Ang Lee’s cult film, The Secret of Brokeback Mountain, was released in France in January 2006. Twenty years after its release, a look back at the thwarted story of this romantic drama as gay as it is unmissable.
Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Joaquin Phoenix, Matt Damon… They all said no to Brokeback Mountain. We are at the end of the 1990s, and among Hollywood actors, no one wants to talk about this love story between two cowboys. Who could risk their career by lending their name to such a project? If the era is no longer about caricatured depictions of virile heroes, the weight of homophobic prejudices still weighs heavily.
Today, Ang Lee’s masterpiece, whose 20th anniversary is being celebrated, remains one of the greatest gay romances ever told on screen. A major turning point for the representation of queer people in mainstream cinema. More than a passion in the high Wyoming plains, The Secret of Brokeback Mountain is above all the story of an anomaly in the Hollywood system. A miracle that could have never happened.
A Long Struggle
At the origin of the film is a short story written by Annie Proulx and published in the pages of the New Yorker in 1997. It recounts, over two decades, the secret and forbidden liaison between two men, Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist, tasked with tending a herd of sheep in the mountains. When screenwriters Diana Ossana and Larry McMurtry buy the rights to adapt it for the cinema, they do not realize a long battle strewn with obstacles awaits them.
The duo knocks on every door for several years, in vain. The HBO network even urges them to modify the story to transform it into a heterosexual relationship. The cult director Gus Van Sant, author of My Own Private Idaho, initially shows enthusiasm for the project, but ultimately gives up in the face of refusals from all the stars of the moment. “I should have cast unknown actors, but I wasn’t ready,” he would admit years later.
“I believe that The Secret of Brokeback Mountain brought me back to life and gave me back my love for cinema.” Ang Lee
Other gay filmmakers expressed interest, such as Joel Schumacher and Pedro Almodóvar. The Spaniard wanted to make his first English-language feature and then refused, discouraged by the language barrier and the lack of sex. Then the script fell into the hands of the Taiwanese Ang Lee. The director, who was considering quitting his career, finally agrees to direct the film. “I believe that The Secret of Brokeback Mountain brought me back to life and gave me back my love for cinema,” he reveals to Deadline. If I still make films today, it’s thanks to this one.
He, in turn, faces multiple rejections before meeting Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, two young actors already established. The actors are very protective of the story, especially Heath Ledger. At a Berlinale press conference in 2006, the actor — who died in 2008 — responds to those who deem the film “disgusting”: “We are not talking about an epidemic, a virus or something that can be treated in a hospital. We show that love between two men is just as contagious, intense and pure as heterosexual love.”
From its presentation at the Venice Film Festival, where it swept the Golden Lion, The Secret of Brokeback Mountain makes waves like a tidal surge. The passion between Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist captivates critics as much as audiences and transcends the issue of sexual orientation. “The theaters were full because everyone was curious,” recalls screenwriter Diana Ossana to the New York Times. “When the sex scene arrived, you could see some people stand up and leave. At the end of the film, no one moved. They remained glued to their seats until the lights came back on.”
A Revolution in Hollywood
Several months after its release, the film earns the equivalent of 13 times its budget and asserts itself as one of the greatest queer cinema successes in history. In Hollywood, homosexuality suddenly becomes a profitable topic. What was taboo a few years earlier becomes a boon for actors. Straight stars increasingly seize gay roles that have become “award-winning roles,” such as Sean Penn in the biopic Harvey Milk (2008), Colin Firth in A Single Man (2009), or Jared Leto in Dallas Buyers Club (2013).
Nominated eight times and rewarded with three Oscars, The Secret of Brokeback Mountain nevertheless loses the Best Picture statuette to Collision by Paul Haggis. This defeat is a shock and sparks its own little scandal. “I imagine tolerance had reached its limit,” Ang Lee said on the matter. Several members of the Academy publicly opposed his victory, others even refused to see it.
This was the case for Tony Curtis – father of actress Jamie Lee Curtis and known for his role in Some Like It Hot with Marilyn Monroe. He revealed to Fox News that his colleagues of the time, such as John Wayne, “would not have liked that” before adding: “This film is not as important as people think.” It would take more than ten years, in 2017, to see a queer love story crowned Best Picture with Moonlight by Barry Jenkins.
The Price of Fame
After success comes the downside. By undermining the cowboy archetype, a strong symbol of American masculinity, The Secret of Brokeback Mountain pays a heavy price and becomes the target of mockery in all forms. Talk-show hosts, on-stage comics, online parodies and in cinema… Everyone has their little joke. A deeply ingrained homophobia re-emerges and reduces this universally shared love story to the worst clichés.
Yet time has proven its worth, and the labels did not undermine its real impact. The story of Ennis and Jack continues to have many adherents — a fan forum, created at the time of release, remains active on the web! Among the film’s greatest admirers is Jonathan Bailey, an openly gay actor who recently again expressed his love for Ang Lee’s work.
Still censored in some countries — Russia banned it from streaming platforms in 2024 — The Secret of Brokeback Mountain continues to inspire. A stage play adapted from the novella appeared in 2023 with Lucas Hedges (Boy Erased) and Mike Faist (Challengers). As for Pedro Almodóvar, he finally managed to realize his gay western the same year with Strange Way of Life, a searing short that reunites Pedro Pascal and Ethan Hawke. A move the filmmaker describes as “a response to Brokeback Mountain.”
