"Against Marty or Clint Eastwood? I don’t take that as a serious possibility. So I’ll have a nice time. I’ll worry more about the other people," he said.

Bookie pays out on Mirren Oscar win - Feb 21 2007
William Hill has closed the book on Dame Helen Mirren winning a best actress Oscar this Sunday.

The bookmaker is paying out over £50,000 to punters who have backed her.

The actress is 66/1 on to win for her performance in The Queen.

Meryl Streep is the 12/1 second favourite for The Devil Wears Prada.

It is the first time in over 20 years of Oscar betting that William Hill has made such a move.

"Should the unimaginable occur and Dame Helen fails to win the Oscar, then she will have been robbed and so will we," said spokesman Rupert Adams.

He explained: "We have not taken this decision lightly, but it has been one-way traffic since we opened the betting with almost every penny accepted on the best actress market for Dame Helen.

"It has got to the stage where we just don’t want to take any more.

"Dame Helen has swept the board at all the major awards and looks a certainty to walk away with the Oscar.

"Hopefully the decision to pay out will persuade punters to reinvest some of their winnings on the other categories, which are far more competitive."

Forest Whitaker is 5/1 on to win the best actor Oscar for The Last King of Scotland, with British hopeful Peter O’Toole second favourite at 10/3.

Dame Helen wins Bafta - Feb 11 2007
Dame Helen Mirren was crowned queen of the Baftas, when she won best actress for her role as the monarch.

The 61-year-old had been favourite to land the prestigious gong following a string of awards for her acclaimed performance in The Queen.

Dame Helen had faced fierce competition for best actress from Dame Judi Dench, 72, for her role as a lonely but twisted history teacher in Notes on a Scandal.

She also beat Meryl Streep, Penelope Cruz, and Kate Winslet to the best actress title.

Dame Helen picked up her award, saying: "This is great.

"What an honour, especially to be nominated - just to be nominated - amongst those incredible powerhouse performances this year from women.

"I applaud them. I think they were absolutely fantastic. Write more roles for us like that please. Thank you Peter (Morgan), keep writing."

She also paid tribute to her co-star, saying: "Michael (Sheen) was fantastic as Blair".

Breaking down in tears, she added: "Many years ago when I started off as an actress I had the immense good fortune to work with an actor that was so generous at sharing his craft.

"He became a mentor to me, he helped me believe in myself. Ian Richardson, I’m not too sure I would be here today if it wasn’t for you."

The gong is Dame Helen’s first film Bafta - the Prime Suspect star already has three TV Baftas - and she is up for the best actress Oscar.

More gongs for The Queen - Feb 9 2007
Dame Helen Mirren and her film The Queen continued their award-winning form last night - scooping four more gongs between them.

The Queen took British Film of the Year, British Director of the Year for Stephen Frears and Screenwriter of the Year for Peter Morgan.

Dame Helen, 61, who is up for the best actress Oscar and Bafta for her role as Her Majesty, won British Actress of the Year at the Awards of the London Film Critics’ Circle.

She has already been awarded a Golden Globe for her performance in the acclaimed film, about the Royal Family in the aftermath of the death of Princess Diana.