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Brokeback Mountain

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Brokeback Mountain
Directed byAng Lee
Written byAnnie Proulx
Diana Ossana
Larry McMurtry
Produced byDiana Ossana
James Schamus
StarringHeath Ledger
Jake Gyllenhaal
Anne Hathaway
Michelle Williams
Randy Quaid
Music byGustavo Santaolalla
Distributed byFocus Features
Release dates
December 9 2005
(North America)
January 6 2006
(United Kingdom)
Running time
130 min.
LanguageEnglish
Budget$14 million

Brokeback Mountain is an Academy Award-nominated and Golden Globe Award-winning film directed by Ang Lee. The 2005 film, a commercial success and critical favorite, stars Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway, and Michelle Williams. The film's frank depiction of a same-sex relationship has generated praise as well as some controversy.

The screenplay was written by Diana Ossana and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Larry McMurtry, and is based on a short story of the same name by American novelist Annie Proulx. The short story first appeared in The New Yorker in October 1997 and was subsequently included in a published anthology entitled Close Range: Wyoming Stories (1999).

Plot

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Brokeback Mountain tells the story of Ennis del Mar (played by Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (played by Jake Gyllenhaal). The two young men meet in 1963 on a sheep herding job on Wyoming, United States' fictional Brokeback Mountain. Over the course of the summer, they fall in love.

The film follows the star-crossed lovers over the next two decades and documents their complex emotional and physical relationship. Del Mar marries Alma Del Mar (played by Michelle Williams) and Twist marries Lureen Newsome (played by Anne Hathaway). Twist wants to attempt creating a life together, but Del Mar, who is haunted by a childhood memory, fears being ostracized by his family or being killed by members of the community if they were to live together. They are only able to contact one another by sending postcards and by visiting Brokeback Mountain occasionally.

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Filming locations

The film was shot primarily in Alberta, Canada rather than Wyoming. Ang Lee usually shoots his films in the exact locations in which they are set (another notable exception was Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, in which the scenes set in the Wudangshan monastery had actually been filmed at another Taoist monastery), but he decided that Alberta would be an ideal place to shoot Brokeback Mountain because of its lush landscapes broadly similar to those in Wyoming, the lower production costs in Canada, and the willingness of production companies in Canada to assist with the project.

The movie was filmed during the summer of 2004.

Commercial success

Brokeback Mountain cost about U.S.$14 million to produce, excluding its advertising budget. [1]

The film saw limited release in the United States on December 9, 2005 (in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco), taking $547,425 in five theaters its first weekend. According to several sources, including TV Guide [2] and indiewire [3], this was the highest per-showing average for any drama in film history.

Over the Christmas weekend, it posted the highest per theater gross of any movie [4] and was considered a box office success not only in urban centers such as New York City and Los Angeles, but also in suburban theaters near Portland, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, and Atlanta. On January 6, 2006, the movie expanded into 483 theaters, and, on January 13, 2006 Focus Features, the movie's distributor, opened Brokeback in nearly 700 North American cinemas as part of its ongoing expansion strategy for the movie. On January 20, the film opened in 1,194 theaters in North America; it opened in 1,652 theaters on January 27 and in 2,089 theaters on February 3, its widest release yet. [5]

As of February 9, 2006, Brokeback Mountain had grossed more than $62 million in North America and more than $40 million elsewhere. It is already the top grossing release of Focus Features [6].

The film was released in London, UK on December 30, 2005 in only one cinema, and was widely released in UK on January 6, 2006. On January 11, Time Out London magazine reported that Brokeback was the number one movie in the city, a position it held for three weeks.[7]

The movie was released in France on January 18, 2006 in 155 cinemas (expanding into 258 cinemas in the second week and into 290 in the third week). In its first week of release, Brokeback Mountain was in third place at the French box office, with 277,000 people viewing the movie, or an average of 1,787 people by cinema per week, the highest such figure for any film in France that week. Released in Italy on January 20, the film grossed more than 890,000 euros in only three days, and was the fourth highest-grossing film in the country in its first week of release. In the second week, in 224 theatres, the film's gross increased to €1,986,000.

Brokeback Mountain was released in Australia on January 26, where it landed in fourth place at the box office and earned an average per-screen gross three times higher than its nearest competitor during its first weekend, despite being released in only 48 cinemas nationwide. [8] Brokeback is being released in many other countries during the first three months of 2006 [9].

