'Brokeback Mountain' leads Academy Awards

Also nominated for best picture were the Truman Capote story 'Capote'; the ensemble drama 'Crash'; the Edward R. Murrow chronicle 'Good Night, and Good Luck'; the assassination thriller 'Munich.'

The Johnny Cash biography, 'Walk the Line', considered a likely best picture nominee, was shut out, though Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon earned acting nominations for the film.

George Clooney picked up three nominations: as supporting actor for his role as a steadfast CIA undercover agent in 'Syriana' and best director and co-writer for his Edward R. Murrow tale 'Good Night, and Good Luck.'

Along with best-actor contender Ledger, and directing nominee Lee, 'Brokeback Mountain' scored nominations for Michelle Williams as supporting actress, Jake Gyllenhaal as supporting actor and Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana for their screenplay adaptation of Annie Proulx's short story.

The acting categories were a mix of familiar Oscar faces such as past winners Judi Dench and Charlize Theron, veterans like Clooney, Witherspoon, Rachel Weisz, David Strathairn and Felicity Huffman gaining their first academy attention, and young performers such as Williams and Amy Adams.

Philip Seymour Hoffman, the best-actor favorite for his remarkable impersonation of author Truman Capote in 'Capote,' joined Ledger in the best-actor category.

Hoffman has triumphed at earlier film honours, including the Golden Globes.

Along with Hoffman, Ledger and Phoenix, the other nominees were Terrence Howard as a small-time hood turned rap singer in 'Hustle & Flow' and Strathairn as newsman Murrow in 'Good Night, and Good Luck.'

The best-actress race presumably will shape up as a two-woman contest between Huffman in a gender-bending role as a man about to undergo sex-change surgery in 'Transamerica' and Witherspoon as singer June Carter, Cash's musical companion and future wife, in 'Walk the Line.'

Huffman won the Golden Globe for best dramatic actress, while Witherspoon earned the Globe for best actress in a musical or comedy. Witherspoon beat Huffman on Sunday for the best-actress prize at the Screen Actors Guild Awards.

Also nominated for the best-actress Oscar were Dench as a society dame who starts a nude stage revue in 1930s London in 'Mrs. Henderson Presents'; Keira Knightley as the romantic heroine of the Jane Austen adaptation 'Pride & Prejudice'; Charlize Theron as a mine worker who leads a sexual-harassment lawsuit against male co-workers in 'North Country.'

'Brokeback Mountain' led a wave of lower-budgeted independent films that scored big in the nominations, instead of the studio fare that normally dominates the Oscars. Other than 'Munich,' most bigger budget movies that had been on the best-picture radar, such as 'Walk the Line,' 'Memoirs of a Geisha' and 'Cinderella Man,' were overlooked in the top Oscar category.

With key prizes at earlier Hollywood honours under its belt, 'Brokeback Mountain' heads into the March 5 awards as the best-picture front-runner, potentially the first film with explicit homosexual themes to claim the grand prize at the Oscars.

The film stars Ledger and Gyllenhaal as Western roughnecks who share a summer of love while tending sheep together in the 1960s, then carry on a lifelong romance they conceal from their families. Williams co-stars as Ledger's wife, who overlooks her husband's affair to try to hold her family together.

Weisz, playing a humanitarian-aid worker in 'The Constant Gardener,' won the supporting-actress prize at the Golden Globes and SAG awards, giving her the inside track for the same honor at the Oscars.

Along with Weisz and Williams, supporting-actress nominations went to newcomer Adams as a big-hearted Southern waif in 'Junebug'; Catherine Keener as 'To Kill a Mockingbird' author Harper Lee in 'Capote'; and Frances McDormand as a miner coping with debilitating disease in 'North Country.'

Besides Gyllenhaal and Clooney as a bullheaded CIA agent in 'Syriana,' nominees for supporting actor were Matt Dillon as a racist cop in 'Crash'; Paul Giamatti as boxer Braddock's manager in 'Cinderella Man'; and William Hurt as a ruthless mobster in 'A History of Violence.'

Hurt was a bit of surprise since he only appears for a few minutes at the end of the film in scene-stealing role.

Lee, who won the Directors Guild of America honor Saturday for 'Brokeback Mountain,' is the clear favorite to win the best-director Oscar.

Along with him and Clooney, other directing nominees were Paul Haggis for 'Crash'; Bennett Miller for 'Capote'; and Steven Spielberg for 'Munich.'

