These pics from a pre-Oscar party remind us of a happier, simpler time, before Crash cruelly totaled the dreams of gay cowboy fans everywhere, and when a brave Jake Gyllenhaal, perhaps knowing that this was George Clooney's year, resigned himself to getting totally shitfaced and partying his ass off with some pals.
Variety thinks Jon Stewart played it "safe" and "right down the middle" by not going too political or biting the industry hand that fed him. To be fair, he didn't have anyone as appealing as Jude Law to kick around like Chris Rock did last year. [Variety]
Ang Lee, like pretty much everyone with taste, was shocked that Crash beat Brokeback: "I was backstage enjoying the buildup I was familiar with: the writers (winning), then me (winning). It was a surprise, frankly. But congratulations to the 'Crash' filmmakers." [THR]
Crash's win gives Lionsgate its first-ever Oscar. Pardon us if we're not exactly popping champagne corks on their behalf, as that Best Picture fiasco probably cost us our Oscar pool. Thanks, LG! [Variety]
Everybody works during pilot season: Blair Underwood in CBS drama Company Town, Mena Suvari in CBS drama Orpheus, Lori Loughlin joins ABC comedy In Case of Emergency, and Rebecca Gayheart joins Fox drama Vanished. [THR]
Let's all climb back in our time machine and return to two days ago, when Brokeback took home the Independent Spirit Best Picture Award, and all was still right with the world. [Variety]
Some might view the nominations of Brokeback Mountain, Capote, and Transamerica as a great step forward for the gay/lesbian/transgender communities, but Brokeback's failure to cap The Year of the Gay Cowboy with the Best Picture trophy provides easy fodder for those who think that Hollywood "got the message" that America's not ready to buy season tickets to the gay rodeo:
In its continuing quest for legitimate "sixth borough" status, the Philadelphia Daily News (the "People's Paper," as it were) embraces its Fagadelphia side and lets the splashy gay puns fly. Low-carb cheesesteaks and scrapple frittatas are soon to become Old City staples. Yes, that's it — they'll paint the place so gay that New York City will have to let 'em in.
Final preparations for Sunday's Oscar telecast include today's crucial run-throughs for the show's elaborate set pieces aimed at minimizing the chances of a misfire in front of a live, worldwide audience of tens of millions of viewers. At left, one of the Academy's celebrated Gay Cowboy Dancers escorts the critical prop for the presentation of the nominees for Best Original Score, during which a seven-foot Oscar (covered in a giant prophylactic as a concession to the safe sex lobby) will be inserted into the thirty-foot statue at center stage as the orchestra recreates the opening strains of Gustavo Santaolalla's haunting Brokeback Mountain theme.
If the current zeitgeist can be summed up in a single movie Brokeback Mountain then it could arguably be further distilled into a single, highly recognizable bar of music. The first seven notes of composer Gustavo Santaolalla's melancholy main theme, "The Wings," made us cry (the final scene!) and laugh (it set off every beloved parody). The only thing it seemed incapable of doing, however, was make us shake our booty. Never underestimate, however, the magical disco powers of The Gays:
The little gay cowboy Oscar frontrunner that could seems to leave a trail of controversy wherever it goes. A round-up:
· Outsports.com reports on the matter of the NFL rejecting the filmmakers' request to use footage in the pivotal scene in which Jack Twist finally stands up to his overbearing father-in-law at the Thanksgiving table. The NFL insists they refused participation over the context of the scene and not the film's gay themes, to which Brokeback screenwriter and producer Diana Ossana responded, "What do you think? None of us are retarded." (Which suggests she might be better suited to telling sensitive gay stories than sensitive retarded-people stories.)
· Depending on what you read, the film's ovine stars were either callously abused or given more preferential treatment than Randy Quaid.
· Michelle Williams' ex-headmaster Jim Hopson beams with pride when he tells a reporter, "We don't want to have anything to do with her in relation to that movie. Michelle doesn't represent the values of this institution...Brokeback Mountain basically promotes a lifestyle we don't promote. It's not the word of God." We hope she wins, if for nothing else, the outside chance she might out her old teacher in her acceptance speech, Tom Hanks-style. [via Towleroad]
Sad, but true. The poor things are limping all over the place.
