Brokeback Mountain has phenomenal opening

"The long-awaited film version of writer Annie Proulx's cowboy love story, Brokeback Mountain , opened December 9 to long lines of moviegoers in three cities. By the end of the weekend it had broken box-office records and carried home some of the first major prizes of the year-end season.

Open only in New York, San Francisco, and Los AngelesтАФfive theaters totalтАФthe Focus Features film raked in more than half a million dollars, for an average of $109,000 per location, the highest per-screen average for any movie released in 2005. That was more money in three days than the grand total grossed by such gay-inclusive 2005 films as Cote d'Azur, The Dying Gaul , and Gus Van Sant's Last Days . Van Sant was one of the directors who tried to get Brokeback made in the late 1990s and early 2000s, without success.

"This is an astonishing accomplishment and a real testament to how this film is connecting with audiences," said Neil G. Giuliano, president of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. "Brokeback Mountain is truly a remarkable event, and its journey and impact are just beginning."

Directed by Ang Lee (The Wedding Banquet, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon), the film stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger as cowboys who meet on the titular mountain in 1963, where they spend a summer together herding sheep and discovering a mutual attraction they can't resist. The film covers the subsequent 20 years of their lives as they continue their secret affair through marriages, long distance, and fear of societal condemnation.

The critical reception to the movie has been glowing since its debut in September at the Toronto Film Festival, where it won the top prize, and on Saturday the Los Angeles Film Critics Association named it the best film of the year. The group also gave Lee the Best Director prize. Gyllenhaal and Ledger did not win acting honors from the Los Angeles critics; that went to another actor in a gay role, Phillip Seymour Hoffman as Truman Capote in the film Capote. (Advocate.com)"

http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid23299.asp


"Oscar hopefuls Brokeback Mountain and Memoirs of a Geisha opened in only a handful of US cities, ahead of wider releases later this month." BBC Cinema News

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Ledger in line for Globes nomination

Tuesday Dec 13 10:39 AEDT

The New York Times has dubbed Heath Ledger's portrayal of a gay cowboy in Brokeback Mountain as equal to the greatest movie performances by Marlon Brando and Sean Penn.

The stunning endorsement, along with many other exceptional reviews, comes at a crucial time for the Australian and could carry him to the best actor Oscar at the Academy Awards on March 5.

The awards season has just begun in Hollywood, so studios are looking to build momentum for their hopefuls before the Oscars.

"Mr Ledger magically and mysteriously disappears beneath the skin of his lean, sinewy character," NY Times critic Stephen Holden wrote.

"It is a great screen performance, as good as the best of Marlon Brando and Sean Penn."

Another highly respected US film critic, Peter Travers, also bubbled about Ledger's portrayal of Ennis Del Mar, a Wyoming ranch hand who falls in love with another ranch hand, played by Jake Gyllenhaal.

"Ledger's magnificent performance is an acting miracle," Travers wrote.

"He seems to tear it from his insides. Ledger doesn't just know how Ennis moves, speaks and listens; he knows how he breathes.

"To see him inhale the scent of a shirt hanging in Jack's closet is to take measure of the pain of love lost."

Ledger's reviews for Brokeback Mountain are in contrast to the boos critics yelled at him for recent roles in Brothers Grimm and Ned Kelly.

Brokeback Mountain opened in selected cinemas in the US on Friday and is scheduled to open in Australia on January 26.

While the film has received some early support in minor awards, the first big test for Ledger comes on Wednesday when the Golden Globes nominations are announced.

Despite being judged by just 80 or so members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) - in comparison the Oscars are judged by about 6,000 voters - the Golden Globes are given enormous weight in Hollywood.

A Golden Globe nomination and win are used by the film studios and distributors to flog a film over the Christmas holidays.

A Golden Globe snub can halt a film or actor's Oscar campaign in its tracks.

Australia has three strong chances in the Globes' best actor in a drama category with Ledger, Eric Bana (Munich) and Russell Crowe (Cinderella Man).

Bana's Munich is directed by Steven Spielberg, a favourite of the HFPA and the Academy.

Munich, about the 1972 terrorist attack on the Munich Olympics which killed 11 Israeli athletes, is Spielberg's first heavy drama since 1993's Schindler's List, which won him a Globe and Oscar.

