Heath Ledger Refused To Do This In “Brokeback Mountain” And Other Behind-The-Scenes Details
Controversial at the time yet beloved in retrospect, Brokeback Mountain is now remembered as a landmark moment in modern cinema. Remarkable both for bringing a story of LGBTQ+ romance into the mainstream and as an essential part of Heath Ledger's legacy, this tragic love story still resonates as strongly with audiences as it did in 2005.
But while Brokeback Mountain has meant a great deal to so many cinephiles since its release, there are layers to its importance that could only be explored from behind the scenes. And those layers make it clear that it meant just as much to the people who made it in powerful and sometimes surprising ways.
Jake Gyllenhaal was excited from the very beginning
As Gyllenhaal told The Hollywood Reporter a decade after Brokeback Mountain's release, he couldn't wait to get started when he first read through the script. In his words, "It's one of the most beautiful scripts I’ve ever read, and it was Ang Lee, and at the time, Heath was a friend of mine — before we even shot the movie — and always sort of alluring to me."
As filming progressed, he also mentioned that one aspect of Jack Twist he found particularly fascinating was how much more comfortable with his orientation he was than Ledger's character, Ennis. As he said, "And I didn't really realize that. And that was an interesting journey for me, giving in to that idea. Being the one who tries to push the relationship."
Michelle Williams and Heath Ledger fell in love on-set
Although everyone involved knew they were telling a story of love, it's hard to imagine them predicting that a romantic love of its own would blossom on set. And according to Vogue, it started with an accident that saw Williams dislocate her knee in a scene where she fell off a toboggan. Specifically, with how Ledger reacted as the crew awaited her transport to the hospital.
As screenwriter Diana Ossana said, "Heath was not about to let her go alone, and as he was getting into the vehicle with her, he was smoothing her hair back. I remember him looking at her, and she looking up at him with these wide eyes. She was almost startled by the attention he was giving her, but you could see it every day from thereon. For him, it was truly love at first sight. He was so taken with her."
Heath Ledger was a natural during the scenes with animals
Jake Gyllenhaal told The Hollywood Reporter that one of the most challenging aspects of his performance came when he had to work with animals. As he described it, he didn't quite have the knack for making horses comfortable with his presence, especially when he tried to get on them.
As he told it, this was in direct contrast to Heath Ledger's easy feelings with the horse he rode. In Gyllenhaal's words, "Heath, you know, would walk up to a horse and could like silence the horse. Just literally, he'd be like, 'Shh. Shh.’ And then he’d get on the horse."
Heath Ledger took the role on Naomi Watts's advice
According to an interview with Tribute Magazine, Ledger's biggest concern going into Brokeback Mountain was that he was neither mature enough as a person nor as an actor to do the story justice. Over time, he learned to take this responsibility as a rewarding challenge rather than being intimidated by it.
But it's hard to know whether he would have been able to reach that confidence in himself without Naomi Watts. Although New York Magazine reported that he and Watts broke up shortly before he began filming, she had been passionate in encouraging him to take on the role of Ennis Del Mar.
It was a career risk for both leading actors
Although Brokeback Mountain's acclaim would see both Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger secure Oscar nominations, that wasn't the expected result when the actors signed on to the project. In fact, Gyllenhaal recalled his industry peers being baffled that he would take the risk of playing a gay character.
In a quote obtained by Business Insider, he said, "Part of the medicine of storytelling is that we were two straight guys playing these parts. There was a stigma about playing a part like that, you know, why would you do that? And I think it was very important to both of us to break that stigma."
It took eight years to make Brokeback Mountain
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Diana Ossana explained how arduous the process of getting her script for Brokeback Mountain made into an actual movie was. From the sounds of it, the hardest part was finding lead actors and a director who was willing to commit to the project. She described the pre-production process as featuring a seemingly revolving door of "prominent young actors" getting involved with the project, only to drop out soon after.
She faced similar struggles finding a director, as the script was sent to Edward Norton, Gus Van Sant, and Joel Schumacher before Ang Lee signed on. In Ossana's words, "They all came back saying they loved it, but no one would commit. They didn't give us any real excuse why they wouldn’t. I guess they saw it as too difficult."
Heath Ledger refused to take part in an Oscars joke about it
According to E! News, the 2007 Academy Awards was supposed to feature an opening that poked fun at Jack and Ennis's relationship in Brokeback Mountain. Although Gyllenhaal recalled being amenable to the idea because he figured it was all in good fun, Ledger refused because he believed the movie wasn't a joking matter.
