I’ve waited YEARS for the box office king and queen to unite and finally it’s happened and the film has arrived. Julia Roberts, Tom Hanks, and Philip Seymour Hoffman star in this war drama about a congressman’s covert dealings in Afghanistan.

The movie comes out on Christmas day.

Yes! The release of Charlie Wilson’s War nears and the first still from the film has been released. Granted…it still doesn’t come out ’til Christmas, but that shouldn’t stop me from being excited already should it? It’s my girl Julia Roberts’ first real return to the big screen in a while and it stars the always wonderful Tom Hanks and recent Oscar winner Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Also throw in Junebug’s Amy Adams as well as Roswell’s Shiri Appleby.

Return of the Box Office King and Queen!

Meanwhile, here’s a recent cover of Life magazine which featured Julia and her Charlotte’s Web co-star Dakota Fanning. Charlotte’s Web didn’t fare so well at the box office, especially considering the highly famous celebrity ensemble cast–it has only made about 75 million in the US thus far, but this was a competitive season for family movies.

By Michael Wilmington
Chicago Tribune

When “Crash” took the best picture Oscar March 5, beating the heavy favorite “Brokeback Mountain” at the last minute, it was the one surprise in an evening woefully short of them.

Philip Seymour Hoffman, Reese Witherspoon, Ang Lee, Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, Wallace and Gromit, even “Crash” original screenplay writers Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco – one by one the night’s long-predicted favorites kept rolling over their opponents as if the whole thing had been scripted.

That’s why that final “Whoa! Crash” from presenter Jack Nicholson was such a shock. In one wild moment, the whole evening turned around, ripping through the show’s complacency and probably spoiling a lot of instant think-pieces already half-composed about “Brokeback’s” gutsy reversal of America’s sexual-cultural mythos.

It surprised me, too. Up to that moment, I had a good string running on my own predictions — and “Brokeback” for best picture seemed a safe pick. So I wasn’t happy. It wasn’t because I, along with some other writers, regard “Crash” as unworthy or because I think Ang Lee’s melancholy movie about two gay cowboys was the victim of a sinister “Break Brokeback” conspiracy, revealing academy voters as hypocritical homophobes.

Great PR move

“Crash” probably won because more of the academy voters liked and admired it as a movie. They didn’t shun “Brokeback”; they gave it three key Oscars (best director, adapted screenplay and original score) and a strong place in academy history. But I would argue that the majority — and maybe it was a slim majority — honestly preferred “Crash.” In the end, it’s more likely that the voting majority thought “Brokeback” was a good, honorable film, but slower, less engrossing and less moving compared with the jazzy, multistranded, Altmanesque L.A.-contempo “Crash,” a movie about racism and crime in today’s Los Angeles with a big-name ensemble cast playing for peanuts, a tricky structure of interweaving stories and an overall L.A. atmosphere and feeling that struck many Angelenos as right-on. It’s a movie that, according to New York Daily News critic, Oscar expert and L.A. native Jack Mathews “played like gangbusters to people who lived in L.A.”

“Brokeback,” with a more realistic and impeccably literary screenplay, shot in a languorous style reminiscent of European art films, simply didn’t connect with the voters in the same way, but not because they are homophobic. A few may well be, just as some may have been offended by “Munich’s” take on terrorism, “Capote’s” gay protagonist or even the anti-McCarthyism of “Good Night, and Good Luck.” But not enough to matter. Certainly, this is not an industry you could reasonably accuse of widespread anti-liberalism and homophobia.

There are other good reasons “Crash” may have won. For one thing, “Crash’s” feisty little studio, Lionsgate, sent out a ton of DVDs, making sure it was seen. For another, there was a powerful third film in the race: “Capote.”

“Capote” was a movie with strong and stubborn support among critics and, I’ll bet, also among academy members. Like “Brokeback,” it was a picture with a gay protagonist, Hoffman as Truman Capote, whom we see during the writer’s Kansas adventure researching and writing “In Cold Blood.” Like “Brokeback,” it was highly literary in composition and, unlike “Crash,” not afflicted with some of those movie devices you call either cliches or mythic archetypes.

If “Capote” had not been in the race, the vast majority of its voters probably would have gone to “Brokeback,” rather than the other three films. So if you’re looking for a spoiler to “Brokeback’s” seemingly sure win, it makes more sense to pick “Capote” than “Crash.” (That doesn’t make for sexy instant analysis though.) And you could also lay some blame on the fact that all five of the nominees were serious film dramas tackling weighty or significant subjects, which meant that issues-minded voters could comfortably vote for any of them.

A fable

More of them were comfortable with “Crash.” But though that result offended critics who had attacked Paul Haggis’ movie for precisely those pesky “cliches,” we should remember, as Mathews points out, that “Crash” really isn’t meant to be taken literally. It’s a fable, a thriller, a polemic. (In his acceptance speech, Canadian immigrant Haggis made just that point, arguing that art isn’t necessarily a Shakespearean mirror held up to nature but also a Brechtian hammer to reshape society.)

