Best cast upset at major film awards
Reese Witherspoon as singer June Carter in Walk the Line and Philip Seymour Hoffman as author Truman Capote in Capote won lead actor awards in Sunday’s ceremony, while Rachel Weisz in murder-thriller The Constant Gardener and Paul Giamatti in boxing drama Cinderella Man received supporting actor honours.
Brokeback Mountain has been considered the best picture front-runner at the Oscars, whose nominations come out today with awards presented March 5.
Its loss to Crash could prove a speed-bump on the film’s path toward becoming the first explicitly gay-themed movie to win a best picture award at the Oscars, but it has dominated earlier Hollywood honours, so it will likely continue to be considered the favourite.
Last year, the wine-country romp Sideways won SAG’s ensemble prize, while Million Dollar Baby won best picture.
Crash follows the lives of a far-flung cast of characters over a chaotic 36-hour period in Los Angeles.
Crash co-star Don Cheadles said: “We believe that it really celebrates the definition of what an ensemble is all about. I mean there’s 74 of us.”
Witherspoon, who plays Carter during her long, stormy relationship with country legend Johnny Cash said: “Oh my God, y’all. Sometimes, I can’t just shake the feeling I’m just a little girl from Tennessee.
“I want to say my biggest inspiration for this movie obviously was June Carter. She was an incredible woman.”
Hoffman, considered the favourite for the best actor Oscar as Capote amid the author’s struggles to research and write the true-crime novel In Cold Blood, had gushing thanks for his Capote co-stars.
“It’s important to say that actors can’t act alone, it’s impossible. What we have to do is support each other,” Hoffman said.
“Actors have to have each others’ backs. It’s the only way to act well is when you know the other actor has your back, and these actors had my back, and I hope they know I had theirs.”
Weisz won best supporting actress for her role as a rabble-rousing humanitarian aid worker, while Giamatti was honoured as supporting actor for playing the manager of Depression-era fighter Jim Braddock.
“It’s so special to be honoured by fellow actors, so thanks very much to the tribe,” said Weisz, who also won the Golden Globe for best supporting actress.
Felicity Huffman, who has been considered the best actress Oscar front-runner for her gender-bending role in Transamerica, lost to Witherspoon but won the guild prize for best actress in a TV comedy for Desperate Housewives, which also won for best comedy ensemble.
Kiefer Sutherland won as best actor in a TV drama for the action series 24, while the airplane-disaster show Lost won for TV dramatic ensemble.
“A friend of mine always says if you don’t have something nice to say about someone, let’s hear it,” said Lost co-star Terry O’Quinn, surrounded by fellow cast members.
“So about our cast, I’d like to say that this is the saddest collection of climbing, grasping, paranoid, back-stabbing, screen-grabbing losers and schmoozers that you ever saw on your stage in your life. But we love each other very much.”
Brokeback Mountain led the January 16 Golden Globes with four wins, among them best dramatic film and best director for Ang Lee, who took the same prize on Saturday from the Directors Guild of America.
Adapted from Annie Proulx’s short story about old sheepherding buddies who conceal a homosexual affair from their families, Brokeback Mountain also has earned top honours from key critics’ groups and the Producers Guild of America.
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