Bana plays an Israeli Mossad agent charged with tracking down and assassinating the Palestinian terrorists.

Viewers of early Munich screenings gave Bana's performance a mixed review and said it was nowhere near the quality of Ledger's performance.

Of great interest will be if Crowe gains a nod from Golden Globes voters.

The New Zealand-born actor's phone throwing incident in a Manhattan hotel foyer could cost him a Globe nomination and a chance to fire up his Oscar campaign.

Universal Pictures has not given up, filling major US newspapers with large ads plugging Crowe's role as Depression-era heavyweight boxing champion, James Braddock.

Naomi Watts is Australia's only strong chance for an actress nomination for King Kong.

Watts, playing the actress Ann Darrow who falls for a giant gorilla, gave a performance "played with heart and panache", according to the Chicago Tribune.

Other potential Australian Globes film nominees include Geoffrey Rush for his supporting role in Munich, Toni Collette for supporting actress in In Her Shoes, and Roger Donaldson for directing Anthony Hopkins in The World's Fastest Indian.

The Golden Globes also honour television.

Julian McMahon was nominated for best actor in a drama series last year for Nip/Tuck and this year is a strong chance to get another invite. He will likely face up with Without a Trace's Anthony LaPaglia.


┬йAAP 2005

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"Exclusive outtakes from our interview with movie star Jake GyllenhaalтАФwho plays a gay cowboy in Brokeback Mountain.
Bruce Shenitz

In the October issue of Out, we mentioned that there would be nude photos from Brokeback Mountain on Out.com. It turns out that these photos were unofficial, and thus cannot be placed on this Web site. We apologize for misleading any of the magazineтАЩs readers.

Two years ago, Out named Jake Gyllenhaal as тАЬHottest Straight Guy We Wish Was Gay.тАЭ Well, he hasnтАЩt jumped the fence, but he is playing a gay cowboy in the movie Brokeback Mountain, which opens in December. We profile Jake in our October issue, and below are exclusive outtakes from the interview, which took place in New York City.

This has been a busy year for you, with three major movies [Proof, Jarhead, and Brokeback Mountain] coming out. What are you doing in New York?

IтАЩve had the past couple of months off. I finished filming this movie Jarhead, and then I sort of took time off. IтАЩve been hanging out with my friends. I havenтАЩt really made it out to MarthaтАЩs Vineyard that often. I sort of grew up there. All my best friends grew up there. ItтАЩs a place we all go, or try to get back to wherever we are. IтАЩve grown up there.

Is it true you were a lifeguard there?

I was........"

Full article from OUT on: http://www.out.com/detail.asp?id=13941

I keep mispronouncing it "Bareback Mountain". It must be my Freudian slip.

[Smiles]

I keep mispronouncing it "Bareback Mountain". It must be my Freudian slip.
Me too!! :lol:
But I'm off to see it tonight. Review tomorrow.
LOTS of gay cowboys here in BC ... "they" have a huge travelling rodeo which moves into these parts every so often. It's my impression (not confirmed!) that those boys stuff their bandanas down the front of ridiculously tight Levis (actually "Wranglers" so I've been told) for some reason. These dudes don't know the meaning of "loose fitting".

Cheers ...

The lead on this thread is

Brokeback Mountain has phenomenal opening

Surely the lead

Heath Ledger has phenomenal opening

would have been more appropriate for a gay movie

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

I keep mispronouncing it "Bareback Mountain". It must be my Freudian slip.
You are perhaps think of Borodin's classic Night on Bare Mountain?

I keep mispronouncing it "Bareback Mountain". It must be my Freudian slip.
You are perhaps thinking of Borodin's classic Night on Bare Mountain?

Ten Degrees of Seperation:
Night on Bald (Bare) Mountain was written by Modest Moussorgsky (Not Alexander Borodin. Borodin wrote Prince Igor.). Modest is better known for the Sanitary Napkin named for him; after which was named a Duchess well known for baring her mountain.
However; Moussorgsky once spent a bare night on Borodin.
Nikolay (AKA: Nickle Lay; He only charged five cents--Times were tough.) Rimsky-Korsekov wrote an opera about that night: Le Coq d'Or, Choreography bu Michel Fokine. Fokine! Fokine? "No, just watching television!"