Brokeback Mountain was the highest-grossing movie in the U.S. from Tuesday, January 17 through Thursday, January 19, 2006, perhaps due primarily to its wins at the Golden Globes on January 16. Indeed, the movie was one of the top five highest-grossing films in the U.S. every day from January 17 until January 28, including over the weekend (when more people go to the movies and big-budget films usually crowd out independent films from the top-grossing list) of January 20-22. [10] On Saturday, January 28, the movie fell out of the top five and into sixth place at the box office during that weekend before entering the top five again on Monday, January 30, and remaining there.

According to interviews with the filmmakers, Focus Features was able to recoup their production costs by selling overseas rights to the film so, from the outset, the film was not in danger of losing very much money.

Critical reception

Professional film critics have heaped praise on Brokeback Mountain. [11] The film won four Golden Globe Awards, including Best Motion Picture-Drama, and was nominated for seven, leading all other films in the 2005 awards. It has won the Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival, as well as the title Best Picture from the Boston Society of Film Critics, the Dallas Fort Worth Film Critics Association, the Florida Film Critics Circle, the Las Vegas Film Critics Society, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the New York Film Critics Circle, the San Francisco Film Critics Circle, the Southeastern Film Critics Association, and the Utah Film Critics Society. Brokeback Mountain was given two thumbs up by Ebert & Roeper, the former granting a four-star review in the Chicago Sun-Times. Currently, the film holds an 86% rating of "Fresh" from 188 reviews on RottenTomatoes.com and received 'circumspect' positive reviews from the Catholic News Service and Christianity Today. Conservative movie critic Michael Medved gave the film three and a half stars, stating that while the movie's agenda is blatant, it's an artistic work. He did not place the film on his year end top 10 list.

Most gay and lesbian cultural commentators have praised the film, although a few critics, such as David Ehrenstein, believe that the film's cultural impact is being overplayed at the expense of other groundbreaking films and the challenges that openly gay and lesbian actors still face. A few other gay commentators and bloggers have written disapprovingly about the fact that, in what has been widely hailed as a "breakthrough" film for gay cinema, neither of the film's two lead actors, nor its director, nor its screenwriters is gay.

On January 3, 2006, Focus Features' parent company, Universal, announced that Brokeback Mountain was the most honored film of 2005. The independent website criticstop10.net[12] backed that assertion, reporting that Brokeback Mountain was the most frequently-selected movie on reviewers' year-end "Top Ten" lists of 2005.

On January 31 2006, Brokeback Mountain received eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Lead Actor (Heath Ledger), Best Supporting Actor (Jake Gyllenhaal), Best Supporting Actress (Michelle Williams), Best Cinematography, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Score.

Controversies

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Roman Catholic Church

The warm review by the Catholic News Service caused a controversy in itself when it labeled the movie "L" for "appropriate for limited adult audiences". A few days after the original post praising the film, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Office for Film and Broadcasting changed the rating to "O" for "morally offensive," in part due to the reaction of conservative Catholic organizations, such as LifeSite. [13] On December 29, 2005 the review was completely removed and replaced with a review that contained Catholic teachings against persons in same-sex relationships and called the two male characters "scarred."

Journalist and political pundit Andrew Sullivan, a practicing Roman Catholic who is openly gay, speculates that the Catholic Church now sees the power of the film as a threat that may change the perspective of Catholics, and that Catholic officials fear that the film might lead Catholics to rethink whether homosexuality is truly an "affliction". Further, Sullivan suggests that perhaps Catholic officials fear that the film may encourage Catholics to view homosexual love as emanating from "deep-seated human love" rather than being a love based purely on sexual acts.

Controversy notwithstanding, one large Catholic private school in Utah had its students attend a field trip to a local movie house to view the movie for a humanities class. The school principal defended the action stating it would broaden the students' understanding and humanity.

Many predominantly Catholic nations have banned the movie.

Utah theater cancellation

On January 6, 2006, Utah Jazz owner and Latter-day Saint Larry H. Miller pulled the film from his Jordan Commons entertainment complex in Sandy, Utah, a suburb of Salt Lake City, at the last minute after entering into a contract to show it and heavily advertising for it. He reneged on his obligations approximately two hours before the first scheduled showing upon learning that the plot concerned a same-sex romance. Other R-rated films, such as the pot-smoking comedy Grandma's Boy and the violent horror film Hostel were still allowed to be shown.

