Oscar® Nominees Honored at 25th Academy Luncheon

Beverly Hills, CA — Seventeen of the 20 nominees in the acting categories will be among the more than 100 nominees from 24 categories who will gather at noon for the traditional pre-Academy Awards fete when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honors this year’s Oscar contenders at its annual Nominees Luncheon on Monday (February 13), at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

From the Leading Actor and Actress categories Philip Seymour Hoffman, Terrence Howard, Heath Ledger, Joaquin Phoenix, Felicity Huffman, Keira Knightley, Charlize Theron and Reese Witherspoon are expected to attend. Amy Adams, Catherine Keener, Rachel Weisz, Michelle Williams, George Clooney, Matt Dillon, Paul Giamatti, Jake Gyllenhaal and William Hurt are set to represent the supporting categories. 

All five nominees from the Directing category — Clooney, Paul Haggis, Ang Lee, Bennett Miller, Steven Spielberg — are also scheduled to attend.

This will be the 25th time that the Academy has hosted the Nominees Luncheon. The first was held on March 9, 1982.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2005 will be presented on Sunday, March 5, 2006, at the Kodak Theatre at the Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network beginning at 5 p.m. PST. A one-hour red carpet arrivals show will precede the telecast at 4 p.m. Information about the 78th Annual Academy Awards can be accessed on line at www.oscar.com.

# # #
©A.M.P.A.S.®
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
8949 Wilshire Boulevard Beverly Hills, CA 90211-1972
(310) 247-3000
www.oscars.org
publicity@oscars.org



- posted by Ally 
- credits: Oscars.Org
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BAFTA AWARDS

This year's Orange British Academy Film Awards will be held at the Odeon Leicester Square on Sunday 19 February 2006. Hosted by Stephen Fry, attendees confirmed to date include: Jake Gyllenhaal, Ang Lee, Thandie Newton, George Clooney, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz, Charlize Theron, Ziyi Zhang, Sean Bean, Pierce Brosnan, Neve Campbell, Rupert Grint, Diane Kruger, Matthew Modine, James Purefoy, Kelly Reilly, Christina Ricci, Kristin Scott Thomas, Andy Serkis, Imelda Staunton, Patrick Stewart and Renee Zellweger. Tune in on the big night to watch the red carpet arrivals and all the excitement!



The Academy's Film Awards began in 1947 and have always been an international event. They continue to be presented annually to recognise, honour and reward individuals for outstanding achievement in feature and short films produced worldwide and released in UK cinemas. Our sponsor, Orange, has supported the Film Awards since 1998 and became our title sponsor in 2000. The event is now known as the The Orange British Academy Film Awards. In 2001, the Film Awards were moved prior to the Oscars, a move that has been widely praised by the film industry.


- posted by Ally 
- credits: BAFTA.Com
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BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Two contenders emerge from field 
Clooney, Giamatti have best chance to nab best supporting actor Oscar.
Phoebe flowers
South Florida Sun-Sentinel Film Writer
February 12, 2006

A moment, please, to swoon.

A few months ago, Jake Gyllenhaal called me. Like, on the phone. And he said my name. At one point, he even sighed, audibly, while talking about how incredible it was to make Brokeback Mountain.

Interviewing Gyllenhaal was one of the most incredible experiences of my career, too. (And not just because of all the hushed, honeyed words and tingly-warm silences and the saying of my name that transpired.) But it was nothing compared to actually watching the 25-year-old actor in Brokeback Mountain.

As Jack Twist, a high-strung, semi-openly gay ranch hand who spends a lifetime trying to convince his secret lover (Heath Ledger) to accept what he is so they can be together, Gyllenhaal gave an understated and heartbreaking performance. Ledger was the one, beginning with the movie's premieres at the Venice and Toronto film festivals last September, who was chased by Oscar buzz; he had more screen time, more overt suffering to endure. (Plus, he didn't have to grow the somewhat ridiculous moustache that Gyllenhaal ended up sporting.)

