Brokeback Mountain climbs up in Oscar buzz

Two major film groups picked nominees for best productions and screenplays of 2005, including early Oscar favorite Brokeback Mountain, as th...

Two major film groups picked nominees for best productions and screenplays of 2005, including early Oscar favorite Brokeback Mountain, as the race for Hollywood awards entered a new phase on Wednesday.

The Producers Guild of America, or PGA, comprising movie and TV show makers, named its five best film productions of the year while the Writers’ Guild of America, or WGA, picked 10 nominees for screenplays.

Gay romance Brokeback cemented its position as an Oscar frontrunner by making both lists in a follow-up to the seven Golden Globe nominations—more than any other film—it earned in December.

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Making a comeback was race relations drama Crash, which also made both guilds’ lists after a disappointing show at Golden Globe nominations. Surprising no-shows on the two guild lists were director Steven Spielberg’s Munich, Woody Allen’s Match Point and Peter Jackson’s King Kong.

Along with Brokeback and Crash, Good Night, and Good Luck, about newsman Edward R Murrow’s clash with Senator Joe McCarthy, Capote, about writer Truman Capote, and Walk the Line, about the romance between singers Johnny Cash and June Carter, will vie for the PGA’s producer of the year honor.

In one surprise, the WGA put hit comedy The 40 Year-Old Virgin, about a guy who is shy around girls, among its nominees for best original screenplay. It was joined by Good Night, Crash, Cinderella Man—about a Depression-era boxer’s comeback—and The Squid and the Whale, about two boys dealing with their parents’ breakup.

The Screen Actors’ Guild and Directors’ Guild of America will name nominees for their awards on Thursday and combined, the four lists should help narrow contenders for Oscars.