Something a bit different

My Academy Awards preview from February 2006 (Not my best but something different).

On the 31st January the awards season got serious with the announcement of this year’s Academy Awards nominations. Representing the best that cinema in 2005 had to offer the films which make up the nominees for the much coveted Best Picture category include Munich, Capote, Crash and George Clooney’s Good Night and Good Luck. Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain, however, is widely expected to be victorious in this category and with its best director nomination.

Brokeback Mountain introduced the Academy to younger talent with representatives in all but one of the acting categories as the performances from Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal and Michelle Williams all get the recognition they deserve. Rom com Queen Reese Witherspoon’s brilliant turn in the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line has earned her a Best Actress nomination and is likely to find herself in need of a victory speech on March 5th.

Joaquin Phoenix’s portrayal of Johnny Cash earns him a Best Actor nod along with Ledger, David Strathairn (Good Night and Good Luck), Terrence Howard (Hustle and Flow) and Philip Seymour Hoffmann (Capote). Whilst Ledger and Phoenix are both serious contenders, the Oscar is likely to go to Hoffmann for his performance as the writer Truman Capote.

The Supporting Actress category is likely to yield recognition for The Constant Gardener’s Rachel Weisz, however, its counterpart is a much more open affair with Clooney (Syriana), Matt Dillion (Crash), Paul Giamatti (Cinderella Man) Jake Gyllenhaal (Brokeback Mountain) and William Hurt (A History of Violence) all worthy of Oscar glory.

If Clooney is successful in this category he could find himself the recipient of two awards on the evening with his well earned nomination in the Best Director category, demonstrating how far Clooney has come from his days as a television heart throb. It is likely, however, that Ang Lee will further Brokeback Mountain’s dominance on the night with another win in this category.

Whilst there are the inevitable front runners, the Oscar race is not without its surprises and only time will tell, but for now all there is to say is the countdown has begun…