Not ‘Brokeback’? Well, then fix it
Annie Proulx, whose 1997 short story inspired the movie “Brokeback Mountain,” is fuming over the film’s best-picture Oscar loss.
In a column in the British newspaper The Guardian, Proulx writes that Oscar voters are “out of touch not only with the shifting larger culture and the yeasty ferment that is America these days, but also out of touch with their own segregated city.”
The Oscar instead went to “Crash,” which focuses on race relations in Los Angeles.
“Rumour has it that (distributor) Lionsgate inundated the academy voters with DVD copies of ‘Trash’ – excuse me – ‘Crash’ a few weeks before the ballot deadline,” Proulx writes.
The 70-year-old Pulitzer Prize winner also decries the “atmosphere of insufferable self-importance” at the Academy Awards, describing the audience as a “somewhat dim L.A. crowd” and the ceremony as “reminiscent of a small-town talent-show night.”
She concludes: “For those who call this little piece a Sour Grapes Rant, play it as it lays.”
He didn’t hatch this plot
Philip Seymour Hoffman, who won the best actor Oscar for “Capote,” plays a villain opposite Tom Cruise in the upcoming “Mission: Impossible III.”
It marks the big-screen directing debut of J.J. Abrams, creator of TV’s “Lost” and “Alias.”
While the first two films were criticized for focusing on style over substance, the new “MI” presents a clear plot centered on elaborate chess moves between Cruise and Hoffman’s characters, Abrams says.
“This story is trackable, unlike a lot of stories we’ve seen in the spy genre – certainly everything from episodes of ‘Mission: Impossible’ on TV, and certainly I’m guilty of it in episodes of ‘Alias,’ ” he says.
C’mon, keep it zipped
Former “Beverly Hills, 90210” star Jennie Garth is expecting her third child with actor-husband Peter Facinelli.
“We didn’t plan any one of them, but higher forces and recognizing priorities helped us along the way. We can’t wait to meet this newest addition to our family!” says Garth, 33.
‘Shallow Hal’ to deep end
Funny guy Jack Black has eloped with Tanya Haden, the daughter of jazz bassist Charlie Haden, who was a former classmate at a private high school in Santa Monica.
They hooked up romantically last spring after Black split with his longtime girlfriend, comedienne Laura Kightlinger.
Bolton? That’s desperate
Finally, “Desperate Housewives” star Nicollette Sheridan has confirmed her engagement to rock balladeer Michael Bolton.
The 42-year-old actress’ on-again, off-again romance with Bolton, 53, goes back to the early 1990s. They got serious last year, when she broke it off with then-fiance Nicklas Soderblom.
The birthday bunch
Comedian Jerry Lewis is 80. Movie director Bernardo Bertolucci is 65. Game show host Chuck Woolery is 65. Singer-songwriter Jerry Jeff Walker is 64. Actor Victor Garber (“Alias”) is 57. Actor Erik Estrada is 57. Country singer Ray Benson (Asleep at the Wheel) is 55. Guitarist-singer Nancy Wilson (Heart) is 52. Actress Isabelle Huppert is 51. Rapper Flavor Flav (Public Enemy) is 47. Actress Lauren Graham (“Gilmore Girls”) is 39.