Brokeback Mountain' wins bighttp://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060117/LIFE/601170359/1005By DAVID BAUDER
Associated Press
01/17/2006
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- The Golden Globes, once again, played it loose. The first big awards show of the season was its usual party-atmosphere self.
The Globes boosted the Oscar prospects of the gay cowboy drama, "Brokeback Mountain," which won four awards, including best dramatic film. The Johnny Cash biopic, "Walk the Line," was named best musical or comedy and its stars, Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon, won acting awards.
But for television viewers who have grown accustomed to stiff, dull awards shows, the Globes delivered some entertainment with its trophies. Whether the alcohol served to audience members as they waited helped, only the bartenders know for sure.
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"This is early. I haven't had a
drink yet," said George Clooney, accepting a supporting actor trophy for the thriller "Syriana."
Then he brought that claim into question with an off-color joke about Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
The tone was set. Steve Carell, Hugh Laurie, Geena Davis all delivered laughs in exchange for their awards.
Carell, winner of a best comic actor award for TV's "The Office," said he hadn't written a speech but his wife did. As his wife, Nancy, grinned in the audience, he read "her" speech, which thanked her four times.
"Nancy, my precious wife who put her career on hold in support of mine and who sometimes wishes that I would let her know when I'm going to be home late so she can schedule her life, which is no less important than mine," he said.
Nancy got a fifth thank you later, from "Lost" creator Damon Lindelof when he picked up his Globe for best drama series.
Davis told a heart-tugging story of a little girl who spoke to her about her Globe-winning role as President Mackenzie Allen in ABC's "Commander in Chief." Because of Davis, the girl wanted to grow up to be president.
"Well, that didn't actually happen," she said. "Ahh, but it could have. It very well could have. And if I was in the farmlands of Nebraska or somewhere, there could have been a little girl."
Laurie said he had 172 people to thank for winning a Globe for his role in "House." Rather than read them all, he said he wrote their names on slips of paper and would choose three at random. He thanked the show's script supervisor, hair stylist and, finally, his agent.
"That's not my handwriting," he said. "Oh, he's good."
Oh, yes. The awards.
Phoenix and Witherspoon won for best actor and actress in a movie musical or comedy for the biography that follows country legend Cash's career and his long courtship with the love of his life, June Carter.
"This film is really important to me," said Witherspoon, who gave a spirited, strong-willed performance as Carter. "It's about where I grew up, it's about the music I grew up listening to, so it's very meaningful."
"Brokeback Mountain," which told the story of two cowboys who concealed a decades-long love affair, was named best dramatic film and won the best director award for Ang Lee. Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana won best screenplay for their work on the film.
McMurtry thanked his constant companion during the lonely process of writing.
"Most heartfelt, I thank my typewriter. My typewriter is a Hermes 3000, surely one of the noblest instruments of European genius," McMurtry said.
It was a triumphant night for films dealing with homosexuality and transsexuality. Along with the victories for "Brokeback Mountain," acting honors went to Felicity Huffman in a gender-bending role as a man preparing for sex-change surgery in "Transamerica" and Philip Seymour Hoffman as gay author Truman Capote in "Capote."
The two television shows that transformed ABC, "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost," were named best comedy and drama. But although four "Desperate Housewives" actresses competed for best comic actress, they all lost to Mary-Louise Parker of Showtime's "Weeds."
"I know everyone thinks they have the best cast but I ... just get to go work with such great actors who are so talented ... who are so wonderful and kind and good and wonderful and sexy and great and I just want to make out with all of you," Parker said.
The Palestinian film "Paradise Now," a dark tale of two Arab friends tapped to carry out a suicide bombing in Israel, won the prize for foreign-language film.
"Brokeback Mountain," "Capote" and "Transamerica" were among the key contenders going into the Golden Globes, a potential breakthrough night for movies dealing with homosexuality or transsexualism.
"Brokeback Mountain," starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, has emerged as a potential front-runner for the Oscars.
The Globes won by those films could help position them for major honors at the Oscars, which occasionally have handed out top acting prizes for performers in homosexual or gender-bending roles but have never given the best-picture Oscar to a gay-themed film.
Oscar nominations come out Jan. 31, with the awards presented March 5.
The Globes are awarded by the relatively small Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which has about 80 members, compared with the 5,800 film professionals eligible to vote for the Oscars.
Still, the Globes have an excellent track record at predicting the Oscars.
Two years ago, Globe winners Sean Penn, Charlize Theron, Tim Robbins and Renee Zellweger all went on to receive the four acting Oscars. Best picture "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" and director Peter Jackson earned their Oscars after winning first at the Globes.
A win at the Globes is no guarantee of Oscar success, though. Last year, the Howard Hughes epic, "The Aviator," took the drama prize at the Globes, but the boxing saga, "Million Dollar Baby," won the best-picture Oscar.
WINNERS of the 63rd ANNUAL GOLDEN GLOBES
MOTION PICTURES
Picture, Drama: “Brokeback Mountain”
Actress, Drama: Felicity Huffman, “Transamerica”
Actor, Drama: Philip Seymour Hoffman, “Capote”
Picture, Musical or Comedy: “Walk the Line”
Actress, Musical or Comedy: Reese Witherspoon, “Walk the Line”
Actor, Musical or Comedy: Joaquin Phoenix, “Walk the Line”
Supporting Actress: Rachel Weisz, “The Constant Gardener”
Supporting Actor: George Clooney, “Syriana”
Director: Ang Lee, “Brokeback Mountain”
Screenplay: Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, “Brokeback Mountain”
Foreign Language: “Paradise Now,” Palestine
Original Song: “A Love That Will Never Grow Old” for “Brokeback Mountain”
Original Score: John Williams, “Memoirs of a Geisha”
TELEVISION
Drama Series: “Lost,” ABC
Actress, Drama: Geena Davis, “Commander in Chief”
Actor, Drama: Hugh Laurie, “House”
Series, Musical or Comedy: “Desperate Housewives,” ABC
Actress, Musical or Comedy: Mary-Louise Parker, “Weeds”
Actor, Musical or Comedy: Steve Carell, “The Office”
Miniseries or movie: “Empire Falls,” HBO
Actress, Miniseries or Movie: S. Epatha Merkerson, “Lackawanna Blues”
Actor, Miniseries or Movie: Jonathan Rhys Meyers, “Elvis”
Supporting Actress, Series, Miniseries or Movie: Sandra Oh, “Grey’s Anatomy”
Supporting Actor, Series Miniseries or Movie: Paul Newman, “Empire Falls”
Cecil B. DeMille Award: Anthony Hopkins
