In the know... Were Scorsese's old pals pre-warned that the director was finally going to get his Oscar? Photograph: Robyn Beck/AFP
Was there a little naughty business going on backstage? As we know, the results of the Oscar ballot are an absolute secret until the envelope is opened in front of the audience. Only the men from PriceWaterhouseCoopers - the ballot-counters - know the results. So what on earth could Martin Scorsese have been inferring when he described the actions of his three old friends - Coppola, Lucas, Spielberg - as they presented the best director award? "The three of them came out and gave me a look before they had opened the envelope. I was very surprised."
Obviously, with hindsight, Scorsese and the Departed were shoo-ins. But the team around the film continue to insist that it never even crossed their minds that this "little" film might win awards, or even be a contender. The film's British producer, Graham King, was at it again on Sunday night, insisting: "We never mentioned this film for awards season, we never even thought about it." Of course not. A film with a cast that includes Nicholson, DiCaprio et al was never likely to garner much attention, was it?
Has Helen Mirren taken the whole method thing just a little too far? She has adopted Brenda's dowdy dress sense, but Mirren does seem to have imbibed a little too fiercely of the whole royal ethos thing. After receiving her Oscar she took her "audiences simply love Her Majesty" spiel even further than usual:
"I think it's wonderful that we live in a country where you're allowed to make a film like this," she said. "It is gracious and noble of Her Majesty and the royal family to sit back and not interfere."
You heard it here first. Well, sort of. Here's Al Gore, backstage at the Kodak Theater: "I do not have any plans to become a candidate for office again." What can he mean?
Highlights from the press interview room, where the winners are brought to face a tough grilling from the international press corps.
To Forest Whitaker:
Q. So Forest, where will you keep your Oscar?
A. Ah, on a shelf as you go downstairs into the living area, so the kids can see it.
Q. You used to be a tenor. Is there a note that represents how you feel?
Q. Talk about what it's been like to journey to this day?