As Gyllenhaal put it, "That's the thing I loved about Heath. He would never joke. Someone wanted to make a joke about the story or whatever, he was like, 'No. This is about love. Like, that's it, man. Like, no.'"
Heath Ledger was not the studio's first choice
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Brokeback Mountain was supposed to star Matt Damon and Joaquin Phoenix when it seemed likely that Gus Vant Sant was going to direct it. But even after this fell through, Ledger was decidedly not who Focus Features wanted to cast as Ennis Del Mar.
Although Mark Wahlberg was also considered at one point, Diana Ossana mentioned that an unnamed actor had signed on for about six months before dropping out. Before this person was attached, Ossana said that she and her co-writer Larry McMurtry had long wanted Ledger to play Ennis, but the studio was under the impression that he wasn't "macho" enough. However, she and McMurty got her wish once the studio's first choice left the project.
Daniel Day-Lewis dedicated a SAG award to Heath Ledger
On January 27, 2008, Daniel Day-Lewis took the stage at the 14th annual Screen Actor's Guild Awards to accept an award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role for his performance in There Will Be Blood.
During his speech, he credited Ledger as one of his fellow actors who reinvigorated his love for his craft. Although he mentioned Ledger's performance in Monster's Ball, he specifically described the younger actor's final scene in Brokeback Mountain as "as moving as anything I think I've ever seen." With that in mind, he dedicated his award to Ledger's memory.
Anne Hathaway was dressed unusually for her audition
As People reported, Hathaway was supposed to meet Ang Lee on the Universal lot to audition for the part of Lureen Newsome. However, she was already there at the time to film The Princess Diaries 2. Specifically, she was filming her character's coronation scene. This meant that she was dressed in an elaborate ball gown and wearing an ostentatious hairpiece.
Although she had time to put on jeans and a flannel shirt before she hopped in a golf cart and drove over to the meeting place, the hairpiece had to remain. As she said, "I remember being very, very calm, which is unusual for me under any circumstances, especially at 21. I just felt so centered and focused, and in a way like a predator: I knew what I wanted."
Heath Ledger nearly broke his hand in an emotional scene
According to People, Anne Hathaway told a tale from behind the scenes that featured an unexpected acting choice from Ledger in the scene after Jack drives away from Ennis, leading the latter to fall on his knees in an alleyway from heartbreak.
As she described the scene, "The plan was for him to put his face against the wall – that's what the shot was supposed to be – and he just wound up punching the brick." This horrified the crew because the wall was made of genuine bricks, and Ledger severely injured his hand in the process.
Heath Ledger almost broke Jake Gyllenhaal's nose
According to Digital Spy, Ledger and Gyllenhaal got rough enough during one of their scenes together that the Australian actor almost broke his co-star's nose. However, it wasn't during any of the scenes where their characters fought, but a love scene.
As Gyllenhaal explained, "Heath almost broke my nose in a kissing scene. He grabs me, and he slams me up against the wall and kisses me. And then I grab him, and I slam him up against the wall, and I kiss him. And we were doing take after take after take."
China banned Brokeback Mountain
As The Guardian reported, Chinese censors banned Brokeback Mountain from all cinemas within the nation for the story's exploration of homosexuality, which they considered a "sensitive topic." Although the government had no longer prohibited gay relationships by the time the film came out, it nonetheless continued to censor discussions or depictions of said relationships in media.
Curiously, this didn't stop the state-run newspaper China Daily from celebrating Ang Lee's directing Oscar despite the fact that it was for a movie nobody was allowed to see there. As the paper stated, "Ang Lee is the pride of Chinese people all over the world, and he is the glory of Chinese cinematic talent."
Michelle Williams got into character in an unorthodox way
One pivotal scene in Brokeback Mountain sees Williams' character, Alma, walk in on Jack and Ennis while they're kissing. Given that she's married to Ennis by this point in the story, she feels shocked and betrayed by what her husband has secretly been doing.
This was a reaction that Williams apparently struggled to portray, so E! News reported that she asked Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger to kiss each other off-camera for her so she could practice it. It helped that she was as romantically involved with Ledger as her character was with his by that point.
One critic's review drew serious ire from GLAAD
According to TV Guide, film critic Gene Shalit wrote a review of Brokeback Mountain in which he described Jack Twist as engaging in predatory behavior throughout his relationship with Ennis. This led him to characterize Jack in terms that proved offensive to the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.