The critics who trashed “Crash” were probably more partial to the literary-psychological modes of both “Brokeback” and “Capote.” They wanted the mirror and not the hammer. They couldn’t accept scenes such as the one where previously racist-seeming cop Matt Dillon tries to pull from a flipped-over soon-to-burn vehicle the same African-American woman (Thandie Newton) whom he molested during a roust the night before. I can see the critics’ point; compared with real life, it’s a thoroughly implausible scene. But it does play like gangbusters.

In any case, it makes little sense for liberal film critics to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory by trashing “Crash” and obsessing about “Brokeback’s” non-win. “Crash” is a fine, strong, very well-made movie about urgent contemporary issues, a film that genuinely entertains and moves people, especially Angeleno Oscar-voters. That’s a large part of why it won and why the result is actually a hopeful sign inside the industry — as a “Brokeback” win would also have been.

So, for that matter, would a win for “Capote,” “Munich” or “Good Night, and Good Luck.” It was that kind of year.

The cowboy love story “Brokeback Mountain” won best picture and its creator Ang Lee was named best director Saturday at the Independent Spirit Awards, which played out as a potential prelude to the Academy Awards.

Honoring the best in lower-budgeted, edgy filmmaking, the Spirit Awards honored many key contenders for Sunday’s Oscars, where “Brokeback Mountain” is the best-picture favorite.

“In a year when the Oscars have such an independent spirit, I really treasure this encouragement,” Lee said.

Top Oscar nominees “Capote,” “Crash” and “Transamerica” also earned two honors at the Spirit Awards, and virtually every winner in the ceremony’s top 12 categories also is competing at the Oscars.

“Capote” took the best-actor award for Philip Seymour Hoffman, who is the favorite to win the same prize at the Oscars for his role as author Truman Capote. The film also earned writer Dan Futterman the best-screenplay award.

Hoffman, who has won most other key best-actor honors this award season, cheered his fellow nominees: Jeff Daniels for “The Squid and the Whale,” Terrence Howard for “Hustle & Flow,” Heath Ledger for “Brokeback Mountain,” and David Strathairn for “Good Night, and Good Luck.”

“It’s ludicrous and I’ve been given enough,” Hoffman said. “And I want to share this so badly with all the nominees. I can’t tell you how fantastic these gentlemen are.”

Felicity Huffman, also an Oscar nominee, was named best actress for “Transamerica,” in which she delivers a gender-bending role as a man preparing for sex-change surgery. The film’s director, Duncan Tucker, received the award for best first screenplay.

The ensemble drama “Crash” won for best first feature by a director (Paul Haggis) and best supporting actor for Matt Dillon, who also has an Oscar nomination for his performance as a racist cop.

The supporting-actress prize went to Amy Adams for “Junebug,” who is nominated for an Oscar for her role as a sparkling Southern waif.

There usually is some overlap between the Oscars and Spirit Awards, such as last year’s “Sideways,” which dominated the independent prizes and was a contender in top Oscar categories.

But this year, the Oscar nominations mainly singled out the same dark, daring low-budgeted films that ruled the Spirit Awards.

“Brokeback Mountain” is the story of two sheepherders who carry on a torrid gay love affair that they conceal from their families for years.

It would be the first explicit gay theme film to win the best-picture Oscar.

“Mostly ‘Brokeback Mountain’ is about sheep,” said one of the film’s producers, Diana Ossana.

“So we want to thank our shepherd, Ang Lee,” said the film’s other producer, James Schamus.

Along with “Brokeback Mountain,” “Crash” and “Capote” are nominated for best picture at the Oscars. A fourth best-picture Oscar nominee, the Edward R. Murrow tale “Good Night, and Good Luck,” earned the cinematography honor at the Spirit Awards for Robert Elswit, who also is nominated at the Oscars.

The Spirit Awards’ other top two prizes also went to Oscar nominees: The Palestinian terrorist tale “Paradise Now” was picked as best foreign film, while “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room” was honored as best documentary.

Presented by the nonprofit group Film Independent, the Spirit Awards honor movies showcasing original, provocative subject matter shot on relatively modest budgets, with financing at least partly from outside the Hollywood studio system. Winners were chosen by the group’s 6,000 members, who include actors, directors, writers and other film professionals.

Playwright Tyler Perry, who turned his crazy-granny “Madea” character into a lucrative cottage industry, returned to the top of the box office on Sunday, exactly one year after stunning the industry with a No. 1 bow for his first film.

“Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Family Reunion,” which Perry wrote, directed and starred in, sold an estimated $30.3 million worth of tickets in its first three days since opening on Friday, distributor Lionsgate said.

The comedy-drama revolves around a pistol-toting matriarch, played by Perry, who beats and lectures her chaotic clan into submission. It was not screened in advance for critics, a tactic usually employed when a studio knows a movie will get harsh reviews but fans will turn out anyway.

While Perry, 35, is one of the best-known black playwrights in the United States, with sold-out shows in virtually every city for his “Madea” plays, he was barely a blip on the radar of mainstream movie audiences until last February when “Diary of a Mad Black Woman” opened at No. 1. The revenge comedy, budgeted at $5.5 million, ended its theatrical run with $50 million and was huge seller on home video. It was also released by Lionsgate, a unit of Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.

