Gay cowboys – and Yanks – ruled London last night, when Oscar favorite “Brokeback Mountain” scooped up four prizes, leading the American dominance of the British Film Academy awards.
The love story outdid its hotly favored – and more British – rival, “The Constant Gardener,” to claim Best Film, as well as Best Adapted Screenplay.
Ang Lee picked up the Best Director statuette and Jake Gyllenhaal was chosen as Best Supporting Actor, but Aussie heartthrob Heath Ledger left another awards ceremony empty-handed.
Just as with the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild judges, the British Academy overlooked Ledger’s performance as a conflicted cowboy, tapping Philip Seymour Hoffman as Best Actor for his role in “Capote.”
American Reese Witherspoon won Best Actress for her role in the Johnny Cash biopic, “Walk the Line.”
Ledger’s girlfriend and co-star Michelle Williams also went without. The Best Supporting Actress award went to Thandie Newton, for her role in the racial drama “Crash.”
The animated feature “Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were- Rabbit” was chosen as the Best British Film of the Year.
With Post Wire Services