UPI en Español  |   UPI Asia  |   About UPI  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Bettors tap 'Departed,' Mirren, Whittaker

|
 
Published: Jan. 24, 2007 at 6:37 PM

LONDON, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- London bookmakers tapped Martin Scorsese's thriller "The Departed" as the early favorite to win best picture and best director honors at the Academy Awards.

Ladbrokes placed the odds on the film winning best picture at 10-11, while putting Scorsese as a 1-3 favorite for best director, the BBC said.

Helen Mirren, nominated for her portrayal as Queen Elizabeth II in "The Queen," was favored to win a best actress statuette, Ladbrokes' William Hill said.

Forest Whitaker is odds-on favorite to win in the best actor category forhis performance as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in "The Last King of Scotland."

The bookmaker said he already stopped taking bets on Dame Helen because, "Punters have gone bonkers for Mirren and we can't take any more punishment."

The 79th Academy Awards winners will be presented Feb. 25 in Los Angeles.

Topics: Elizabeth II, Forest Whitaker, Helen Mirren, Idi Amin
© 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
'Star Trek Into Darkness' screening NBC upfronts Met Ball 2013
'Great Gatsby' premieres in New York Spire raised on top of One WTC 2013: Celebrity break ups and divorces
Additional Entertainment News Stories
1 of 16
Flags-In Ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery
View Caption
Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Roskos with the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, "The Old Guard," participates in the annual Flags-In ceremony, May 23, 2013, at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. Soldiers place American flags in front of more than 260,000 gravestones in the cemetery in honor of Memorial Day. UPI/Kevin Dietsch
fark
Experts say that U.S. schools should make physical education a core subject. Probably because most...
Prepare to be SHOCKED: some people underestimate the calories in fast food
Potatoes, once bad for you, then really bad for you, then instantly fatal, are now good for you....
Remember how Kate Upton backed out of taking that high school teen to his prom? Well, he's since...
Judge arrested by feds for buying heroin and carrying a gun. Appears for arraignment wearing a t-shirt...
Streetlight spotted over haunted historic barn. Aw jeez, not this shiat again