If you can no longer bear the thought of watching even one more Brokeback Mountain parody, take heart, for relief is in sight. The NY Times has taken it upon itself to finally deliver the death-blow to the seemingly endless procession of mash-ups, dispatching critic Virginia Heffernan to deconstruct the form, thus ensuring that any joy we once derived from the recasting of Marty McFly and Doc Brown as gay lovers unstuck in time will be instantly erased. Says Heffernan:
And with a wave of her hand, Britney Spears made everyone in New Orleans forget all about that nasty hurricane business.
· TVGasm does us all a solid by making sure we never actually have to watch Deal or No Deal.
· We were ready not to enjoy Point Brokeback, the roughly one-millionth send-up of this century's most parodied film. But we watched it, as we always wind up doing, and we have to say: Swayze and Keanu would've made a pretty good gay surfer movie.
· While we're on the topic, it probably won't be long before Naked Trash-Collecting Devil Guy makes an appearance in a Brokeback mash-up.
Dr. McDreamy never stood a chance against Barbara Walters.
Brokeback Mountain producer and frequent Ang Lee collaborator James Schamus set the record straight with USA Today over the recent rumors that the director's next project would be a biopic on the life of singer Dusty Springfield starring Charlize Theron, with Kate Moss as her lesbian lover. It seems the entire thing was a media-concocted fabrication:
A mysterious organization known only as the Global Language Monitor has released its annual list of the year's most influential "Hollywood words and phrases." Using advanced and sophisticated tracking techniques available to anyone with access to Google, the group has decreed "Brokeback" that highly evocative cluster of geographical peaks and valleys on the map of the human heart that has quickly turned into yet another synonym for "faggy" as Hollywood's word of the year:
Even if Brokeback Mountain somehow lets the Best Picture Oscar slip through its rope-calloused-yet-tender fingers, few could deny it has already established itself as movie of the year. While other features reeked of desperately wanting to be talked about Munich and Crash come to mind Brokeback's only agenda appeared to be a desire to tell the sad, quiet story at its core. As a result, it managed to capture our hearts in the process, none more so than the enthusiastic collector who won the shirts auction for just north of 100 grand, likening them to "the ruby slippers of our time.
On last night's O'Reilly Factor, your basic cable destination for reasoned debate about hot-button issues in Hollywood, Bill O'Reilly invited famously closeted actor Tab Hunter and onetime onscreen homosexual Harry Hamlin to discuss the industry's post-Brokeback climate. Hamlin explained how he believes his choice to play gay in Making Love crippled his movie burgeoning movie career:
· It's been a tough day for the new 007, who lost a couple of teeth, and then had some angry Bond fans with too much time on their hands launch an online jihad against him for his perceived failure to properly fill the iconic tuxedo.
· Harrison Ford on why he made Firewall: "I like to play a real person who has a real life and family. I just thought it would be a good movie for an audience to enjoy." We admire him for keeping the more personal reasons, like the rising cost of helicopter fuel and the fact that Calista Flockhart demands a new, solid-gold pony every day as a gift, to himself.
· Blogging.la got a nice facelift.
· TVGasm, as always, asks the tough questions. Today: What if your favorite informercial was actually about a penis instead of an amazing folding ladder?
· Kissing Madonna seems to have been good for Christina, but may have ended Britney Spears' career.
· The only thing cuter than gay Lego cowboys is the tiny sheep they tend. [via BoingBoing]
Having ensured himself a lasting place in the Gay Man's Hall of Fame with Brokeback Mountain, director Ang Lee has made a canny choice for his next project: He'll stick to gay love stories, but win back the hearts of the straight guy population with some sweet girl-on-girl action starring two of the hottest chicks on the planet:
Gossip Fodder blog notes that at a recent press conference for his new movie Candy at the Berlin Film Festival, Heath Ledger was asked what George Clooney might win at the Oscars. Ledger reluctantly admitted Clooney deserved the Best Supporting Actor trophy for his work in Syriana, which, of course, is the category his Brokeback co-star Jake Gyllenhaal is competing in. The festival website offers video evidence (the Jack Twist diss occurs precisely at 14:30). A partial transcript of his response:
While we can respect Larry McMurtry's point of view, we came away from Brokeback Mountain with a completely different message than the screenwriter's tidy summation a far more rambling and sissy-friendly analysis that likens life to a one-person line dance in a moutainside meadow filled with sparkly (though empty inside due to unresolved father-son dynamics) sheep. Still, the beauty of a great piece of art such as Brokeback Mountain is that it's really open to any issues interpretations you might bring to it.