In response, Shalit apologized, saying, "In describing the behavior of Jack, I used words 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." The apology was accepted.
Anne Hathaway lied about her horseriding abilities
According to Vulture, Hathaway's parents had advised her to say she could do anything when asked during an audition because they believed anything could be learned in two weeks. So, when she was asked if she could ride a horse, she said yes before quietly taking riding lessons before filming started.
But while she honed her skills, she'd soon learn that her Achilles Heel was a horse that only responded to vocal commands. In her words, "I went to a rehearsal in front of 300 extras, all of whom work in rodeos, and the horse wouldn't do a damn thing I wanted it to. And at the end, it threw me — in front of everyone."
Randy Quaid sued Brokeback Mountain's producers
According to the CBC, Randy Quaid sued James Schamus and David Linde of Focus Features for what he alleged was "intentional and negligent misrepresentation" of the movie's commercial prospects. Since he took a pay cut on the basis that the movie was a low-budget affair that was unlikely to make money, he felt the producers were intentionally downplaying the film's commercial chances to pay him less.
Two months later, however, The Guardian reported that Quaid dropped his $10 million suit, claiming he had reached a settlement with Focus Features. The company was apparently puzzled by this, as a representative said that no deal had even been negotiated, let alone reached. Nonetheless, the producers weren't exactly complaining about this abrupt closure of the matter.
Brokeback Mountain had some odd sheep problems
Since the only reason Jack and Ennis meet in Brokeback Mountain is a shared sheep-herding job, the animals are an important part of the story. However, Ang Lee heard sheep drink from running water and wanted to get a shot of this, only to learn the hard way that they vastly prefer still water. As he said, "I don't know! I’m not a cowboy."
Yet, HuffPost reported that the biggest problem was getting the sheep on location in the first place. This was because wildlife authorities in Alberta, Canada, fought their desire to bring hundreds of domestic sheep into the province's high mountains due to the risk of spreading a potentially fatal bronchial disease to local wildlife. Although they relented, this was on the condition that the film crew accept their choice of mountain, designated wildlife biologist, and counted each sheep while moving them out during each filming day.
Ang Lee almost quit movies before Brokeback Mountain
According to HuffPost, Lee was exhausted by the process of making, selling, and promoting his movies shortly before he signed on to Brokeback Mountain. Indeed, his journeys in bringing Hulk and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to life took such a toll that he thought about retiring entirely.
However, Lee didn't want his last film to be a movie about anger, which was central to the very nature of Hulk. So when he found out Brokeback Mountain was still yet to be made, that seemed like a fitting coda. As he said, "I thought somebody did it already. Then, one day, I was just asking James [Schamus], 'How did that movie turn out?' And he said, ‘No, it’s not made yet.’ So I said, ‘Huh…'" Of course, this wouldn't turn out to be his final film either.
Lee found an inventive way past love scene awkwardness
When it came time to film the scenes where Jack and Ennis get intimate, Lee told Variety that it was hard for both him and the cast not to be shy about it. To counteract this shyness, Lee set up a complicated shot list with 13 points of focus. Although the first take was rough, it got easier each time.
As Lee put it, "I made it technical so that no one would think about anything else except hitting their marks. Once we got past the first take, nobody was shy anymore. We tried to make it as real and compelling as possible, and they were very professional." By the 13th take, they had it down pat, so that's the one that made it to the movie.
Anne Hathaway was originally supposed to be Alma
In an interview with Out Magazine, Hathaway shared that when she first received the Brokeback Mountain script, there was a note encouraging her to try out for Ennis's eventual wife, Alma. However, as she said, "And I read the script, and was, of course, blown away by it, but I remember thinking, Alma's not my part-I'm Lureen."
Yet, while nobody expected to see her that way, both Lee and she agreed that her read-through was strong enough to confirm her for the part beyond the shadow of a doubt. In her words, "People were struggling to see me as anything other than a Disney princess at the time, so to get the endorsement from Ang made me realize that maybe I could take this a bit further."
Brokeback Mountain's release schedule was rare at the time
Nowadays, it's not exactly unheard of for a movie to be released in theaters around the same time it hits streaming. However, it was much rarer for a movie's theatrical release to overlap with its DVD release in 2005. Yet, that's what happened with Brokeback Mountain.
According to 9News, this wasn't some ambitious strategy but rather a consequence of the film's unexpected success. After all, the movie's eight Oscar nominations and three wins powered its momentum far enough that its theatrical run was extended into its scheduled DVD release.