Last week’s champion, Walt Disney Co.’s fact-based survival saga “Eight Below,” slipped to No. 2 with $15.7 million, taking its 10-day total to $45.1 million.

NEW DUDS

Two other films opened in theaters, not that many people noticed. The canine cartoon “Doogal” played dead at No. 8 with $3.6 million, while the mob drama “Running Scared” was whacked at No. 9 with $3.1 million.

“Doogal” was released by the Weinstein Co., the privately held firm established by former Miramax Films co-chairmen Bob and Harvey Weinstein. “Running Scared” was released by New Line Cinema, a unit of Time Warner Inc.

Rounding out the top-five, Steve Martin’s comedy remake “The Pink Panther,” another former champ, was steady at No. 3 with $11.3 million in its third weekend. The film has earned $61 million to date.

The teen comedy “Date Movie” fell two places to No. 4 with $9.2 million, for a 10-day haul of $33.9 million. The computer-animated children’s book adaptation “Curious George” dipped one spot to No. 5 with $7 million and a three-week tally of $43.1 million.

“The Pink Panther” was released by Columbia Pictures, a unit of Sony Corp. while “Date Movie” was released by Twentieth Century Fox, a unit of News Corp. “Curious George” was released by Universal Pictures, a unit of NBC Universal, which is controlled by General Electric Co.

In a sign that Oscar buzz has largely been a bust for movie theater owners, three of the five best picture nominees earned a combined $3.4 million during the weekend, with leading contender “Brokeback Mountain” accounting for $2.3 million of that. To date, the gay-cowboy film has earned $75.4 million.

George Clooney’s newsroom drama “Good Night, and Good Luck” earned $600,000, while Steven Spielberg’s revenge thriller “Munich” pulled in $488,000. Their respective totals stand at $30.3 million and $46.1 million.

Of the two other nominees, the ensemble drama “Crash” is already out on home video, while official estimates for the Truman Capote saga “Capote” were not available. However, a rival studio estimated it made about $1 million, taking its total to about $23 million.

The Academy Awards will be handed out in Hollywood next Sunday.

“Brokeback Mountain,” already a hot favorite for next month’s Hollywood Oscars, was the big star of the night at the British Film Academy awards on Sunday, scooping four BAFTAs.

The gay cowboy love story won the coveted Best Film Award, Ang Lee was picked as Best Director, Jake Gyllenhaal was chosen as Best Supporting Actor and it also won the Best Adapted Screenplay statuette.

“I didn’t have a specific message. I wasn’t trying to push any political issues. We are dealing here with love,” Lee told Reuters Television before accepting his award.

Gyllenhaal, flabbergasted by his triumph, shook his head in astonishment and said: “Who would have thought this would happen.”

“It moved me like no other love story I have ever seen,” he said of the film for which he is also Oscar-nominated.

The film, which had taken Lee seven years to bring to the screen, faced tough competition in a strong year from “Capote,” “The Constant Gardener,” “Crash” and “Good Night, and Good Luck” to be picked as Best Film.

Philip Seymour Hoffman took home the Best Actor BAFTA for his mesmerising portrayal of writer Truman Capote in “Capote” and Reese Witherspoon was selected as Best Actress for her role in the Johnny Cash biopic “Walk The Line.”

Accepting his award, Hoffman thanked his girlfriend Mimi O’Donnell, saying “I want to say I love her and she looks really hot tonight.”

The Best Supporting Actress award went to British star Thandie Newton for her role in the low-budget racial drama “Crash.”

“This is the highest high ever,” she said afterwards. “I don’t expect it to get any higher.”

The British film industry had great hopes for the stylish political thriller “The Constant Gardener” which garnered 10 nominations but its stars Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz went home empty-handed.

Another disappointed star was George Clooney who had been nominated four times in recognition of his directing, acting and writing skills in the McCarthy era drama “Good Night, and Good Luck” and the Middle East thriller “Syriana.”

“Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit,” another in line for Oscar glory in Hollywood next month, was chosen as The Best British Film of the Year, much to the delight of Nick Park, creator of the two plasticine pals.

The BAFTAs were shifted in 2001 from April to February to fall between the Golden Globes and the Oscars with organizers hoping to capture some Hollywood glitter in the packed awards calendar.

But winning a top UK film industry award is certainly no guarantee of Oscar success.

Last year, Clint Eastwood’s boxing drama “Million Dollar Baby” swept the board at the Oscars but failed to score at the BAFTAs after distributors refused to send out copies of the film to voters amid fears of piracy.

I cannot even express the excitement that brews within me over next month’s Academy Awards. In 20 days, the Academy will hand out those golden statues that get those actors crying and screaming.

The fact that Jon Stewart, one of the funniest and may I add sexiest men in the world is hosting is the best icing on the cake anyone could ever ask for (though I’m hoping Whoopi returns someday).

I have a few people I’m rooting for, and I hope that doesn’t get in the way of my predictions too much, but if it does, oh well.

