Looks like Jack and Ennis are getting a happy ending after all.
Brokeback Mountain racked up more major hardware on its road to the Oscars, with the film being named Best Picture and Ang Lee nabbing yet another Best Director trophy at the Independent Spirit Awards Saturday night.
And for the gay cowboy movie's fellow nominees, good things came in twos at the ceremony; Crash, Capote and Transamerica all managed to double their award pleasure, taking home two prizes apiece.
The so-called indie Oscars, handed out in a tent on the Santa Monica beach, are a respite for formality-weary award-show hoppers, providing a low-key calm before Sunday's Academy Awards storm.
The Independent Spirit Awards honor films that are produced at least in part outside of Hollywood's studio system and traditionally rewards low-budget, cutting-edge films.
Of course, this year's batch of Spirit winners may be more a harbinger of Oscars to come than years past.
Nearly every winner in the Spirit Awards' 12 major categories is also a contender tomorrow night--though the Spirit Award winners were quick to point out that an Academy Award would neither overshadow nor underscore their wins Saturday.
"It's ludicrous, and I've been given enough," Capote's Best Actor winner and Oscar favorite Philip Seymour Hoffman said. "It's all nerve-wracking."
Matt Dillon, the Best Supporting Actor winner for Crash and a dark-hourse Oscar contender, seconded the feeling, saying, "I feel like I already won."
In addition to Hoffman and Dillon, Transamerica's Felicity Huffman (Best Actress) and Junebug's Amy Adams (Best Supporting Actress) rounded out the acting trophies and could also repeat at the Academy Awards, although both are considered long shots at the latter.
However, one award-season favorite, George Clooney's Good Night, and Good Luck, was nearly shut out at the Spirits, save for a lone win for Best Cinematography.
Crash fared far better. In addition to Dillon's acting win, writer-director Paul Haggis won Best First Feature for the examination at race relations in Los Angeles.
Capote also doubled up, with Hoffman nabbing Best Actor and Hoffman's childhood buddy Dan Futterman taking home the award for Best Screenplay.
Transamerica, meanwhile, scored wins for both Huffman and Best First Screenplay for Duncan Tucker.
And while Brokeback Mountain won for picture and director, its actors were once again denied a shot at the podium, with nominees--and lovebirds--Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams going home empty-handed.
Sarah Silverman emceed the ceremony, while Naomi Watts served as the event's honorary chair.
While show producers might have feared that the notoriously potty-mouthed host may have kept the censors busy, the raunchiest moment of the night actually came from Best Director presenter Kevin Smith, who turned his remembrance of his first Spirit Awards experience into an over-sharing anecdote about him and his wife's first lovemaking escapade.
Despite the laid-back atmosphere, there was a sole somber note to the festivities.
Occupation: Dreamland director Ian Olds, who along with partner Garrett Scott, was named the Truer Than Fiction Award winner for emerging nonfiction feature filmmaker, accepted the award solo because Scott, 37, died suddenly of a heart attack just three days earlier.
The Independent Spirit Awards are voted on by more than 9,000 members of Film Independent, formerly IFP/Los Angeles, the nonprofit organization for independent film directors, actors, writers and other industry types. The ceremony aired live on the IFC network and will be rebroadcast on AMC.
Here's complete list of winners at the 2006 Independent Spirit Awards:
Feature: Brokeback Mountain First Feature: Crash John Cassavetes Award (best feature made for less than $500,000): Conventioneers Director: Ang Lee, Brokeback Mountain Screenplay: Dan Futterman, Capote First Screenplay: Duncan Tucker, Transamerica Male Lead: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote Female Lead: Felicity Huffman, Transamerica Supporting Female: Amy Adams, Junebug Supporting Male: Matt Dillon, Crash Cinematography: Good Night, and Good Luck Documentary: Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room Foreign Film: Paradise Now IFC/Acura Someone to Watch Award: Ian Gamazon and Neill Dela Llana, Cavite Truer Than Fiction Award: Garrett Scott and Ian Olds, Occupation: Dreamland AMC/American Express Producers Award: Caroline Baron, Capote and Monsoon Wedding