Brokeback Mountain shattered records for its studio
Although it was clear that Brokeback Mountain was both a surprise hit and a massive cultural phenomenon in 2005, even those who were there at the time may not appreciate just how big it was. Indeed, almost an entire generation before Focus Features saw a hit that big again.
According to Deadline, the movie would be their highest-grossing release (at least domestically) and set a record that stood for about 13 years. The record was finally broken by the film adaptation of Downton Abbey in 2019.
Crash's Oscar win over Brokeback Mountain was an upset
According to The Guardian, Ang Lee had expected Brokeback Mountain to take home the Oscar for Best Picture at the 2006 Academy Awards, as it had racked up awards in every major ceremony leading up to that night. So when Crash won instead, he admitted to feeling both shocked and disappointed.
He wasn't alone. According to Entertainment Weekly, those same sentiments reverberated through film circles, with the typical explanation being that Oscar voters went with the "Safe" pick in Crash. The decision was especially puzzling in light of Brokeback Mountain's Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Director wins that year. It's no surprise that even presenter Jack Nicholson couldn't seem to believe what he was reading.
Brokeback Mountain took a little inspiration for its poster
Although Brokeback Mountain would prove a success, that was hard to predict because it was the largest LGBTQ+ romance of its time. And while NPR noted that the film relied heavily on word-of-mouth from the gay community, the producers had a couple of other tricks up their sleeves.
And one of the most obvious tactics, in retrospect, came down to the poster's design. When they're compared side-by-side like this, it's clear that the way Jack and Ennis are positioned on the movie's poster closely resembles how Jack and Rose appear on the poster for Titanic.
South Park predicted Brokeback Mountain 7 years early
The 1998 South Park episode "Chef's Chocolate Salty Balls" sees Cartman attend the Sundance Film Festival. While there, he repeatedly remarks that the independent film world at large can be summarized as movies about "gay cowboys eating pudding." When Brokeback Mountain came out seven years later, an interviewer from Today asked creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone if they were prophets.
While they wouldn't go that far, their observations of Sundance's offerings during the mid-to-late '90s suggested that a film like Brokeback Mountain was likely on the horizon. However, as Parker put it, "If there's pudding eating in there, we’re going to sue." Fortunately, Brokeback Mountain didn't involve any pudding.
Jake Gyllenhaal is the godfather to Heath Ledger's child
Although Michelle Williams and Heath Ledger broke up before his passing, their whirlwind on-set romance led them to have a child together. And when their daughter Matilda Rose was born, it was clear how much Ledger's other Brokeback Mountain co-stars meant to him as well.
According to Heath Ledger - His Beautiful Life and Mysterious Death by John McShane, this was so true that Ledger named Gyllenhaal Matilda's godfather. As Gyllenhaal later joked, "Heath and I made love, and they end up having a baby."
Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger's acting styles clashed
Although Gyllenhaal and Ledger got along famously on the set of Brokeback Mountain, Lee recalled that there was some creative friction between them due to the major difference in their acting styles. As the director told Salon, Ledger prepared heavily for his role and remained so dedicated to embodying Ennis that he kept his teeth clenched and face scrunched up like his for two months.
By comparison, Gyllenhaal was more prone to improvizing and keeping his performance loose. And this clash was particularly noticeable on one day of filming when Ledger noticed Gyllenhaal going off-script. As Lee put it, "Heath just got really upset—really upset like his whole progress was disrupted."
Michelle Williams was almost instantly cast as Alma
According to HuffPost, Williams had a tough time in Hollywood prior to her casting in Brokeback Mountain, as most people within the industry saw her as Jen Lindley on Dawson's Creek. And with Ang Lee auditioning between 20 and 30 women for what would become hers and Anne Hathaway's parts, her fate in the movie seemed uncertain.
To give herself an edge, Williams leaned heavily on her Montana roots when she first met Lee. However, it turned out that her attempts to sell herself were more unnecessary than she realized. As Lee recalled, "She walked in. I was like, 'Yes,' before she even read."
Heath Ledger subtly gave Ennis a limp
As Anne Hathaway later told Salon, Ledger apparently decided that Ennis had suffered an accident in his past that left him with a limp. Although he didn't discuss this backstory with his fellow castmates, it all came out when they noticed him walking that way.
In Hathaway's words, "It was so subtle, and it looked like he'd had this limp for about four years, and I just remember looking at Heath in that moment, and thinking, That is one of the greatest actors that has ever been."
