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LOS ANGELES, Mar 14, 2006 (UPI via COMTEX) -- The author of the story that was adapted into the film, "Brokeback Mountain," has trashed the Oscars and best film winner, "Crash."
In Britain's Guardian, Annie Proulx referred to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voters as "conservative heffalumps" and referred to "Crash" as "Trash," the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.
"We should have known conservative heffalump academy voters would have rather different ideas of what was stirring contemporary culture," Proulx wrote. "Roughly 6,000 film industry voters, most in the Los Angeles area, many living cloistered lives behind wrought-iron gates or in deluxe rest-homes, 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, decide which films are good.
"And rumor has it that (Lionsgate) inundated the academy voters with DVD copies of 'Trash' -- excuse me -- 'Crash' a few weeks before the ballot deadline. Next year we can look to the awards for controversial themes on the punishment of adulterers with a branding iron in the shape of the letter A, runaway slaves and the debate over free silver."
Proulx concluded: "For those who call this little piece a Sour Grapes Rant, play it as it lays."
URL: www.upi.com Copyright 2006 by United Press International
