Actors Guild Bucks Brokeback Trend

Brokeback Mountain suffered a blip on its seemingly unstoppable path to Oscar glory last night as members of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) defied the script and handed top awards to Crash, Capote and Walk the Line.

Ang Lee’s tale of gay cowboys was the big winner at the Golden Globes, walking away with four of the top prizes two weeks ago, and has also done well at a variety of other ceremonies in the runup to the Academy Awards.

SAG, however, honored Capote’s Philip Seymour Hoffman with its best actor award for his role as writer Truman Capote. Reese Witherspoon took best actress for her portrayal of Johnny Cash’s wife and partner June Carter in Walk the Line, while the race relations drama Crash pulled off a surprise win in the best ensemble cast category.

Best supporting actor went to Paul Giamatti, an SAG favorite who was part of last year’s ensemble award-winning Sideways, for his role as the manager of Depression-era boxer Jim Braddock in Ron Howard’s Cinderella Man.

Britain’s Rachel Weisz continued to be the bookies’ favorite for the best supporting actress Oscar by taking the SAG accolade to add to her Golden Globe for her performance as the activist who takes on multinational drug companies in The Constant Gardener.

The ceremony also awards excellence on the small screen, with 24, the medical drama Grey’s Anatomy and the obligatory Lost taking the main prizes.