Scorsese’s Oscar may finally be at hand

LOS ANGELES— Among the five Academy Award directing nominees, one name seems to be on everyone’s lips: Martin Scorsese.

Nominated five times previously for best director since the 1980 masterpiece “Raging Bull,” Scorsese has gone home a loser each year.

With Scorsese’s sixth directing nomination, this one for his return to the vivid and violent crime genre on “The Departed,” seemingly everyone in Hollywood figures he finally will have his Oscar come tonight.

Not that he is up against a bunch of slouches. His formidable competition includes Clint Eastwood, who beat him for the directing Oscar two years ago and is nominated this time for the World War II saga “Letters From Iwo Jima.”

Also nominated are two British filmmakers, Stephen Frears for the insightful palace drama “The Queen” and Paul Greengrass for the Sept. 11 chronicle “United 93,” and Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for the sprawling ensemble tale “Babel.”

Scorsese has made no secret over the years that he would like to have that Oscar trophy. Contemporaries of his stature, such as Steven Spielberg and Francis Ford Coppola, have long since won theirs.

The chatty Scorsese has been modest and terse through awards season about his Oscar history and his prospects this time.

Last fall, as “The Departed” arrived in theaters, he said of his Oscar shutout: “I guess it’s all right. I’m disappointed, of course. But you don’t make pictures to win Oscars.”

After winning the Directors Guild of America’s top filmmaking honor—which almost always is a precursor to an Oscar triumph—Scorsese was coy when asked if this was his year to win an Oscar.

“I don’t know,” Scorsese said. “It’s good to have a nomination, especially for this picture.”

Along with “Raging Bull,” Scorsese previously was nominated as best director for “The Last Temptation of Christ,” “Goodfellas,” “Gangs of New York” and “The Aviator.” Scorsese also had two screenplay nominations for co-writing “Goodfellas” and “The Age of Innocence,” losing both times.

A sixth loss would put Scorsese in the record books as the director with the most nominations without winning.

If Scorsese wins, it arguably will be for a lesser film compared to his best work. Still, despite the repetitive violence that concludes “The Departed,” the story of rival mob and police moles is magnificently directed, resurrecting much of the sardonic humor, wiseguy interplay and savage grandeur of Scorsese’s vintage films.

All four challengers are deserving, but most Oscar watchers think it is Scorsese’s year at last.

“I think this year may be the deciding year for him,” said “The Departed” player DiCaprio, who has starred in Scorsese’s last three films and has quipped that it is virtually a practical joke that the director has yet to win an Oscar.

“The Departed” has “gotten the critical success, it’s gotten the commercial success. It’s got all the right elements, and we’re keeping our fingers crossed,” DiCaprio said.