Leno tonight: Ang Lee's next movie is about two gay plumbers who fall in love.
It's called Buttcrack Mountain. :oops:

Night on Bald (Bare) Mountain was written by Modest Moussorgsky (Not Alexander Borodin. Borodin wrote Prince Igor.)
I stand corrected. Bald Mountain, eh? Must have been named after oneself. I do have a cousin who was deeply disappointed to find that Lord of the Rings was not a cinematic piece of gay pornography

[Smiles]

" ... It's called Buttcrack Mountain ... "
No wonder Hedda can't stand you Edith :lol: ... is nothing sacred!?

Anyway, damnit but I guess Vancouver is not the Gay Central I thought it was, the damn movie isn't even playing here yet. I was all set last night ... what a hick town.
Have to make do with the ads I guess ... here's one with a nice sideways bucking basket (on Heath Ledger). Not the greatest side-on of Jake ... he looks better up close & personal.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/sawatdeephotos/Images2/brokebackmtn.jpg

Nice play on "cowPOKE" in my opinion.

Cheers ...

I stand corrected. Bald Mountain, eh? Must have been named after oneself. I do have a cousin who was deeply disappointed to find that Lord of the Rings was not a cinematic piece of gay pornography

Sorry did not mean to differ: some translations say, "Bare," some say, "Bald." Therefore, you can say you have a piece (Of music) named for you. :D

BTW: One of 'those' rings was the only wedding band I ever had!...And the cheap SOB gave me an imitation (Unborn naugahide.) leather one! Not that I should complain: it was a double-ring ceremony--But mine had to be cut off: he was even to cheap to spring for one with snaps!...But he was a ten: divorce number ten. I dumped the other twenty-two. In South Dakota. A long drive but there's a lot of deep pits there.


PS:
Smiles, I didn't claim credit for Buttcrack Mountain--And, yes, nothing is sacred. Umm...Hedda?... Hedda who?

PPS:
There was an earlier gay cowboy movie--But maybe one had to be gay to spot the relationship between John Wayne & Montgomery Clift in Red River. (Though it's been told, those who worked with them spoted the off-screen 'goings on.')

A gay mag (Advocate?) ran an article claiming Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid were lovers--But after seeing their photos the first thing that came to mind was, 'Love would have to be blind!'
And then you turn the page--And there's a photo of the real-life Emma! Suddenly the story wasn't so ludicrous: that old broad could cook naked in a logging camp full of serial rapists!

From Late Night with David Letterman.

"Top Ten Rejected Titles For 'Brokeback Mountain'"

10. "Not-That-There's-Anything-Wrong-With-That Mountain"

9. "How The West Was Hung"

7. "For a Few Dollars More We Can Make It a Threesome"

6. "Go West, Young Man...Now South..A Little More To The South... Oh God, Yes! Right There!"

5. "Clint Eastwood's Nightmare"

4. "The Good, The Bad and The Fabulous!"

3. "Broke My Back Mounting Him"

2. "Oklahomo"

1. "Fun With Dick In James

"We didn't want to sit there and go through the motions. The rest was just convincing ourselves of the love and committing to it 100%. Anything less wouldn't have done justice to the story."
тАФHeath Ledger on his role
in Brokeback Mountain,
The Advocate, January 17, 2006

Some journals post early some post late.

We didn't want to sit there and go through the motions
Oh, so it's "scat" movie :lol:

Thats the type of movie for you Hominterm or whatever your ridicilous name is. A scat movie for a scat.

[RonanTheBarbarian]

Just back in from seeing Brokeback Mountain in Dublin tonight

When i heard about so many people being in tears at the end of the film I was a bit sceptical that I would be so affected, as i tend to be slow to be moved to tears.

But the tears were rolling down my face at the end of this film.

Most people who watched it exited the cinema in a daze, almost.

It was an almost entirely gay/lesbian audience and i think they were all hugely affected by what they saw.

It really is a must-see film if you are gay. I have never seen a film that treats a gay relationship like this, never mind one with major stars in it.