George Clooney’s got 3 nominations this year, but as he’s said himself, it’s very unlikely he’ll win in any of the categories he’s nominated in. It’s just a Brokeback year this year. George’s gift is in the nominations. The good news though, is that with the success of Syriana and Good Night, and Good Luck, George Clooney has finally torn down the barrier on his career that had him pegged as a “hunk”, a competent actor with a pretty face. As with Mel Gibson recently, Clooney has gained industry credibility, that leaves him open to future Oscar chances. But sorry George, it just ain’t your year.

This is a great year for the Best Actor category. Every actor in the category deserves a win, and that’s the kind of thing that makes the Academy Awards relevant–unlike other embarassing categories (See Best Actress).

With all of the said…without further ado, here are my predictions for who will win as well as my choices for who (as objectively as can be) should win.

Best Actor

Heath Ledger - Brokeback Mountain
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Capote
Terrence Howard - Hustle & Flow
David Strathairn - Good Night, and Good Luck
Joaquin Phoenix - Walk The Line

Will Win: Philip Seymour Hoffman. The only possible alternate choice is Heath Ledger who could squeeze out a win because of the Brokeback Mountain momentum. But more than likely, the Academy will award Hoffman’s subtle, quietly powerful performance in Capote. Not to mention the fact that the Academy, which is full of older men, tends to not like to award young, beautiful actors. Case in point: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jude Law. Joaquin was great in Walk The Line but he’s too overshadowed by the power of Brokeback and the caricature of Capote. Not to mention last year’s win for Jamie Foxx for playing a similar role in a similar movie.

Should Win: This is a VERY hard one, because each and every performance in this category is worthy. But if I factor in EVERYTHING, including each actor’s body of work and the difficulty of the characters, I’d have to say Philip Seymour Hoffman. He absolutely NAILED Truman Capote, and turned what could have been a mediocre film into something spectacular. I couldn’t take my eyes off of him the entire movie.

Best Actress

Felicity Huffman - Transamerica
Reese Witherspoon - Walk The Line
Judi Dench - Mrs. Henderson Presents
Keira Knightley - Pride & Prejudice
Charlize Theron - North Country

Will Win: This is a VERY tough one. The only two who have ANY chance of winning are Huffman and Witherspoon, but it’s honestly a huge toss up between those two. Given the Academy’s trend towards beautiful women and Oscars (the trend is the opposite in the Best Actress category), I would be inclined to say Reese Witherspoon. But I wouldn’t completely rule out Felicity Huffman. Reese has the advantage that her film did more than 10 times better at the box office than Felicity’s but Felicity’s performance was more challenging, and the Academy loves gender bending roles (See Hilary Swank in Boys Don’t Cry).

Should Win: Felicity Huffman I’m sorry Reese, you’re great and all in Walk The Line–particularly the scene where Joaquin’s on the bed all coked out and you’re giving him one of those friendly motiviational speeches and you get all teary eyed–(I got a little misty), and I loved you in Legally Blonde, but something tells me the work you put into Mrs. Carter Cash pales in comparison to Felicity Huffman’s brilliant take on a pre-op transexual connecting with her estranged son. You just don’t get better acting than this people. Reese has many years and a great career ahead of her. Something tells me Felicity’s chances of being nominated again aren’t too great. Maybe the fact that she’s married to Bill Macy’ll help her get some votes?

Best Supporting Actor

Matt Dillon - Crash
George Clooney - Syriana
Jake Gyllenhaal - Brokeback Mountain
Paul Giamatti - Cinderella Man
William Hurt - A History of Violence

Will Win: It’s honestly a toss up between Matt Dillon and Paul Giamatti. In an ideal world, Matt Dillon would win hands down. His performance in Crash was fresh, real, honest, and it was a standout performance in a film with an excellent ensemble. But there’s a problem. Paul Giamatti should have nominated for Sideways last year, and was for whatever reason snubbed. The Academy likes to give Oscars to people after the fact even if the performance isn’t as good as the one they should have won for (See Denzel Washington in Training Day/Malcolm X). Though effective, Giamatti’s performance in Cinderella Man is not an Oscar winning one, in fact if there was a nomination in this movie it should have been for the excellent Russell Crowe, who played vulnerability like no one can in Cinderella Man–he had me balling. I know what you’re wondering. Why am I not considering Jake Gyllenhaal for the monster of a movie Brokeback Mountain. I refer back to my commentary for the Best Actor category. Too young, too pretty. We’ll see how it goes down next month, but I’m hoping the Academy does the right thing.

Should Win: Duh. Matt Dillon. Great script, great movie, great performance. My other choice would be Jake Gyllenhaal (who I think, as an actor is ridiculously underrated. Like other actors before him, his beauty is unfortunately overshadowing his immense talent). The scene where Jack finally stands up to his father-in-law on Thanksgiving is one of my favorites in the film–Gyllenhaal is a winner in ths movie. But I think Jake has many more brilliant performances ahead of him. Dillon should take this one.

Best Supporting Actress

Frances McDormand - North Country
Michelle Williams - Brokeback Mountain
Catherine Keener - Capote
Rachel Weisz - The Constant Gardener
Amy Adams - Junebug

Will Win: Rachel Weisz. She’s had the momentum building up to the awards for quite a while now, (See Golden Globes and SAG Awards) and she makes such a bold impact even for being killed in the first two minutes that I think she’ll take it home. I’d love to see Frances McDormand win for her touching performance in North Country, but the problem simply is that no one saw that damn movie. Why, I’m not sure. It was a great movie with some great performances. Catherine Keener could pop out a win for her role in Capote, though unlikely, and Michelle Williams could sneak up with her misery-stricken Alma in Brokeback Mountain, but I think the voters too keenly remember her days at the Creek.