On January 9, 2006, he also canceled his agreement to show Transamerica, a comedy-drama about the life of a pre-op transgendered person, which had been scheduled to open on January 20. However, on January 20 he did not interfere with the screening of another film with gay themes, Capote. [14]

Miller was heavily criticized by Equality Utah, Focus Features, and local residents who had arrived to purchase tickets only to find it had been canceled without notice. The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Community Center of Utah has called their fellow Utahns to "vote with your hard-earned dollars" and "avoid" Miller’s holdings in response, including the Delta Center, his two theaters and several car dealerships. Focus Features has threatened to sue him and announced it will no longer do business with him. In a statement it added, "You can't do business with people who break their word."

Gayle Ruzicka, of the Utah chapter of the conservative national organization, the Eagle Forum, commended Miller's decision: "I just think [pulling the show] tells the young people especially that maybe there is something wrong with this show," she said.

Brokeback actor Heath Ledger called the cancellation "unnecessary", noting: "Personally I don't think the movie is controversial, but I think maybe the Mormons in Utah do. I think it's hilarious and very immature of a society." Comedian Jay Leno and MSNBC news anchor Keith Olbermann both made jokes about the decision. Utah talk-show host Doug Wright, who reviews movies for KSL Radio, which is owned by the LDS Church, has said that if he were Miller he would not have pulled the movie.

Brokeback Mountain has been successful at other Salt Lake City-area theaters. The Broadway Theater placed the 10th highest per-screen average nationwide during the New Years holiday, and in terms of total grosses it ranked number one while only showing on one screen at the Century 16. A poll aired on KSL television found 40% of all Utahns disagreed with Miller's move, as did a majority of Salt Lake County residents, where his complex is located. KSL found that the 60% who agreed with the film's removal had larger families and less disposable income compared with those who disagreed. A spokesperson for Focus Features added, "Given the gigantic grosses already being posted in Salt Lake City for Brokeback Mountain, this is their loss." [15]

Fox News

Several political pundits on Fox News, including commentators Bill O'Reilly, John Gibson, and Cal Thomas, accused Hollywood of pushing an agenda and told their viewers that the Christian-themed Chronicles of Narnia has more merit for "best picture of the year." On December 23, 2005, the network reported that Brokeback Mountain was facing "Brokeback Burnout," citing a fall in revenues from Sunday, December 18, 2005, to Monday, as well as subsequent falls during the week as evidence.[16] Others have pointed out that nearly every movie faces declining business during the transition from weekend to weekdays.

The actual dollar values for the film's daily revenues can be found here [17].

On December 29, however, the news organization reported that the movie was a box-office success, leading all other movies in terms of per-theater gross during the Christmas weekend, [18] while Narnia was top in overall weekend gross (showing on 3,636 more screens than Brokeback Mountain at the time) [19].

The Today Show

The film critic for the U.S. morning show The Today Show, Gene Shalit, called Jake Gyllenhaal's character, Jack Twist, a "sexual predator" who "tracks Ennis down and coaxes him into sporadic trysts." This triggered complaints, particularly from gay media watchdog group GLAAD, who argued that Shalit's characterization of "Jack" would be akin to calling Leonardo DiCaprio's character in Titanic a sexual predator because he is romantically interested in the character played by Kate Winslet. Shalit later apologized, saying: [20]

In describing the behavior of "Jack" I used words ("sexual predator") that I now discover have angered, agitated, and hurt many people. I did not intend to use a word that many in the gay community consider incendiary...I certainly had no intention of casting aspersions on anyone in the gay community or on the community itself. I regret any emotional hurt that may have resulted from my review of "Brokeback Mountain."

U.S. social conservatives

Several Christian fundamentalist groups, such as Concerned Women for America and Focus on the Family, lambasted the film before it was released. Following wins by Brokeback Mountain, Capote, and Transamerica at the 2006 Golden Globes, Dr. Janice Shaw Crouse, a Concerned Women for America Senior Fellow, said on January 17:[21]:

"Once again, the media elites are proving that their pet projects are more important than profit."

"...none of the three movies, Capote, Transamerica or Brokeback Mountain, is a box office hit. Brokeback Mountain has barely topped $25 million [at the time] in ticket sales. While it has recouped all the production costs, it is doubtful that receipts have covered the massive PR costs."

"If America isn't watching these films, why are they winning the awards?"

