won 20, if he was the best, he is the best and he should win.

Hitchcock never won an oscar.

Its time people stopped this due crap and just give the oscar to the best person period.

Fair is fair.

 

[Sbaraglia]

I only want him to win the oscar IF he really was the best director this year.

I cant stand this utter crap about " he is due", and "Clint has won already."

It shouldnt matter if Clint won 20, if he was the best, he is the best and he should win.

Hitchcock never won an oscar.

Its time people stopped this due crap and just give the oscar to the best person period.

Fair is fair.

I used to agree 100% with that...I guess I've been worn down through the years - I mean, it's not that I think "oh, he's got to win", it's more like "oh hell, let's get this OVER with!" - AND The Departed was a real return to form...I kind of hated Gangs of New York and The Aviator, they felt like big lumpy Oscar bait, and this felt like he was just doing it without any Oscars in mind, so I want to give him his damn Oscar for something decent. The Scorsese thing is a variation on the yearly march of one or two - this time all four! - actors through the critics' awards...by the time Oscars roll around, you feel vicious and cruel to want someone else to win because the actor who is "sure to win" will be so devastated (and the others assume they're going to lose anyway!) - I hate it!!! I wish I could just want the best one to win, but I'm too soft... Anyway, I doubt Peter O'Toole will win, so there's some hardcore anti-sentiment going on...although there I think he's so old, and his career has been crap for so long, that he doesn't have the emotional pull that Scorsese does on voters today. Re Clint, I think he "deserves" it more, but if Letters From Iwo Jima wins best picture, that's more than enough for me, let Scorsese get his prize, and like I say The Departed is a good movie, so it's nice to split the awards and honor both (I wouldn't feel the same way, I'll admit, if Clint hadn't been so honored with Million Dollar Baby, Mystic River, and Unforgiven). A few years ago Julia Roberts declared that she didn't want to live in a world where Denzel Washington had not won the best actor Oscar! - and he'd already won one for supporting actor!!! It's getting out of control, and in a perverse way I'd like to get O'Toole, Scorsese, and what the hell why not Alan Arkin out of the way so we can move on.... Anyway, it's just a movie award...