Should Win: Michelle Williams. As the great Annie Proulx said, Michelle nailed Alma’s “misery voice” and already had me tearing up halfway through the movie at her reaction to seeing Jack and Ennis embrace. She won’t win because there are some more experienced and respected actors in her category, but she should.

Best Director

Ang Lee - Brokeback Mountain
George Clooney - Good Night, and Good Luck
Paul Haggis - Crash
Steven Spielberg - Munich
Bennett Miller - Capote

Will Win: Ang Lee. Without a doubt. Sorry, George, this one is in the bag. All I can say is that I’m glad Spielberg came out with Munich, because the Academy nominates him for anything, and if War of the Worlds had been nominated for an Oscar I would have cut off my penis and stabbed in a vagina with a plastic spoon.

Should Win: Ang Lee. Brokeback is a beautiful film and Ang has conjured some magical performances out of these promising young actors. Bravo, Ang. Bravo. The rest of the nominees all made great movies, but the power of Brokeback overtakes all.

Best Picture

Brokeback Mountain
Crash
Capote
Good Night, and Good Luck
Munich

Will Win: Need I even? B-R-O-K-E-B-A-C-K. No doubt in my mind.

Should Win: As I said before, all great films. But Brokeback is a hell of a film with a weeper of an ending. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house. Granted, the first time I saw it, it was in Chelsea so the audience was nothing but gay men and their fag hags, but nonetheless. Crash is one of my favorite films of all time, and Good Night, and Good Luck was one of the best made movies I’ve seen in a REALLY long time, but you gotta give it to Ang Lee. You just gotta.

Snubs?

Toni Collete - In Her Shoes. This was such a great movie with 3 great performances. Shirley Maclaine was nominated for a Golden Globe (and should have won, by the way) but the real standout performance of the movie was from the brilliantly underrated Toni Collette.

Anne Hathaway - Brokeback Mountain. I’m sorry, but her performance was my favorite. I know, a lot of people can’t get past the hair, but that little smirk she gives when Jack stands up to her father, and that scene with her and Heath at the end–don’t even get me crying up in here. I’m not saying she would or should have won, but she should have at least been nominated.

Russell Crowe - Cinderella Man. Sorry Russell, this was just a really tough year for leading actors. So many great performances to choose from–only five slots. But you were great.

Terrence Howard - Crash. He probably didn’t get nominated because his performance here was overshadowed by his performance in Hustle & Flow, but a snub nonetheless.

Sandra Bullock - Crash. I think Sandra Bullock’s talents are ridiculously underrated. Yes, she’s pretty. Yes, she’s funny. Yes, she’s shtick. Yes, she usually does big budget romantic comedies. But I’ve never disliked a performance of hers (except maybe Speed 2 which I’ll try to forgive her for), and in Crash, she really pulls out all the stops. That scene in the house where she unloads on Brendan Fraser after they’re robbed at gunpoint is one of the best of the film. The best part of it though, is the classy walk off afterwards.

Cinderella Man - I still don’t quite get why no one went to see this. It’s an all-American film, it stars Russell Crowe and Renee Zelweger, two of Hollywood’s biggest stars, and it’s a Ron Howard flick. Hmm…maybe too close to Million Dollar Baby.

The Constant Gardener - Great movie that should probably be in Munich’s place. Damn that Spielberg.

“Crash,” a racial drama that hinges on unexpected turns of events, scored a major upset on Sunday over Oscar favorite “Brokeback Mountain” when it won the ensemble cast award from the Screen Actors Guild.

For weeks, “Brokeback” had been collecting one film award after another, draining any suspense out of the race for the March 5 Academy Awards.

Its latest award came on Saturday night when its director Ang Lee won best director’s award from the Directors Guild of America, often an Oscar barometer.

But “Brokeback” may have hit a bump in the road with the unexpected victory for the cast of “Crash,” an ensemble drama of 36 hours in Los Angeles when a minor traffic accident triggers a series of racial confrontations that ends in murder.

The film has more than 70 actors, including many A-listers who worked for scale, including Sandra Bullock and Don Cheadle.

One reason for its success at SAG may be that its distributor, Lionsgate, sent members of the Screen Actors Guild DVDs of the film, which had been released in May and pretty well forgotten as the awards season started.

Its director and co-writer, Paul Haggis, said on Saturday that he thought he was just a lucky man to be nominated for anything and said making the film was a touch-and-go effort in which the producers frequently ran out of money and had to use Haggis’ own home for rehearsals.

Philip Seymour Hoffman was named best actor for his role as writer Truman Capote in “Capote” and Reese Witherspoon best actress for her role as June Carter Cash in the Johnny Cash biography “Walk the Line.”

“Sometimes I just really can’t shake the feeling that I am really just a little girl from Tennessee,” Witherspoon said.