Several conservative commentators predicted, erroneously, that the movie would be a commercial failure. On his program The O'Reilly Factor, Bill O'Reilly said on December 20, 2005: "But I don't care about the movie. I'm going to make the prediction. The movie will get a lot of Academy Awards, because again Hollywood is very sympathetic to the gay movement ... But I will submit to you this movie does not do big box office outside the big cities. It won't. They're not going to go see the gay cowboys in Montana [sic]. I'm sorry. They're not going to do it." On January 2, 2006, Charles Krauthammer stated on the Fox News Channel that "Brokeback Mountain will have been seen in the theaters by 18 people, but the right 18 and will win the Academy Award." On December 7, 2005, Robert Knight, director of the Culture and Family Institute at Concerned Women for America, opined that "people don't want to see that. They don't want to see two guys going at it. It's that simple ... I think Ang Lee is off his rocker if he thinks he can have the same commercial success with two cowboys instead of a cowboy and a cowgirl, as other movies do." [22]

Some anti-gay groups have explicitly dissuaded their supporters from protesting the movie, in an attempt to avoid additional publicity for the film.

Liberal groups controversy

Conversely, gay and liberal commentators and bloggers have raised their concerns about the treatment given to the coverage of the movie's same-sex theme in the mass media, both in advertising and in public exhibitions like press conferences and award ceremonies. Some bloggers and commentators have noted their disappointment that expressions of love between two men have been carefully avoided in certain representations of the film in the media[23], even though same-sex love is Brokeback Mountain's main theme.

Prior to the film's release, some people expressed their fears that Ang Lee would remove the explicit love scenes present in Annie Proulx's story [24], following the director's declarations that sexual content would be "modest" and "appropriate for audiences who love great movies and romance," [25] even though their fears were unfounded.

Several journalists including New York Daily News writer Wayman Wong and Dave Cullen [26] have complained that the movie's director, lead actors and publicity team avoid using the word gay to describe the story, and that the movie trailer doesn't show the two male leads kissing each other even as it includes a heterosexual bedroom scene, evidently in an attempt to avoid alienating the potential heterosexual audience.

Trivia

File:Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal.jpg
Gyllenhaal and Hathaway play Jack Twist and Lureen Newsome. The two characters eventually marry, and raise a son.
  • The film is one of several highly acclaimed LGBT-related movies of 2005 to be nominated for critical awards, others being: Breakfast on Pluto, Capote, and Transamerica. It is also the second LGBT work for director Ang Lee, his first being The Wedding Banquet.
  • Filmakers Gus Van Sant and Joel Schumacher, who are both gay, considered directing Brokeback Mountain before Ang Lee (who is heterosexual) signed on to the project.
  • During filming Michelle Williams and Heath Ledger began dating and conceived their first child.
  • During filming it was reported Ledger almost broke Gyllenhaal's nose during a kissing scene, as the scene required that they pull each other close very quickly.
  • On seeing a pre-release screening, Madonna called the movie "shocking [and] surprising" and commended Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger on their bravery in taking on the challenging material of the film when many actors turned the film down. [27]
  • Heath Ledger had a nude scene in which he jumped into a lake. The director intended to edit any actual frontal nudity out of the film, but a paparazzi photographer took photos of both Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal's stunt double with a digital camera. The photos have appeared on the internet and in some press publications.
  • Some reports have it that Ang Lee barred screenwriter Larry McMurtry from the set of the movie. A spokeswoman for Focus Features commented: "Larry McMurtry can never go on sets because he's got very severe allergies." No one barred Larry McMurtry from the set—he was in the midst of writing a novel when filming began and ended. Diana Ossana, co-writer of the screenplay and a producer, was on set during the entire filming.
  • It has been reported that several major actors declined to audition for the film because of its frank depiction of a strong and sexual relationship between two men.[28]
  • When Ledger and Gyllenhaal were asked about any fear of being cast in such controversial roles, Ledger responded that he was not afraid of the role, but rather he was concerned that he would not be mature enough as an actor to do the story justice.
  • The quote by Jake Gyllenhaal's character, Jack Twist, "I wish I knew how to quit you," has become a catch phrase from this movie. [29] [30]
  • According to news reports, the film has been banned in mainland China, where censors still consider same-sex sexual relationships to be a taboo topic. [31] [32]. Brokeback is, however, playing in Lee's native Taiwan and will open in Hong Kong on February 23, 2006. [33]

Awards

The movie has won many awards, including four Golden Globe awards for Best Motion Picture-Drama, Best Director, Best Song, and Best Screenplay. It has also received four Screen Actors Guild nominations for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Ensemble, more than any other movie released in 2005. It has been nominated for eight Oscars by members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. [34]

List of notable awards

Nominations

Note: **: yet to be awarded.

See also

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Preceded by Golden Globe for Best Picture - Drama
2005 		Succeeded by
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