But as someone who has seen Brokeback multiple times -- and it only gets better with repetition -- let me tell you that it is Gyllenhaal on whom the film's success rests. He has to be believable as a man passionate and irresistible enough to lure a severely repressed, laconic guy into a relationship that frankly terrifies him. He is the catalyst for the entire plot. In many ways (just as in real-life relationships, in which whoever cares the least has the power) it is his character's job to simply react to what his reticent lover is or isn't doing, but this doesn't make his work any less vital or brilliant.

So it's a shame that Gyllenhaal, doing career-high work in the year's best film, doesn't have a shot at winning the best supporting actor trophy. But he's young, and so far (with the glaring exception of The Day After Tomorrow), he's made great, offbeat choices: Donnie Darko, The Good Girl, Lovely & Amazing, Proof. His day will come.

William Hurt, on the other hand, has already had his day. The 55-year-old actor received lead actor nods for Children of a Lesser God (1986) and Broadcast News (1987), and even won for Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985). What's odd about his nomination is that it's only one of two that A History of Violence, by far one of the year's top films, received. (The other was for adapted screenplay.) Nothing for Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello, Ed Harris? Director David Cronenberg? Anyone? Hurt's screen time amounted to about three minutes, total, and even fans of the movie are split on whether his performance as a vengeance-minded gangster was great or grotesque.

Speaking of grotesque, let's take a moment to acknowledge the great big slobbering response that many critics have lavished upon Crash, itself a slobbery, self-congratulating film by Paul Haggis, the Million Dollar Baby screenwriter who has evidently never met a platitude he didn't want to seize and then hurl at an audience. The real miracle is that only one of its actors (Matt Dillon) made it into this category, because the film picked up the ensemble cast award from the Screen Actors Guild. So, Dillon is the real wild card in this category, because rich, white Los Angelenos, who have about as much insight into race as Haggis himself, really seem to want to reward Crash. And, God help them, they have six whole chances March 5 to do so.

But the supporting-actor race really is expected to come down to two veterans cut from very different cloths.

In corner one, we have George Clooney. As we've learned in the past, the Academy is just tickled fuchsia when hot actors uglify themselves in the name of art (e.g., Nicole Kidman in The Hours, Charlize Theron in Monster, Robert De Niro in Raging Bull). Clooney chubbed right on up for Syriana, which, along with its resolutely convoluted plot, seems to have successfully convinced plenty of people that it was an Important Film. (Frankly, I still can barely even explain who his character was supposed to be.)

Clooney has plenty going for him -- not only did he already win the Golden Globe, he's also up for awards for directing and co-writing best picture nominee Good Night, and Good Luck. And, back down to fighting weight, the man is dead sexy. Especially when you remember all that righteous shouting he used to do at abusive parents in his role on ER. What's not to love?

The only thing standing between the man who used to have a bit part on The Facts of Life and his first Academy Award, however, is a little balding guy named Paul Giamatti. After back-to-back outright snubs for beloved, deeply nuanced performances in American Splendor (2003) and Sideways (2004), the Academy has finally seen fit to acknowledge Giamatti for his role as boxing manager Joe Gould in the tragically underseen Cinderella Man. (Talk about snubs: Giamatti's nomination was only one of the three for yet another of the year's best movies, and the only one not in technical categories.)

At this point, you could almost flip a coin to choose the winner. Clooney may have gotten the Golden Globe, but Giamatti was lauded by SAG. (Unless, of course, too many people refuse to choose between the two and just go for the Deep Thoughts of Crash.)

The edge seems tilted slightly in Clooney's favor if only because of the momentum he's got from Good Night, and because they'll probably want to toss an award in Syriana's direction -- and it won't be for its sole other nod, original screenplay. (Whether that's even an appropriate category for a movie that was essentially based on a book is another issue altogether.) But at this point, anything is possible.

Except, of course, for Jake Gyllenhaal winning. But that's OK. If he needs a shoulder (or anything else) on which to cry, I'll be right here.