The prizes bolster both Hoffman’s and Witherspoon’s chances of winning an Oscar when the Academy Awards are presented in March.

Paul Giamatti, an often ignored character actor, won the best supporting actor award for his role as the manager in “Cinderella Man,” about the life of Depression-era boxer James J. Braddock.

British actress Rachel Weisz won best supporting actress for her role as the doomed activist wife of a British diplomat in “The Constant Gardener,” a film based on a thriller by spy novelist John Le Carre.

ABC’s hit series “Lost” and “Desperate Housewives” won top acting honors for television.

The “Lost” cast won the best ensemble performance award for a dramatic television series while “Desperate Housewives” received the ensemble award for best comedy series.

It was the first nomination and win for “Lost,” a castaway thriller that has helped reinvigorate ABC’s prime-time schedule.

S. Epatha Merkerson won the award for best actress in a television movie for her performance in “Lackawanna Blues,” and had the audience erupting in laughter and applause when she thanked her divorce lawyer.

Felicity Huffman was named best actress in a comedy series for her work as one of the “Desperate Housewives.”

Sandra Oh was named best actress in a television drama for her work as a fledgling doctor in “Grey’s Anatomy” on ABC while Kiefer Sutherland was named best actor in a dramatic series for his work as a U.S. agent out to foil terrorist plots in “24″ on Fox.

Breathless and in tears, Oh, who also won a Golden Globe for her role, thanked her fellow Asian American actors. She said: “I share this with you … be encouraged and keep shining.”

Sean Hayes, named best actor for his role in the gay-themed NBC comedy “Will & Grace,” joked about the publicity around Ang Lee’s “Brokeback Mountain” as he accepted his award.

“First of all, I would like to thank Ang Lee for taking a chance on me,” he said. “I know everyone in Hollywood knows it’s such a risk to play a gay character.”

“Brokeback” has won major craft guild awards from Hollywood producers and directors and a victory at SAG for best ensemble cast — the top award given by actors — would have made it virtually unbeatable at the Academy Awards.

Not everyone is comfortable with the film, whose theme is a forbidden romance between two cowboys.

President George W. Bush ducked a question last week on whether he planned to see the film, and no movie whose theme is a gay romance has won a best-picture Oscar, the symbol of mainstream success.

Oscar nominations will be announced on Tuesday.

I have to write an introduction to this post, because right now I am livid.

Now on to the actual article.

Several commentators on television and radio have either hosted debates or openly questioned what they have claimed are the insidiously progressive goals of director Ang Lee’s award-winning film Brokeback Mountain (Focus Features, 2005). But how many of them have actual seen the film? Some media personalities and conservative guests feel free to opine on the film’s purported “agenda” to “mainstream homosexuality,” while openly admitting they have not seen it.

More than one panel discussing both the merits and cultural implications of the film has featured conservative guests whose knowledge of the film extended merely to what they had read or seen about it. While it is not clear whether MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough has seen the film, he has twice featured debates on his show, Scarborough Country, about whether the film advanced Hollywood’s “radical agenda.” On the December 15 edition of his program, for example, he hosted Catholic League president William A. Donohue, who admitted he had not seen it, opposite US Weekly senior editor Bradley Jacobs, who said he had. On the show, Donohue said he planned to see King Kong (Universal Studios, 2005) instead, asserting,

“I suspect the people who make these kind of movies, though — like gay cowboy — would go to see a movie called ‘The Gay Gorilla,’ ” explaining: “[T]hat’s the difference between Hollywood and mainstream.”

Other networks have displayed a similar pattern. CNN’s Larry King Live dedicated the entire January 17 edition of its show to “the debate over gay love and gay marriage” thanks to “Brokeback Mountain’s big night at the Golden Globes.” Of the four guests, the two social conservatives — radio host Janet Parshall and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary president R. Albert Mohler Jr. — admitted to not having seen the film. Mohler said that he had read the screenplay and “know[s]” the original short story. Parshall imputed the “chatter” surrounding the film to “the homosexualizing of America.”

Fox News constitutes no exception to the trend. On a December 17 Fox News Watch panel that included Fox News host Eric Burns, media writer Neal Gabler, Fox News contributor Jane Hall, Fox News political analyst Jim Pinkerton, and nationally syndicated columnist and Fox News host Cal Thomas, only Pinkerton had seen the film — still in limited release at the time — because he “was ordered to see it by Fox News.” Yet, Burns felt qualified to ask, “[S]houldn’t this movie be more controversial than it is?” and Thomas called it “a wet kiss … to the gay community.” In an appearance on the January 2 edition of Special Report with Brit Hume, syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer apparently felt the film — along with Cuban President Fidel Castro and Iran — merited one of his three 2006 predictions, prognosticating: “Brokeback Mountain will have been seen in the theaters by 18 people — but the right 18 — and will win the Academy Award.” He did not specify who the “right 18″ were, nor did he clarify which Academy Award the film would receive.

