?Crash? wins best film in Oscar stunner

7 mars 2006

7 mars 2006, 00:00

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?Crash? wins best film in Oscar stunner

lexpress.mu | Toute l'actualité de l'île Maurice en temps réel.

?Crash,? the race relations drama that has captivated Hollywood, pulled off a stunning upset at the Oscars on Sunday winning the best film honor over heavily favored gay romance ?Brokeback Mountain.?

Philip Seymour Hoffman was named best actor playing homosexual writer Truman Capote in ?Capote?, and Hollywood sweetheart Reese Witherspoon?s performance as country singer June Carter in the Johnny Cash biographical film, ?Walk the Line,? earned her the Oscar for best actress.

?Brokeback?, about two cowboys who fall into a love that spans decades, won three awards overall, including Ang Lee as best director, Diana Ossana and Larry McMurtry for best adapted screenplay, and Gustavo Santaolalla for best original score.

Coming into the evening, ?Brokeback? led its rivals with eight nominations, more than ?Crash? and George Clooney?s moral tale ?Good Night, and Good Luck? with six apiece.

?Crash? pulled a stunning upset because ?Brokeback? won most all of Hollywood?s best film honors heading into the Oscar.

When its surprise victory was announced, an audience of luminary moviemakers and movie stars at the Kodak Theatre stood in the aisles and cheered ?Crash? .

?Crash? producer Cathy Schulman thanked Oscar voters for honoring a film ?about love, about tolerance, about truth?.

?We are humbled by the other nominees in this category?, Schulman said. ?You have made this year one of the most breathtaking and stunning, maverick years in Anerican cinema?.

Only moments earlier, Lee had accepted his trophy for directing ?Brokeback?, and it seemed certain his movie would claim the best film trophy.

Lee thanked not only the normal list of agents, managers, producers and other Hollywood handlers, but the fictional characters in the movie who, he said, taught audiences ?the greatness of love, itself?.

?Crash? course in winning

Along with best film, ?Crash? won the trophy for best original screenplay for writers Paul Haggis, who also directed the movie, and for his writing partner Bobby Moresco.

?Good Night, and Good Luck? failed to win any Oscars, but its mastermind George Clooney, who also directed and co-wrote the film, did win an Oscar for best supporting actor in his turn as a world-weary CIA agent in oil drama ?Syriana?.

British actress Weisz was given the best supporting actress award for playing a social activist who is murdered for her beliefs in thriller ?The Constant Gardener?.

A range of films won other trophies. Japanese saga ?Memoirs of a Geisha? was given three Oscars for costume design and art direction and cinematography.

?The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe? won for best makeup. ?It?s Hard Out Here for a Pimp? from ?Hustle & Flow? was named best original song.

But in another surprise, African film ?Tsotsi?, was named best foreign language movie over favorite ?Paradise Now.?

Following the plots of many of its message-themed movies, Oscar took a decidedly political tone with winners noting causes, and show host Jon Stewart cracking wise.

?We are a little bit out-of-touch in Hollywood,? Clooney said. ?I think that?s probably a good thing. We are the ones who talked about AIDS when it was only being whispered ... We talked about civil rights ... I?m proud to be part of this Academy, proud to be part of this community, proud to be ?out of touch.?

Stewart, known for political satire, stuck to what he does best ? poking fun at politicians and Hollywood stars.

Bob TOURTELLOTTE

Hoffman wins best actor at political Oscars

Philip Seymour Hoffman won the Oscar for best actor as Hollywood showed its political colors on Sunday by awarding George Clooney and Rachel Weisz supporting acting honors for two message movies.

Hoffman won for ?Capote,? in which he plays writer Truman Capote doing a deal with the devil to get an ending for his classic non-fiction novel ?In Cold Blood.?

Academy voters named South Africa?s ?Tsotsi? as best foreign film. Clooney was named best supporting actor in a film for his portrayal of a world-weary CIA agent in oil drama ?Syriana,? and British actress Weisz was given the best supporting actress award for playing a social activist who is murdered for her beliefs in thriller ?The Constant Gardener?. In early awards, ?Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit? was named best animated feature film, and box office smash, ?March of the Penguins? won best documentary. A range of films won other trophies. Japanese saga ?Memoirs of a Geisha? was given two Oscars for costume design and art direction. ?The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe? won for best makeup. ?It?s Hard Out Here for a Pimp? from ?Hustle & Flow? was named best original song, and gay-themed ?Brokeback Mountain? took home the Oscar for best original score. Onstage Clooney, who was nominated for three Oscars overall, joked that it would be his only win of the night ? more or less his consolation prize for not being favored in other categories in which he is nominated. The actor also is vying for best director and best original screenplay for drama ?Good Night, and Good Luck,? which tells of newsman Edward R. Murrow?s battle against McCarthyism in the 1950s. The film centers on themes of free speech, and Clooney took the opportunity to talk politics onstage. ?We are a little bit out-of-touch in Hollywood. I think that?s probably a good thing. whispered ... We talked about civil rights ... I?m proud to be part of this Academy, proud to be part of this community, proud to be ?out of touch.??

And the winners are:

Best Picture