Who Should Win: Paul Giamatti, Cinderella Man

Who Will Win: George Clooney, Syriana


- posted by Ally 
- credits: Sun-Sentinel.Com
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Greater New York Gala Dinner Please join Co-Chairs Jacob Miles and Sheila Carson at the 2006 Greater New York Gala Dinner. The 2006 Gala will be an enjoyable – if not a "heated" – evening of socializing, entertainment and fun. We believe the evening will ignite the passion in all of us to further build on our momentum! The evening will begin with a cocktail reception during the Silent Auction where you can bid on generously-donated, high quality products and services. Then in the Grand Ballroom, our Gala program will provide a full slate of entertainment and inspiration and will recognize individuals and organizations whose tireless efforts have made important gains for GLBT equality. Don't miss our Afterglow Afterparty, where we will all keep the celebration going strong!
Date:	Saturday, February 11, 2006
Time:	» VIP/Champagne Ticket Holder Reception: 5:30 p.m. » Pre-Dinner Cocktails and Silent Auction:   6:15 p.m. » Dinner and Program: 7:30 p.m. prompt » Afterglow After Party: Immediately following Dinner
Place:	Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
Address:	301 Park Avenue New York, NY 10022
HRC Equality Awardees:	Ang Lee, Golden Globe winning Director of Brokeback Mountain Jake Gyllenhaal, star of BrokebackMountain (Note:Due to scheduling conflicts, Jake Gyllenhaal will be accepting the award via video) Chris Meloni, star of NBC’s Law & Order: SVU and HBO’s OZ
Community Award:	LIGALY (Long Island Gay and Lesbian Youth)
Corporate Equality Award:	Citigroup
After Party Entertainment by:	Kristine W
Ticket Price and Info:	www.boxofficetickets.com
For More Info:	Visit hrcnewyork.org.
Special Note:	Black-Tie or Festive Attire Suggested

- posted by Ally 
- credits: HRC.Org
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'Now it gets more complicated' 
OSCAR PROFILE: Jake Gyllenhaal courts controversy in 'Brokeback Mountain' 
By Bob Strauss, Film Writer
U-Entertainment 

Maybe it was growing up in a show-business family that taught Jake Gyllenhaal and his older sister, Maggie, that taking risks was the way to get ahead. 
Or maybe it just comes naturally. Whichever, Jake is breaking out this year due primarily to two demanding and controversial movies, Ang Lee's gay romance, "Brokeback Mountain," and Sam Mendes' nihilistic Gulf War drama, "Jarhead." "What's the world without controversy?" says the actor, 25, who just a few years ago was playing jailbait for older women in the likes of "The Good Girl" and "Lovely & Amazing."

"I would not want to be in a movie that didn't stir up people's opinions. The only problem I have is when people make opinions before they've seen something. Judgment before experience is something that is a fault of mine and a fault of a lot of people that I know, and I do not think it's a good thing in myself. 

"When people see these movies, they'll see what they're about. But yeah, after they see them, they may have opinions." 

Indeed, when "Jarhead" came out, complaints ranged from it being too negative a comment on our military to it not taking a stand at all regarding the current war in Iraq.

"Brokeback," nominated for seven Oscars, has kept its marketers awake nights worrying whether a serious physical and emotional relationship between two Wyoming cowboys, Gyllenhaal's Jack Twist and Heath Ledger's Ennis Del Mar, can find mainstream acceptance in a culture currently at extremes of unprecedented acceptance of and deep discomfort with homosexuality. 

Gyllenhaal wasn't primarily interested in causing a stir, though. He just wanted to be in the best love story he'd read in a long time. "Brokeback" is based on an acclaimed short story by "The Shipping News" author Annie Proulx, and was adapted by Pulitzer Prize-winning Western novelist Larry McMurtry and his frequent collaborator Diana Ossana. 

"Did it change my perspective on gay cowboys?" Gyllenhaal asks rhetorically as he wades into a barrage of rhetorical questions about the film's sexuality. "It's very hard to make this movie experience into a literal one. It's about the struggles of two people dealing with intimacy, to me. You don't have this ideal idea of love like you see in movies all the time. That thing like: It's supposed to happen between these two people, particularly a guy and a girl - and when he gets the girl at the end, the whole thing is all good. 

"But this puts it in an environment where we've never seen it before. I think you walk out of this film feeling devastated in a lot of ways - but also feeling a real sense of benevolence." 

Fine and dandy. But what most people are asking about is doing love scenes with Ledger. 

