Rachel Weisz gets supporting actress award at SAG

By Arthur Spiegelman

LOS ANGELES — British actress Rachel Weisz won best supporting actress at the Screen Actors Guild awards on Sunday for her work in "The Constant Gardener," on an night that could see gay cowboy romance "Brokeback Mountain" win another top award on the road to the March 5 Oscars.

Weisz won for her role as the doomed activist wife of a British diplomat in "The Constant Gardener," a film based on a thriller by John Le Carre.

Meanwhile, the cast of ABC’s hit drama "Lost" won the best ensemble performance award for a dramatic television series.

It was the first nomination and win for "Lost," a castaway thriller that has helped reinvigorate ABC’s prime-time schedule.

Sandra Oh was named best actress in a television drama for her work as a doctor in "Grey’s Anatomy" on ABC, and Kiefer Sutherland was named best actor in a dramatic series for his work as a U.S. agent out to foil terrorist plots in "24" on Fox.

Breathless and in tears, Oh, who also won a Golden Globe for her role, thanked her fellow Asian American actors. She said, "I share this with you and be encouraged and keep shining."

"Brokeback" has won major craft guild awards from Hollywood producers and directors, and a victory here for best ensemble cast — the top award given by actors — could make it virtually unbeatable at the Academy Awards.

Directed by Taiwan-born Ang Lee, the film has won critical awards and picked up four Golden Globes. It comes into SAG, whose actor members constitute the largest voting group for the Oscars, with four nominations.

DUCK QUESTION

But not everyone is comfortable with the film whose theme is a forbidden romance between two cowboys.

President George W. Bush ducked a question last week on whether he planned to see the film, and no movie whose theme is a gay romance has won a best-picture Oscar, the symbol of mainstream movie-making success.

In a Hollywood awards-show tradition, actors ambled up the red carpet, often steered by publicists, stopping to pose for the battery of assembled photographers and to answer questions from the celebrity press.

Sutherland drew screams from fans when he cut through a velvet rope to sign autographs.

Jake Gyllenhaal, a critical favorite for his turn in "Brokeback," offered an apologetic wave to fans, as he was led into the auditorium to prepare to present one of the awards.

Up against "Brokeback" in the ensemble cast category are "Capote," about the moral crisis Truman Capote faced in writing "In Cold Blood," Crash, a racial drama set in Los Angeles, "Hustle and Flow," about a pimp’s dream of stardom, and "Good night, and Good Luck," about Edward R. Murrow’s fight against Sen. Joe McCarthy.

Besides the ensemble award for the "Brokeback" cast, Heath Ledger is up for best actor, Jake Gyllenhaal for best supporting actor and Michelle Williams for best supporting actress.

Ledger competes against Russell Crowe for "Cinderella Man," David Strathairn for "Good Night, and Good Luck," Joaquin Phoenix for "Walk the Line" and Oscar favorite Philip Seymour Hoffman for "Capote."

Competing in the best actress category are Felicity Huffman for "Transamerica," Reese Witherspoon for Walk the Line," Judi Dench for "Mrs. Henderson Presents," Charlize Theron for "North Country" and Ziyi Zhang for "Memoirs of a Geisha."

Huffman is also nominated in the television comedy actress category for her role as Lynette Scavo on ABC’s "Desperate Housewives."

ABC series "Boston Legal" and HBO’s "Empire Falls" lead the television nominees, each with four SAG nominations.