Jean-Marc Vallee suddenly finds himself rooting for Martin Scorsese in the Oscar race.
"Oh yes, yes!" Vallee said when asked if he was now backing the famous American director in his campaign for a best-director prize. "I would be happy."
Scorsese, who is up for The Departed this time, has been nominated six times. He lost each time in the past. Vallee, a Montreal filmmaker who respects Scorsese's illustrious body of work, is now in Scorsese's camp because Scorsese just hired him to direct his production of The Young Victoria.
Vallee said The Departed gives Scorsese a good chance to win. "It is quite a film he has made. It is a tough one but ... Mr. Scorsese just won at the DGA awards (the Directors Guild of America) and I think the WGA (Writers Guild of America) just gave them best screenplay."
That makes Scorsese the odds-on favourite for his first best director Oscar, Vallee said. "I wish it for him."