"What I'm really interested in is why so many people are interested in how different it is," Gyllenhaal says with a hearty laugh. "And most of them are men! But I can't really tell you, except to say that it was an exfoliating experience, and one that I will do to service a film, maybe, but definitely not in my real life." 

Exfoliating? Fair enough. But now answer the question. 

"We didn't really rehearse it at all," the actor says with a more tentative chuckle. "We talked about it, I guess, a little bit. But on the day, there was a lot of choreography. It was a lot like whenever I'm doing a love scene with a woman in a movie. They have a particularly hard time not being objectified, so when you're working with them, it's always like, 'I'm gonna put my hand here, I'm gonna go here ...' 

"It was very much the same thing. I think both Heath and I have worked with women in the past like that, so we worked with each other that way. ... It was like a dance, you know?" 

Gyllenhaal actually gets more flustered when asked about the bisexual Jack's first romantic encounter with his future wife Lureen, played with evident gusto by all-grown-up "Princess Diaries" star Anne Hathaway. 

"Oh, now it gets more complicated," he says, this time actually blushing. "It's easier for me to answer the questions about the scenes with Heath. Anne's a very beautiful girl, that's all I can say. Yeah, that's ... uh ... she's a very, very beautiful girl. She's ... very beautiful." 

The actor can be similarly reticent about real-life relationships. After dating for a few years, Gyllenhaal and actress Kirsten Dunst reportedly broke up in the summer of 2004. Yet they've repeatedly been spotted together since. 

"It's something that I even hate to talk about, because nobody really understands what goes on between two people, anyway," Dunst told U in the fall of 2004. 

"I don't think anybody understands what anybody's relationship is, except for the people who are in the relationship," Gyllenhaal responds when asked to clarify. 

On most other topics, Gyllenhaal is forthcoming to an almost aggressive degree. Take a recent report that he got a little too aggressive in an emotion-charged scene during "Jarhead," during which he chipped a tooth and came to actual blows with another actor. 

"I love Jake's performance," says Anthony Swofford, the third-generation Marine who wrote the book the movie is based on and who Gyllenhaal plays. "It's thoughtful, introspective, rough, brash, conflicted ... and those are things that I was." 

So, is there a dark, angry side to the usually sweet and sunny Gyllenhaal? 

"I don't know," he muses. "If you don't know it yet, you'll know it soon. Hopefully,I'll play roles where all that stuff comes out. Darkness is a pretty broad word. I don't know what that is. But there are many more sides than I've shown in films up to this point. I'm not done yet. 

"I'm just not the type of person who can really hold it in," Gyllenhaal admits. "You ask any of my friends. Unless it's a very important secret or something they really need me to hold onto, I'm the first person to be, like, 'No, wait, I'm really feeling this, and I need you to know.' " 

This was demonstrated when, after waiting many anxious weeks to learn if he was in the running for the "Jarhead" job, Gyllenhaal phoned director Mendes in the dead of night to make an impassioned pitch for himself. 

"I did call Sam at 2 in the morning to tell him why I wanted the part and was right for it," Gyllenhaal confirms, with no apologies. "Some have said, well, not a lot of young people would have had opportunities like that. But to me, it's the family business. If my parents did something else, I would probably be doing that, too. It just so happens that this is a kind of adored profession. And I adore it, but it's no different to me - in an odd way, and I know that it's hard for other people to think that - than any other family business." 

Stephen Gyllenhaal directs both quality television and independent films, two of which - "A Dangerous Woman" and "Homegrown" - his son has appeared in. Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal has scripted several of her husband's films as well as the widely praised "Running on Empty" and the current release "Bee Season." 

As for Maggie, she played her brother's sister in the surreal, indie coming-of-age hit "Donnie Darko" and has her own resume of provocative films such as "Secretary," "Adaptation" and "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind." They were also in some of their father's films together, and Maggie's boyfriend, Peter Sarsgaard, co-starred in "Jarhead." 

It all adds up to an unusually close actors' support network. 