'Brokeback Mountain' has earned top honours from many earlier Hollywood awards, among them the Golden Globes, the Directors Guild of America and key critics groups.

The Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday threw up a potential roadblock for 'Brokeback Mountain,' which was shut out for the ceremony's five acting awards.

'Brokeback Mountain' had been viewed as a likely winner of the guild's award for overall cast performance, a prize that went to 'Crash' instead.

But while the cast award is the guild's equivalent of a best-picture honour, six of the previous 10 SAG winners failed to take the top prize come Oscar night, including 'Sideways' last year.

Oscar nominees in most categories are chosen by specific branches of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, such as directors, actors and writers. The full academy membership of about 5,800 is eligible to vote in all categories for the Oscars themselves.

ABC will broadcast the Oscars live March 5 from Hollywood's Kodak Theatre, with Jon Stewart as host.

Filmmaker Robert Altman, who has been nominated five times for best director but has never won, will receive an honorary Oscar for a career that includes such films as 'M-A-S-H,' 'Nashville,' 'The Player' and 'Gosford Park.'

List of 78th annual Academy Award nominations

List of the 78th annual Oscar nominations announced today in Beverly Hills, California, by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences:

1. Best Picture: 'Brokeback Mountain,' 'Capote,' 'Crash,' 'Good Night, and Good Luck,' 'Munich.'

2. 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.'

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

4. Supporting Actor: George Clooney, 'Syriana'; Matt Dillon, 'Crash'; Paul Giamatti, 'Cinderella Man'; Jake Gyllenhaal, 'Brokeback Mountain'; William Hurt, 'A History of Violence.'

5. Supporting Actress: Amy Adams, 'Junebug'; Catherine Keener, 'Capote'; Frances McDormand, 'North Country'; Rachel Weisz, 'The Constant Gardener'; Michelle Williams, ' Brokeback Mountain.'

6. Director: Ang Lee, 'Brokeback Mountain'; Bennett Miller, 'Capote'; Paul Haggis, 'Crash'; George Clooney, ' Good Night, and Good Luck'; Steven Spielberg, 'Munich.'

7. Foreign Film: 'Don't Tell,' Italy; 'Joyeux Noel,' France; 'Paradise Now,' Palestine; 'Sophie Scholl - The Final Days,' Germany; 'Tsotsi,' South Africa.

8. 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.'

9. 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.'

10. Animated Feature Film: 'Howl's Moving Castle'; ' Tim Burton's Corpse Bride'; 'Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit.'

11. Art Direction: 'Good Night, and Good Luck,' 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,' 'King Kong,' 'Memoirs of a Geisha,' 'Pride & Prejudice.'

12. Cinematography: 'Batman Begins,' 'Brokeback Mountain,' 'Good Night, and Good Luck,' 'Memoirs of a Geisha,' 'The New World.'

13. 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.'

14. Sound Editing: 'King Kong,' 'Memoirs of a Geisha,' 'War of the Worlds.'

15. Original Score: 'Brokeback Mountain,' Gustavo Santaolalla; 'The Constant Gardener,' Alberto Iglesias; ' Memoirs of a Geisha,' John Williams; 'Munich,' John Williams; 'Pride & Prejudice,' Dario Marianelli.

16. Original Song: 'In the Deep' from 'Crash,' Kathleen 'Bird' York and Michael Becker; 'It's Hard out Here for a Pimp' from 'Hustle & Flow,' Jordan Houston, Cedric Coleman and Paul Beauregard; 'Travelin' Thru' from ' Transamerica,' Dolly Parton.

17. Costume: 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,' ' Memoirs of a Geisha,' 'Mrs. Henderson Presents,' 'Pride & Prejudice,' 'Walk the Line.'

18. Documentary Feature: 'Darwin's Nightmare,' 'Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room,' 'March of the Penguins,' 'Murderball,' 'Street Fight.'

19. 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.'

20. Film Editing: 'Cinderella Man,' 'The Constant Gardener,' 'Crash,' 'Munich,' 'Walk the Line.'

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

22. Animated Short Film: 'Badgered,' 'The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation,' 'The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello,' '9,' 'One Man Band.'

23. Live Action Short Film: 'Ausreisser (The Runaway),' 'Cashback,' 'The Last Farm,' 'Our Time Is Up,' ' Six Shooter.'

24. Visual Effects: 'The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,' 'King Kong,' 'War of the Worlds. '

Academy Award winners previously announced this year:Honorary Award (Oscar statuette): Robert Altman.The Gordon E. Sawyer award (Oscar statuette): Gary Demos.