Some news hosts have also voiced concerns over the film’s message and purpose while acknowledging that they haven’t actually seen it. Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly has discussed the film at least eight times on his nationally syndicated radio show, The Radio Factor with Bill O’Reilly, and his cable news show, The O’Reilly Factor. He repeatedly insists that has no plans to see it — “I want to watch the highlights of the game, not the pup tent” — but remains adamant that the film wins critical praise because the media “want[s] to mainstream homosexual conduct.” John Gibson has joined in on the act, asking a guest on the December 9 edition of his Fox News show, The Big Story with John Gibson, “Which is harder to watch, the pulling out the fingernails of Syriana (Warner Bros, 2005) or [actors] Heath [Ledger] and Jake [Gyllenhaal] enamorada in this?” After he said he received criticism for the remark, Gibson defended his comparison between same-sex relations and torture, stating:

GIBSON: Hollywood may, in fact, want to give every Oscar it can find to the first gay cowboy movie. But I think most people do not want to go into a darkened room with a tub of popcorn and munch away watching two guys get it on. I just don’t.

[...]

I had one prominent writer say he wouldn’t come on my radio show because I made hate-encouraging speech when I said I couldn’t figure out which was going to be harder to watch, the guys smooching in Brokeback or [former CIA operative] Bob Bear getting his fingernails ripped out in Syriana.

I said, hey, I know people who are gay. I have nothing against them, but I don’t want to see this movie.

Finally, MSNBC’s Tucker Carlson, who hadn’t seen the movie but “heard it’s good,” argued on the January 17 edition of The Situation with Tucker Carlson: “[A]t some point, Hollywood should give up its mission as a kind of, you know, evangelist for a political persuasion and just shut up and make the movie.”

From the December 15 edition of MSNBC’s Scarborough County:

DONOHUE: Well, I heard that from other people that it is, artistically, a good movie.

So, I haven’t — going to see it. Gay cowboy doesn’t interest me. I am going to go see King Kong. I suspect the people who make these kind of movies, though — like gay cowboy — would go to see a movie called ‘The Gay Gorilla’. But that’s the difference between Hollywood and mainstream.

From the January 17 edition of CNN’s Larry King Live:

PARSHALL: No, I didn’t see the film and I’m not at all surprised that out of seven [Golden Globe] nominations Brokeback walked away with four — and some might say that’s an indication of what the Oscar ceremonies might look like later on this year.

KING: Why would you comment on it if you haven’t seen it?

PARSHALL: Well, I’m interested in all of the buzz around the film. I’m not the least bit surprised that we’re hearing so much chatter. After all, I think what we’re witnessing, Larry, is the homosexualizing of America.

[...]

MOHLER: I’ve not seen the movie, Larry, and that’s a matter of decision, not just a matter of chance. Like others, I don’t feel any need to see the movie. I have read the screenplay. I know the short story and, of course, I know what the movie is about because it’s out there so much in the media.

That’s the main issue. I am not a movie critic. I really can’t speak to the cinematography. I can just speak to what the cultural meaning of this film is and why I see it as a great challenge.

KING: Didn’t the short story move you at all?

MOHLER: Well, no, actually –

KING: For example, you’re a reverend. Didn’t you have some compassion for what happened to the younger one of the two?

MOHLER: Well, absolutely. You have to feel compassion when anyone feels pain and when anyone goes through that kind of struggle. But, you know, I really am horrified to think about where that story ended.

You know, my main concern, Larry, is not with the gospel of heterosexuality — even though I think that’s very important — it’s with the gospel of Jesus Christ, and what I find lacking in the movie, the screenplay, and in the short story is any resolution that really brings these persons to know why they were created and how God really intends them to live, and how they would find their greatest satisfaction in living just as God had intended them for his glory.

From the December 17 edition of Fox News Watch:

GABLER: Well, on the one side, Hollywood is going to say, “It’s a litmus test for tolerance toward - toward homosexuals.” And on the right-wing side, if indeed they take the bait, they’re going to attack the movie and say, “This is another way of — of advancing the so-called homosexual agenda.”

THOMAS: Well, let me take the bait. But I won’t go in the direction you’re thinking of.

I’ve been reading the reviews on this, and they’re really interesting. You compare this movie with, for example, [The Chronicles of Narnia:] The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, [Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media, 2005] which just premiered two weeks ago, took in $67 million in its first weekend. Now, we were treated prior to the release of the Narnia movie to all kinds of columns, including by Peter Steinfeld’s in The New York Times and other mainstream venues, that this had a subliminal religious message. Lock up your children! They might see Jesus! Oh my goodness, it’s terrible what’s going on out there. And that’s the kind of coverage and reviews that they got.

This thing — breaking new ground, a love story — you should go see it. So the difference has an agenda attached to it.

[...]

With the way Hollywood covers religion, it is stereotypical and outrageous. The movie Saved! [MGM/United Artists Studios, 2004] was about a hypocritical, oversexed, (inaudible) kids in high school; an unbelievable bigoted thing. This thing is a — is a wet kiss, you should pardon the expression, to the gay community.

From the January 2 edition of Fox News’ Special Report with Brit Hume:

JIM ANGLE (Fox News chief Washington correspondent): I’m joined by our all-star panel, with or without crystal balls, to find out what they expect to see in this coming year. Fred Barnes, executive editor of The Weekly Standard, Mort Kondracke, executive editor of Roll Call, and the syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer, Fox News contributors all.