"When I'm doing a movie, I'll finish a take and think, 'What would Maggie think if she saw that choice? Would she think it was interesting?' " Gyllenhaal says. "And I feel the same way about Peter. In terms of acting, I kind of group the two of them in that same category. I wonder, if they saw that, would they buy it, or would they know that I was pushing it or whatever? That's what was cool about working with Peter. He knows all the B.S., and we learned a lot about each other that we hadn't known before." 

Gyllenhaal is currently working with Robert Downey Jr. and Mark Ruffalo on the true-life police procedural "Zodiac." How controversial that will end up being remains to be seen, but its director, David Fincher, has certainly caused commotions with films such as "Fight Club" and "Se7en" in the past. 

Whatever complaints may come, Gyllenhaal remains flat-out giddy about where his career is at right now. 

"Oh, without a doubt," he says with his broadest grin of all. "I mean, come on - it's not so often that you get to work with Ang Lee, Sam Mendes, John Madden (whose 'Proof' Gyllenhaal also appeared in this fall) and David Fincher within a short period of time. It's an embarrassment of riches. I don't expect that things like this come very often. So I have every intention to enjoy it - the good and the bad, really."


- posted by Ally 
- credits: DailyNews.Com
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Brokeback Mountain Becomes Top-Grosser Among Five Best Picture Nominees; Following Academy Award Nominations, Film Attains Highest Weekend Ranking to Date

NEW YORK, Feb. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Solidifying its nationwide appeal, Focus Features' Brokeback Mountain has become the top-grosser among the five films nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award this year. As of yesterday, the film has now topped $60 million domestically, outpacing the domestic grosses for fellow Best Picture nominees Capote ($18 million to date), Crash ($54 million final gross), Good Night, and Good Luck ($27 million to date), and Munich ($43 million to date).

This past weekend also saw the film, entering its ninth week of release, achieve its widest point of domestic release by expanding nationwide to 2,089 theaters. Brokeback Mountain, directed by Ang Lee, has already become Focus' top-grossing release of all time.

The theaters expansion came on the heels of the film being nominated for 8 Academy Awards (including Best Picture and Best Director), more than any other film this year. Following the nominations announcement, Brokeback Mountain attained its highest weekend boxoffice ranking yet, finishing at #4 at the national boxoffice for the February 3rd through 5th. The film had previously finished at #5, two weekends prior (January 20th through 22nd), following its 4 Golden Globe Award wins (including Best Picture [Drama] and Best Director), more than any other film this year.

Also over the weekend, Brokeback Mountain screenwriters Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana won the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, a prize that follows the film's wins last month of top honors from the Directors Guild of America and the Producers Guild of America as well as the director, screenwriters, and producers' also winning Golden Globe Awards.

The film's international release got underway only three weeks ago, but has already yielded overseas grosses approaching $40 million. With both domestic and international runs continuing apace, the worldwide gross for Brokeback Mountain will top $100 million later this week.

Jack Foley, Focus president of theatrical distribution, commented, "From big cities to small towns and everywhere in-between, audiences have supported and embraced this great American love story. It is by popular demand that we have reached this widest point of national release, after opening nine weeks ago in only five theaters. The eight Academy Award nominations have cued an upswing of the grosses in continuing runs, and enabled us to expand into new ones. Therefore, we expect the film to remain in wide release across the country for weeks, indeed, months to come."

Focus Features (www.focusfeatures.com) is a motion picture production, financing, and worldwide distribution company committed to bringing moviegoers the most original stories from the world's most innovative filmmakers.

In addition to Brokeback Mountain, current and upcoming Focus Features releases include Joe Wright's Pride & Prejudice, starring Keira Knightley (nominated for 4 Academy Awards, including Best Actress); Sanaa Hamri's Something New, starring Sanaa Lathan and Simon Baker; Rian Johnson's Brick, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt (winner of a Special Jury Prize at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival); Gaby Dellal's On a Clear Day, starring Peter Mullan and Brenda Blethyn; Peter Cattaneo's family film Opal Dream; Phillip Noyce's Hotstuff, starring Tim Robbins and Derek Luke; Allen Coulter's Hollywoodland, starring Adrien Brody, Ben Affleck, and Diane Lane; and Shane Acker's animated fantasy epic 9, produced by Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov and Jim Lemley & Dana Ginsburg.

