Brokeback Mountain is thundering toward Sunday's politically-charged 78th Academy Awards as the frontrunner for the top prizes, but a small movie about race may yet Crash the gay cowboys' party.
Taiwan-born director Ang Lee's movie about a tragic romance between two cowpokes rides into the 78th annual Academy Awards armed with a leading eight nominations, including best picture, director, best actor for Australia's Heath Ledger and best supporting role nods Jake Gyllenhaal and Michelle Williams.
"Brokeback is in good shape for the Oscars because it had early momentum in the race and I think it will take five statuettes, more than any other film," awards expert Tom O'Neil of the website theEnvelope.com told AFP.
The small-budget movie has dominated Hollywood's awards season and led the Oscars race since the nominations were unveiled five weeks ago, but its lead position may be in jeopardy in the final straight, experts warned.
In an Oscars year laden with films tackling explosive topics from homosexuality, to oil industry machinations in the Middle East, US political repression, and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts, Brokeback is being stalked by a dark horse: Paul Haggis's jigsaw of a racial drama, Crash.
{{/usCountry}}In an Oscars year laden with films tackling explosive topics from homosexuality, to oil industry machinations in the Middle East, US political repression, and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts, Brokeback is being stalked by a dark horse: Paul Haggis's jigsaw of a racial drama, Crash.
{{/usCountry}}"The buzz now is that Crash might actually pull it in (the big awards)," Lew Harris, editorial director of the website Movies.com, said of the movie that is up for six Oscars, including best picture, best director and best supporting actor for Matt Dillon.
"There's a backlash against Brokeback. It's winning everything, people get bored of it, even in Hollywood. People are really tired of being told they have to like it," Harris told AFP.