'Brokeback' rides off with 8 Oscar nominations

LOS ANGELES - A group of art house movies with serious social themes have dominated the Academy Award nominations, led by the lovelorn cowboys of "Brokeback Mountain," which scored eight nominations including best film. (For full list of nominees see below)

"Brokeback Mountain" has swept through early critics' and media awards and became the clear front-runner for the year's best film. It earned Oscar nominations for Ang Lee as best director, Heath Ledger as best actor, Jake Gyllenhaal as best supporting actor and Michelle Williams in the best supporting actress category.

Despite wowing critics, the media and now Oscar voters, "Brokeback" faces a pitched battle for best movie because the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has never before given its top honor to a film with an overtly gay love story.

"I thought it was a small work of love," director Lee said. "I never thought it would play like this."

He added that he was particularly pleased at the number of nominations across all categories because so many of his actors and crew members had worked hard on the film.

Among the films challenging it are race relations drama "Crash," which has made a comeback in the Oscar hunt after failing to win big at the Golden Globe Awards, and George Clooney's "Good Night, and Good Luck," a tale of newsman Edward R. Murrow's attack on McCarthyism in the 1950s.

Both of those movies had six nominations apiece, and "Good Night" earned David Strathairn, who plays Murrow, a nomination for best actor.

Also on the list for best film were "Capote," which tells of writer Truman Capote's manipulation of a murder defendant for his book, "In Cold Blood," and Steven Spielberg's "Munich," about the moral price Israel paid for going after people who killed their athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

"Capote" and "Munich" both scored five nominations each. The nominations mark something of a comeback for "Munich," which earned mixed reviews, small audiences and had seemed to fade from the Oscar race in recent weeks.

"It is a great group of nominees. It is the year of the really good movie," said Academy President Sid Ganis.

LOSERS & WINNERS

Left out of the best film category were several movies including Woody Allen's "Match Point," thriller "The Constant Gardener," drama "A History of Violence" and adventure "King Kong," which had generated interest earlier.

In the category for best actor, Ledger and Strathairn were joined by Philip Seymour Hoffman as the title character in "Capote," Terrence Howard as a pimp in "Hustle & Flow" and Joaquin Phoenix for his role as singer Johnny Cash in romance "Walk the Line."

Best actress nominees were Judi Dench playing a theater owner in World War II-era "Mrs. Henderson Presents," Felicity Huffman as a transgendered character in "Transamerica," Keira Knightley for romance "Pride & Prejudice," Charlize Theron in sexual harassment drama "North Country" and Reese Witherspoon playing singer June Carter in "Walk the Line."

Supporting actor nominations went to Clooney in "Syriana," Matt Dillon in "Crash," Paul Giamatti in "Cinderella Man," Gyllenhaal in "Brokeback Mountain" and William Hurt for "A History of Violence."

Supporting actress nominees were Amy Adams in "Junebug," Catherine Keener in "Capote," Frances McDormand in "North Country," Rachel Weisz in "The Constant Gardener," as well as Williams for "Brokeback Mountain."

Joining Lee in the race for best director will be Bennett Miller for "Capote," Paul Haggis with "Crash," Clooney with "Good Night, and Good Luck," and Spielberg for "Munich."

This year marked the first time since 1981 that the category for best director exactly matched the category for best film, Ganis said.

Nominees for best foreign language film were Italy's "Don't Tell," France's "Joyeux Noel," Germany's "Sophie Scholl - The Final Days," South Africa's "Tsotsi," and Palestinian film, "Paradise Now." It is the first time that a Palestinian movie has received an Academy Award nomination.

The Oscars are world cinema's top prize, and they will be handed out on March 5 in Los Angeles.

Nominees

Best Picture

Brokeback Mountain
Capote
Crash
Good Night, and Good Luck
Munich

Actor

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

Actress

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

Supporting Actor

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

Supporting Actress

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

Director

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

Best Adapted Screenplay

Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, Brokeback Mountain
Dan Futterman, Capote
Jeffrey Caine, The Constant Gardener
Josh Olson, A History of Violence
Tony Kushner and Eric Roth, Munich

Best Original Screenplay

Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco, Crash
George Clooney and Grant Heslov, Good Night, and Good Luck
Woody Allen, Match Point
Noah Baumbach, The Squid and the Whale
Stephen Gaghan, Syriana

Animated Feature

Howl's Moving Castle
Tim Burton's Corpse Bride
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

Art Direction

Good Night, and Good Luck
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
King Kong
Memoirs of a Geisha
Pride & Prejudice

Cinematography

Batman Begins
Brokeback Mountain
Good Night, and Good Luck
Memoirs of a Geisha
The New World

Costumes

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Memoirs of a Geisha
Mrs. Henderson Presents
Pride & Prejudice
Walk the Line

Documentary Feature

Darwin's Nightmare
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
March of the Penguins
Murderball
Street Fight

Documentary Short Subject

The Death of Kevin Carter: Casualty of the Bang Bang Club
God Sleeps in Rwanda
The Mushroom Club
A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin

Film Editing

Cinderella Man
The Constant Gardener
Crash
Munich
Walk the Line

Foreign Language Film

Don't Tell (Italy)
Joyeux Noël (France)
Paradise Now (Palestinian Authority)
Sophie Scholl -- The Final Days (Germany)
Tsotsi (South Africa)

Make-Up

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Cinderella Man
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith

Original Score

Gustavo Santaolalla, Brokeback Mountain
Alberto Iglesias, The Constant Gardener
John Williams, Memoirs of a Geisha
John Williams, Munich
Dario Marianelli, Pride & Prejudice

Original Song

''In the Deep,'' from Crash
''It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp,'' from Hustle & Flow
''Travelin' Thru,'' from Transamerica

Short Film (Animated)

Badgered
The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation
The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello
9
One Man Band

Short Film (Live Action)

Ausreisser (The Runaway)
Cashback
The Last Farm
Our Time Is Up
Six Shooter

Sound Editing

King Kong
Memoirs of a Geisha
War of the Worlds

Sound Mixing

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
King Kong
Memoirs of a Geisha
Walk the Line
War of the Worlds

Visual Effects

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
King Kong
War of the Worlds

- REUTERS