Focus Features is part of NBC Universal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. Formed in May 2004 through the combining of NBC and Vivendi Universal Entertainment, NBC Universal owns and operates a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group, and world-renowned theme parks. NBC Universal is 80%-owned by General Electric, with 20% controlled by Vivendi Universal.

- posted by Ally 
- credits: Yahoo.Com
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"Batman goes Brokeback"

Sounds like Jake Gyllenhaal's been admitted into the big boys club.

The Oscar Nominated star of "Brokeback Mountain" is rumoured to be suiting up as D.A Harvey Dent in the "Batman Begins" sequel. A scooper for Superhero Hype says both Gyllenhaal and Paul Bettany's names have been whispered quite a bit on the set of the new Chris Nolan/Christian Bale/Michael Caine film "The Prestige" - Gyllenhaal as Gotham City's good-guy attorney, Bettany as the devilish Joker.

Should Gyllenhaal agree to the role, it's likely he'll be signed for a further film. Rumour has it that Dent will mould into his mutated alter-ego, Two-Face, in the third film.

The "Batman" sequel isn't the first superhero film that Gyllenhaal has been linked to. He was in line to replace Tobey Maguire on "Spider-Man 2", had the young actor not returned to the role, and was Kevin Smith's choice to play "The Greeen Hornet" a couple of years back. At one stage Gyllenhaal had even met Warner about playing the Caped Crusader himself.

In the "Batman Begins" sequel, Batman teams with Harvey Dent to take down the clown prince of crime, The Joker. Chris Nolan returns as director, with Christian Bale, Katie Holmes, Gary Oldman and Michael Caine all reprising their roles from the 2005 hit.


- posted by Ally 
- credits: MovieHole.Net
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Saving Private Jake
Phillip McCarthy finds out why Jake Gyllenhaal swapped his spurs for desert boots.

n Brokeback Mountain, Jake Gyllenhaal is the more stoic of the cowboy lovers, with milder acclaim than Heath Ledger's more charismatic lead. But if Gyllenhaal was shortchanged on cowboy swagger, he's got a definite testosterone surge in his follow-up film, Jarhead.

The sweaty patina is not all that surprising as Jarhead - Anthony Swofford's tale of a soldier waiting for the first Gulf War to begin - unfolds in a sort of simmering, all-male heat mirage: the Saudi desert in 1991.

A buff-looking Gyllenhaal passes through the surreal mayhem in little more than low-slung camouflage pants and a disbelieving smirk. In this piece, he's finally the alpha male: armed and, occasionally, dangerous.

"It's a little strange to me how these two films have played out," Gyllenhaal says. "For me, Jarhead was tougher [than Brokeback Mountain]. It was more of a hyper-jock role, in a serious sense, than anything else I'd done. I think [director] Sam Mendes thought he was probably taking a chance on me. Whereas Brokeback, aside from having sex with a man, it wasn't a role a million miles from other stuff I'd done."

Today, in a Manhattan hotel, Gyllenhaal, 25, has shed the desert-rat look. He's lost both the combat muscle and the buzz-cut that inspired marines to co-opt the moniker "jarheads" ("clear the way round, lid on top" is how Swofford defines the term).

Gyllenhaal's acting began when he was 14, playing Billy Crystal's son in City Slickers. His movie-industry parents put things on hold for school and university, but he re-emerged in 2001 and played a run of sensitive, complicated loners in Donnie Darko (2001), Lovely & Amazing (2001) and The Good Girl (2002). These last two characters were involved with an older woman, which gave him an earnest toy-boy allure. Now, he's a gay icon - he made the cover of the serious-minded gay monthly The Advocate for both recent films. If his allure can be attributed to lovelorn idealism in Brokeback, it's partly about being eye-candy in Jarhead. And military barracks, even in a film with political points to make, are not a million miles from a standard gay-porn set-up.

"I'm cool about it," Gyllenhaal says. "I'm not into guys sexually, as far as I know. But my parents were very accepting. I had gay babysitters. And, actually, Sam [Mendes] makes a similar point about film and context - he has the enlistees filling in time being shown basically anti-war classics, like Apocalypse Now, and everyone is putting their own reality into it. Forget what [Francis Ford] Coppola thought.