The Ennis character was frustrating to watch for most of the film due to his inability to show his feelings fully, and act on his genuine feelings, and the fact that he was so imprisoned by straight society.

But I think gay men (particularly older ones), will identify with that issue so well, and so much. Because even if we are pretty 'out' ourselves we all know people who are as much in their own prison of the closet as Ennis Del Mar.

And the film shows so well the pain that that situation causes for the men themselves, the men that love them, like Jack Twist, and also the women that might find themselves in the position of being married to them.


Do not miss the opportunity to see this film.

I believe it opens in Bangkok on February 14th.

Are there any scenes (nude, etc.) that might be censored out of this film when shown in BKK? I was dissappointed with the censorship in 'Kill Bill', which I saw first in the US, then took all my Thai friends to see here.

[Smiles]

Censorship in Kill Bill?

I first saw Kill Bill in Bangkok . . . loved it, and subsequently went to see it again when I arrived back in Canada (no censor!). I've also rented it on occasion to show friends. To my memory the movie was exactly the same in Bangkok as it was here .... no censoring of any kind that I could see.

Cheers ...

Just read: a Salt Lake City theatre owned by Utah Jazz owner has backed out of showing it. To make up for the loss, guess I'll have to see it twice. :D
Wonder what they will do re. Transamerica? :roll:

... banned in Utah. Shades of Advise & Consent

http://kutv.com/topstories/local_story_010140016.html

SALT LAKE CITY A gay and lesbian advocacy group is responding the recent decision to pull a film from several local theaters. Utah's Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center is asking Utahns to boycott businesses owned by Larry H. Miller. The response comes after Miller canceled the film ``Brokeback Mountain.'' The R-rated film about Western gay romance was supposed to open Friday at the Jordan Commons Megaplex in Sandy. The group says treating homosexual people as "controversial'' is a bad business move. They're now asking Utah residents to not patronize businesses owned by Miller. They include Delta Center, Megaplex Theaters and several auto dealerships.

Vote on the link above. At the time of writing 52% agree with pulling the film!! VOTE!!!

Is this film going to show in thailand and if so ,when?

It's a pity that the audience seems predominantely gay/lesbian. The producers had aimed it for a straight female audience.

The acting by Michelle Williams (Ennis' wife) and Anne Hathaway (Jack's wife) is also superb. Their character development is so well told by their faces.

There is really very little reason for Asian censors to cut, though I couldn't be surprised if the critical 2 scenes - of sex in the tent - meet with disfavour. But if they cut them then the core of the story is lost. After all, Jake and Ennis never really discuss their sexual relationship verbally. If you don't see it, you won't know they had a sexual thing going. So if the censors snip those scenes, the story is as good as gone.

Religious leaders are "Outraged" (Surely one of today's ten most overused words...right after awesome.) that Brokeback was nominated for eight Academy Awards. Naturally; they didn't say which religious leaders?...The Terribly Tired Three: Pat Roberts'ass :clown: , Jerry Fartsmell :joker: and Popeye Ratsass the diddlysquat, :santa: one might guess--And I'll bet it's been such a long time since any of them have been to a movie, they don't realize they (Garbo Speaks!) talk now.

:idea:
Suggestion...to make it all okay: Remove the music soundtrack; substitute:
Mothers, Don't Let Your Sons Grow Up To Be Cowboys. :sex:

[Doug]

My god! This review brought tears to my eves.

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/18712

[Smiles]

" . . . тАЬBrokeback MountainтАЭ has grossed US$32.1 million . . . "

. . . and a big money-maker as well (and not finished yet by any means) for Mr Ang Lee and the studio: "Brokeback Mountain" was filmed in the Alberta foothills in the shadows of the eastern Rockies at a cost of 15 million dollars.

I saw Brokeback last week . . . enjoyed it immensely, and also savoured one scene filmed with Ennis & Jack sitting together in the quiet evening beside a quiet lake, with the steep sides of Mt. Rundle as the background: somewhere just outside Banff.



Mt Rundle. Not sure if this is the lake where the scene was shot, but it could well be ... the angle seems close to that in the film.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/sawatdeephotos/Images/MtRundle_page.jpg

Cheers ...