A Paris court found that Stephanie Vergniault had not provided sufficient evidence that the political thriller was based on her screenplay, Oversight.

Ms Vergniault, 37, was ordered to pay 3,500 euros ($4,400) in court costs to Warner Bros and George Clooney's production company Section Eight. [...]

The screenwriter had been seeking 2m euros ($2.5m) in damages from the makers of Syriana.

Among Vergniault's various insignificant "proofs" was an extravagant exhibit in which she unveiled several magnified stills of Fat Clooney, then dramatically read aloud from her own screenplay and met with 12 blank, unmoved stares: "'Angle on our hero: A heavy-set, bearded, Gerard Depardieu-type.' Madames et messieurs of the jury, I rest my case."

• French writer loses Syriana case [BBC News]

Missing from the UAE version were scenes showing mistreatment of Asian workers in the Gulf, and references to Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and a late Saudi king. [...]

As for "Brokeback Mountain", a story of two male cowboys falling in love in the conservative American West, its Beirut-based distributor, Italia Films, said it had dropped plans to try to show the movie in the Gulf after discussing its taboo topic with concerned ministries and receiving negative feedback. [...]

Homosexuality is a serious offence in the Gulf, punishable by flogging and imprisonment. In February, 11 men were sentenced to six years in jail in the UAE after a raid on a gay party in a desert hotel.

As Brokeback continues its banned world tour, we're once again reminded how premature it was to declare this the International Year of the Gay. Imagine how much harder your clandestine, gay Oscar bunker party would have sucked if moments after Crash was declared Best Picture, you heard a loud knocking and the angry shouts of a Middle Eastern vice squad at the desert crawlspace door.

• 'Tolerant' Dubai censors two US films [Middle East Online]

The nonprofit group Global Language Monitor placed "Brokeback" — as in the film title "Brokeback Mountain" — at the top of its list of Hollywood words and phrases that captured attention this year.

Paul JJ Payack, the head of Global Language Monitor, said the movie became a cultural phenomenon that generated a million jokes, according to Google. Overall, a Google search shows more than 38 million references to the film, although only about 10 million people saw the movie.

In second place was "Brangelina," the hybrid name given to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie as Hollywood's hottest new couple. They beat out "TomKat," bestowed on Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes and "Vincifer," a hardly used term referring to Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn.

Global Language Monitor's credentials seem on somewhat shaky ground with that reference to "Vincifer" we've heard Vaughniffer and the much rarer Vaughniston, but Vincifer? Never. We'll grant them "petronoia," the fear of oil industry collapse, which has been popping up here and there, and they claim was "inspired by Syriana." But by fourth place "tuxedo," a sad little reference to the penguin doc they appear to have all but given up. We're having trouble recalling all those scintillating cocktail party conversations peppered generously with "penguin this" and "tuxedo that." A better choice would have been "Narnia," which between the movie's success and the SNL video short it inspired, became a battle cry for lazy Sunday cupcake munching stoners the world over.

• "Brokeback" named Hollywood word of the year [Reuters]

"I'm in shock," said writer-director Gaghan, who received his ballot Tuesday and only realized the reclassification Wednesday evening. "A phone call would have been nice, or an e-mail or letter. I understand it's a gray area, but I'm saddened. Just let us know."[...]

The Academy didn't offer any reason why the film was reclassified but insisted the procedure is fairly common. In any given year, there are eight to 12 screenplays that will be reclassified by the executive committee before the reminder list goes out, the spokeswoman said.

While the reclassification gets Syriana out of the way of the big, gay cowboy juggernaut that is Brokeback Mountain, it now pits it against such formidable original screenplay competition as Good Night and Good Luck, The Squid and the Whale, and Crash. Seeing as the original screenplay category often awards the quirky (Squid) or the easily digestible sociopolitical message (Luck, Crash), we'd say Gaghan really doesn't have much a chance in either category, and should just put his Oscar chips on the bearded, bloated genius of George Clooney's Golden Globe-winning Syriana performance.

• Gaghan in 'shock' over 'Syriana' script switch [THR]
• Previously: Softening Syriana [Defamer]

The line, as people have seen in the trailer and the movie, is "Corruption is why we win." This is a monologue about the virtues of corruption delivered by the actor Tim Blake Nelson, who plays an Oil industry lobbyist from the south named Danny Dalton, to Jeffrey Wright, an African-American corporate lawyer named Bennett Holiday.

We assume Wright did not request the edit, seeing as he had no apparent problem subjecting his character Belize in Angels in America to Roy Cohn ordering him to "Move your nigger cunt spade faggot lackey ass out of my room!" 8 performances a week for years on Broadway, with Al Pacino eventually "Woo ha!"-ing the very same words for the HBO filmed adaptation. No, sometimes it's just a matter of a writer/director, in this case the passionate Stephen Gaghan, getting a little too carried away pounding towards the truth on his laptop; one cold reading from a capable actor is all you need to realize, "My movie's edgy. But not that edgy."

• Syriana screenplay snippet reveals interesting edit [Boing Boing]

Clooney was keen to plunge into the weighty thriller and took the challenge literally.

He gained more than 30 pounds (13.6 kg) to play the part of the paunchy, bearded CIA operative. While some actors enjoy the chance to be freed from incessant dieting, it was torture for fitness freak Clooney.

"There was nothing fun about it," said Clooney. "There was not a moment that was fun about shooting this film. That's not a slap on the film or (the director Stephen) Gaghan. It's just that everybody has that year where you age a decade and this was that one for me."

Merely having The 30 Pounds Story (with optional Ruptured Spinal Fluid Sac Component) constantly recirculating through the media probably won't be enough to push him over the top; though it might interfere with other projects Clooney's working on, he should do his best to maintain the weight through at least the close of Oscar balloting to ensure that he receives full stunt-credit. Two years ago, Charlize Theron took absolutely no chances, wandering alongside the 405 in full Monster make-up while looking for truckers to murder right up until a week before Hollywood's Biggest Night. Only closers take home the statue.

• For Clooney, "Syriana" was pure torture to make [Reuters]
• ‘Syriana’ issues weighed on Clooney [MSNBC.com]
• FAT CLOONEY WAS MISERABLE ON SYRIANA SET [Contactmusic.com]
• Previously: Clooney Bloats His Way To Oscar Gold [Defamer]