"There's the 'napalm in the morning' scene where the helicopters sweep in and Ride of the Valkyries is playing. It's being used to rev us up and here we are, the jarheads, jumping on our seats and singing along with Wagner like it's a pop tune."

Jarhead has not been received with universal acclaim in America. Partly that's because America is up to its ears in Gulf War 2; the post-Saddam imbroglio that brought the Vietnam-era term "quagmire" back into currency. The country is in no mood to be reminded of its folly.

So did Mendes think he was taking a chance with Gyllenhaal? The scuttlebutt had Gyllenhaal managing to wrest the role from high-profile favourites such as Tobey Maguire and Leonardo DiCaprio.

"Yes, frankly, I did initially have some doubts," British-born Mendes says. "I pegged him as one of those drippy, sorry, American indie-film boys, a bit too doe-eyed and whiny to pull this off. Which was unfair of me."

Swofford says it's slightly surreal to be played by a Hollywood "It Boy". "It took me almost 10 years to level with myself about the type of guy I was in Desert Shield. [Jake] got it immediately. So I see myself in the manic behaviour. But, of course, I never looked as good doing it."

"There's the 'napalm in the morning' scene where the helicopters sweep in and Ride of the Valkyries is playing. It's being used to rev us up and here we are, the jarheads, jumping on our seats and singing along with Wagner like it's a pop tune."

Jarhead has not been received with universal acclaim in America. Partly that's because America is up to its ears in Gulf War 2; the post-Saddam imbroglio that brought the Vietnam-era term "quagmire" back into currency. The country is in no mood to be reminded of its folly.

So did Mendes think he was taking a chance with Gyllenhaal? The scuttlebutt had Gyllenhaal managing to wrest the role from high-profile favourites such as Tobey Maguire and Leonardo DiCaprio.

"Yes, frankly, I did initially have some doubts," British-born Mendes says. "I pegged him as one of those drippy, sorry, American indie-film boys, a bit too doe-eyed and whiny to pull this off. Which was unfair of me."

Swofford says it's slightly surreal to be played by a Hollywood "It Boy". "It took me almost 10 years to level with myself about the type of guy I was in Desert Shield. [Jake] got it immediately. So I see myself in the manic behaviour. But, of course, I never looked as good doing it."


- posted by Ally 
- credits: smh.com.au
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Lead/supporting designations raise a mountain of questions

By Ed Blank
TRIBUNE-REVIEW FILM AND THEATER CRITIC
Sunday, February 5, 2006

George Clooney of "Syriana," Jake Gyllenhaal of "Brokeback Mountain" and Rachel Weisz of "The Constant Gardener" have more than their Academy Award nominations in common.

They're all up for their ... supporting performances?

Clooney is the top-billed actor in "Syriana" and, if memory serves, has the largest role.

Gyllenhaal is billed second in "Brokeback" but above the title, alongside leading man Heath Ledger, and in a role that is nearly as large as Ledger's in a film that runs two hours and 14 minutes. Lotta screen time there.

Weisz is billed second in her movie, too. It's true her character is dead at the outset, but she's as visible as star Ralph Fiennes in the flashbacks that consume most of the two-hour-plus running time.

Admittedly, the Oscar nominations in these cases echo earlier nominations and awards by voting groups such as the Screen Actors Guild, the Golden Globes and the Critics' Choice folks.

But what gives ... really? Do these performers have starring roles or what?

It gets stranger.

For "A Patch of Blue" (1965) the billing read: "Sidney Poitier, Shelley Winters, also starring Elizabeth Hartman."

Hartman, despite being billed lower than Winters, was nominated in the leading actress category, where she belonged. The higher-billed Winters was up for supporting actress. Winters won; her higher billing was merely a case of being the better-known actress.

Remember "Hud" (1963)? The ads and posters read: "Paul Newman in 'Hud,' co-starring Melvyn Douglas, Patricia Neal, Brandon deWilde."

Newman was up for lead actor and lost. Fair enough.

Douglas was up for supporting actor and won. Perfect. Correct all around.