OK. 2006, Charles, what do you see?

KRAUTHAMMER: I see, number one, Fidel Castro dies. I say this not with any inside medical information as a doctor but he’s actuarially due. Cuba becomes a free country and a decent one and a favorite American resort.

Number two, Iran reaches the point of no return in uranium enrichment, declares openly it’s going to seek and acquire nuclear weapons. [United Nations] Security Council will do absolutely nothing.

To balance the bad news, number three, the [President Bashar Al-] Assad dictatorship in Syria will be overthrown.

And last but not least, Brokeback Mountain will have been seen in the theaters by 18 people, but the right 18, and will win the Academy Award.

ANGLE: Brokeback Mountain, the movie about gay cowboys.

KRAUTHAMMER: Exactly.

From the December 14 broadcast of Westwood One’s The Radio Factor with Bill O’Reilly:

O’REILLY: Okay. You know, it’s interesting because the polls show that Americans are going back to church in greater numbers than they were 10 years ago. But I believe that there’s a segment of Americans that have — are rebelling against the no boundaries deal, and they’re so fed up that they said, “You know, maybe there’s another way,” and that’s why that’s happening.

But in popular culture, things are getting worse. You know, I can give you — I could sit here and give you examples all day. Let me just give you this example, and this is a controversial example. This gay cowboy movie — and it’s going to win, you know, a lot of awards all over — and their — the media is pushing this like crazy. And I couldn’t care less about it, to tell you the truth.

I probably will not go to see it, you know, just because I don’t care about gay cowboys. I mean, it’s — to be quite frank. If it were straight cowboys, I probably wouldn’t go to see it. I saw a lot of cowboys when I was a little kid, I loved the cowboys then. Right now, cowboys don’t really mean much to me. So, probably not going to go and see it.

But you’re going to see, over the next month, this movie being pushed and pushed and pushed by every media you can imagine. Why? Because they want to mainstream homosexual conduct. That’s the goal.

And from the January 17 broadcast of The Radio Factor with Bill O’Reilly:

O’REILLY: And I get a kick out of Brokeback Mountain. I get a kick — I’m not going to go see it, because people have seen it. [Legal analyst] Lis Wiehl said it was boring. But if it were — you know — if I had gotten good reviews from the people I know who have seen it, I’d go. But, you know, I’m not really interested in sheep herders. They got two sheep herders and two guys, and they’re in Montana. I like Montana. Or Wyoming. Maybe, they cross the border here and there. I don’t know.

But they’re in the tent together rolling around. It’s not — you know, to me — I want to watch ESPN. OK. I’m not — the pup tent rolling around — I want to watch the highlights of the game, not the pup tent. Just me. You want to go? Go. All right.

From the December 9 edition of Fox News’ The Big Story with John Gibson:

GIBSON: Do you have a sense that this is a — you know — an agenda film, that somebody decides we got to make a movie about gay cowboys?

[...]

Which is harder to watch, the pulling out the fingernails of Syriana or Heath and Jake enamorada in this?

And the January 2 edition of The Big Story with John Gibson:

GIBSON: My Word. I’ve been getting no small amount of grief about the fact that I’ve been making fun of Brokeback Mountain, the gay cowboy movie. I’ve been making fun of it because it seems to me to be a movie in defiance of its audience.

I don’t think it’s going to be a box office hit. It will make no money, at least in Hollywood terms. I’m sure it will be a critical hit. Hollywood may, in fact, want to give every Oscar it can find to the first gay cowboy movie.

But I think most people do not want to go into a darkened room with a tub of popcorn and munch away watching two guys get it on. I just don’t.

I had one prominent writer say he wouldn’t come on my radio show because I made hate-encouraging speech when I said I couldn’t figure out which was going to be harder to watch, the guys smooching in Brokeback or Bob Bear getting his fingernails ripped out in Syriana.

I said, hey, I know people who are gay. I have nothing against them, but I don’t want to see this movie.

From the January 17 edition of MSNBC’s The Situation with Tucker Carlson, which featured radio host Rachel Maddow:

CARLSON: I’m not attacking any of these pictures or shows on artistic merit. I haven’t seen Brokeback Mountain, but I’ve heard it’s good. But the point is: Isn’t it about time that art was made for art’s sake? A; B: Is it not true that Hollywood does have completely different values than most of the rest of America and seeks to use its art to shove those values down the throats of the rest of America? That’s just true, whether you agree with the values or not.

MADDOW: How is Brokeback Mountain not art for art’s sake? You’re saying that it was driven by a political agenda and it’s — therefore, that overwhelms its artistic achievements?

CARLSON: No, I’m actually not saying that. I haven’t seen it, and I’ve heard its artistic achievements are impressive

MADDOW: Right.

CARLSON: And so, you can — I think you can enjoy it for its own sake. I am merely saying it is used by people with a political agenda — in this case, its own director — to make a political point. And it just seems to me, at some point, Hollywood should give up its mission as a kind of, you know, evangelist for a political persuasion and just shut up and make the movie.

This article, from Media Matters for America, can be viewed again here.