On February 25th 2007, Thelma Schoonmaker's work on Martin
Scorsese's THE DEPARTED won her her third Academy Award. Schoonmaker
won her first Academy
Award in 1981 for her work on RAGING BULL and won again in 2005 for her
work on THE AVIATOR. She has been nominated six times.
THE DEPARTED was the twentieth film Schoonmaker edited for Scorsese
and she paid tribute to the director when accepting her award.
"Thank you. Thank you so much. This is the third film you've given the
Oscar to that was made by Martin Scorsese, and believe me I know I
wouldn't be standing here if it wasn't for him. You can understand what
it was like to be given a film directed the way he directed this movie
with a wonderful script by Bill Monahan, the fantastic panoply of
actors who were just so magnificent. Working with Marty is quite
something. It's tumultuous, passionate, funny and it's like being in
the best film school in the world. I'm so grateful to you and to my two
pillars in the editing room, Scott Brock, Joel Hirsch and Rob Legato
and Ron Ames for putting their arms around us and doing the visual
effects and supporting us throughout. And to you, members of the
Academy. I feel very honored. Thank you so much."