Third-billed Neal, below the title and behind Douglas, was up for best actress and won anyway.

Something like that happened with "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (1975) when, in a lean year for lead actresses, the little-known Louise Fletcher, whose celebrity, role size and prominence in the advertising were considerably less than star Jack Nicholson's, went into the best actress category and won.

In a fuzzier case, Eva Marie Saint had a leading role in "On the Waterfront" (1954), even though she received special billing at the bottom that read, "and introducing Eva Marie Saint." The actress went into the supporting category and won.

Burl Ives, third billed behind Elizabeth Taylor and Newman in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (1958), but still above the title, was nominated in the supporting category for a much lesser achievement - and a true supporting role - in "The Big Country" and won. But surely voters were rewarding him more for his knockout portrayal of the gruff, dying Big Daddy in "Cat."

Only later did it come out that MGM, which made "Cat," had promoted both him and Newman for leading actor and that Ives had simply been squeezed out of the lead category by voters who saw a way to reward him in the supporting category instead.

Bette Davis griped for decades that when she was nominated as best actress for her most famous role, as Margo Channing in "All About Eve" (1950), she lost to Judy Holliday of "Born Yesterday" because "Eve's" second-billed Anne Baxter had insisted she be considered leading rather than supporting.

And so Davis and Baxter were nominated in the same category, a conflict "Brokeback Mountain's" two leading men avoided by the decision to position Gyllenhaal as a supporting actor.

It isn't, finally, about the position or the rank of one's billing. Or salary. Nor even the size of the part, which, to be honest, can be difficult to quantify.

It all comes down to strategizing. If the producers, the film company, the agents and especially the performer are all on the same page - assuming the performer has the clout to speak up at all, they might agree before the awards season how to represent the player in question in the many "for your consideration" awards in the trade papers.

And who knows? If you're the superstar Robin Williams, and you're a lot better known in 1997 than newcomer co-stars Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, and you take top billing in "Good Will Hunting" but position yourself as a supporting player, you may win an Oscar. And that despite second-billed Damon, the true star of the picture, being nominated as leading player.

Matter? You kidding? About 3000 miles to the left of the Golden Triangle, Oscar speaks louder than anyone.

- posted by Ally 
- credits: TribLive.Com
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'Crash,' 'Brokeback' Honored by Writers

The writers of "Brokeback Mountain," the sweeping tale about the longtime forbidden romance between rugged ranch hands, won best adapted screenplay Saturday night at the 58th annual Writers Guild Awards.

The screenplay was written by Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana and based on a short story by Annie Proulx. The film stars actors Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal and received a leading eight Oscar nominations.

The writers of the ensemble drama "Crash," which follows the lives of a cast of characters over a chaotic 36-hour period in Los Angeles, won for best original screenplay. The screenplay was written by Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco based on a Haggis story.

In other awards, the ABC television show "Grey's Anatomy" won the writing award for a new series.

Larry David, the writer and star of the HBO comedy "Curb Your Enthusiasm," won for best writing in a comedy series.

The crew of writers for the hit ABC show "Lost" were honored in the dramatic series category.

In the television animation category, Michael Price won for "Mommie Beerest" an episode on the long-running Fox show "The Simpsons."

Winners were announced in ceremonies held in Los Angeles and New York.

Other television winners announced Saturday:

Episodic Drama: "Autopsy" ("House"), Lawrence Kaplow, Fox.

Episodic Comedy: "You Can't Miss the Bear" ("Weeds"), Jenji Kohan, Showtime.

Long Form-Original: "Warm Springs," Margaret Nagle, HBO.

Long-Form Adapted: "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers," Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, based on the book by Roger Lewis, HBO.

Comedy/Variety Series: "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," Mike Sweeney, Chris Albers, Jose Arroyo, Andy Blitz, Kevin Dorff, Dan Goor, Michael Gordon, Tim Harrod, Berkley Johnson, Brian Kiley, Michael Koman, Brian McCann, Guy Nicolucci, Conan O'Brien, Allison Silverman, Robert Smigel, Brian Stack, Andrew Weinberg, NBC.

- posted by Ally 
- credits: Yahoo.Com
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