HOLLYWOOD, Calif. -- "Crash," a drama about racial tensions in Los Angeles, crushed the hopes of "Brokeback Mountain" for Oscar gold Sunday night at the 78th annual Academy Awards, by upsetting the romance drama and taking Best Picture.
"Brokeback" had snared multiple Best Picture wins from various industry and critics organizations throughout awards season, but talk of an upset began to brew when "Crash" took the Best Ensemble trophy at the recent Screen Actors Guild Awards -- the group's equivalent to a Best Picture award.
"Thank you to all the members of the Academy for embracing our film about love, and about tolerance, about truth, and thank you to people all around the world who have been been touched by this message," said producer Cathy Schulman, standing beside director Paul Haggis.
The ensemble drama won three Oscars total. Haggis lost the Best Director Oscar to Ang Lee, who won for "Brokeback Mountain," but won for Best Original Screenplay along with Bobby Moresco. The film was also honored for Best Editing.
Lee thanked both real and fictional people for his Best Director Oscar for "Brokeback Mountain," including the film's main characters Ennis and Jack (Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal).
"They taught all of us who made 'Brokeback Mountain' so much about all of the gay men and women whose love is denied by society -- but just as important, the greatness of love itself," Lee said.
"Brokeback Mountain," which led all nominees going into the ceremony with eight, also won three Oscars total, including Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Score.
Philip Seymour Hoffman and Reese Witherspoon took Best Actor and Best Actress honors, respectively, for "Capote" and "Walk the Line."
Hoffman, visibly shaken for his win for playing legendary writer Truman Capote, thanked -- among others -- his mother, Marilyn O'Connor.
"She's here tonight, and if you see here tonight I'd like you to congratulate her because she brought up four kids alone, and she deserves a congratulations for that," Hoffman said. "She took me to my first play and stayed up with me to watch the NCAA Final Four. Her passions became my passions. Be proud, Mom, because I'm proud of you. We're here tonight, and it's so good."
Witherspoon also thanked family during a bubbly, heartfelt speech for her Oscar for playing June Carter.
"I want to say that my grandmother was one of the biggest inspirations in my life -- she taught me how to be a real woman, to have strength and self-respect, and to never give those qualities away, and those were a lot of the qualities I saw in June Carter," Witherspoon said. "People used ask June how she was doing, and used would say, 'I'm just trying to matter,' and I know what she means, you know? I'm just trying to matter and live a good life make work that means something to somebody, and you have all made me feel that I might have accomplished that tonight."
George Clooney and Rachel Weisz were among the early winners at the ceremony, winning for Best Supporting Actor and Actress, respectively.
Clooney won for playing an embattled CIA agent in "Syriana," and took time to note Hollywood's often-criticized political activism.
"We are a little bit out of touch in Hollywood once in a while, I think -- it's probably a good thing," Clooney said at the podium. "We're the ones who talked about AIDS when it was just being whispered, and we're the ones who talked about Civil Rights when it wasn't really popular.
"This Academy gave Hattie McDaniel an Oscar in 1939 when blacks were still sitting in the backs of theaters," Clooney added. "I'm proud to part of this Academy, proud to be part of this community and proud to be out of touch."
Among many others, Weisz thanked author John le Carré during her acceptance speech for playing a reporter investigating a global pharmaceutical conspiracy in "The Constant Gardener."
"He really paid tribute to the people who are willing to risk their own lives to fight injustice -- they are greater men and women than I," Weisz said.
No single film dominated the ceremonies. Along with "Crash" and "Brokeback," "Memoirs of a Geisha" took three Oscars, including Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design and Best Art Direction and Set Decoration
Other big winners were "Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit" for Best Animated Feature and "Tsotsi" for Best Foreign Language Film. The filmmakers of "March of the Penguins" brought stuffed penguins up to podium to accept their Oscars for Best Documentary Feature.
Three 6 Mafia made Oscar history Sunday by performing the first-ever rap song at the ceremonies -- and went on to win the Best Original Song Oscar for "It's Hard out Here for a Pimp," from "Hustle and Flow."
Lily Tomlin and Meryl Streep were on hand to present legendary filmmaker Robert Altman with an honorary Oscar for his life's work in films.
"I'm here, I think, under kind of false pretenses, and I think I have to become straight with you. Ten years ago, 11 years ago, I had a heart transplant -- a total heart transplant, " the 79-year-old Altman said. "I got the heart of, I think, a young woman who was about in her late '30s. So, by that calculation, you may be giving me this award too early, because I think I got about 40 years left on it -- and I intend to use it."
"Daily Show" comedian Jon Stewart made his debut as Oscar host Sunday night. The political satirist promised recently that there would be more focus on the pomp of the ceremonies than politics -- but there was no lack of political humor in his opening monologue.
"I have some sad news to report, Bjork could not be here tonight -- she was trying on her Oscar dress, and Dick Cheney shot her," Stewart said, referring to the swan-like dress the singer wore to the ceremonies a few years back.
And, in a nod to Hollywood's liberal base, Stewart also said: "The Oscars is the one the night of the year where you can see all your favorite stars without having to donate any money to the Democratic Party."
The show started out with a comical sketch that looked at previous hosts, including Billy Crystal and Chris Rock spoofing a scene from "Brokeback Mountain." Previous hosts Steve Martin, Whoopi Goldberg and David Letterman also showed up in the sketch.
Stewart turned up in the sketch as well, along with cameos of Oscar winners Halle Berry and Clooney.
The awards were handed out at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. Its broadcast run time came in at about 3½ hours, a bit longer than last year's ceremony but far shorter than ceremonies in recent years.
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