“Brokeback Mountain” dropping Greatest Image to “Crash” on the 78th Academy Awards in 2006 is usually cited as one of the vital egregious Oscar snubs of all time. Twenty years later, “Brokeback Mountain” co-writer and producer Diana Ossana nonetheless remembers the sting of dropping and the second she realized the prize would evade her.
Talking to the New York Instances for the movie‘s twentieth anniversary, Ossana, who co-wrote the script with Larry McMurtry, stated she noticed entrenched homophobia in direction of Ang Lee’s movie from a few of Hollywood’s elite. She recalled attending a celebration at “Crash” director Paul Haggis’ home and being excited to fulfill Clint Eastwood, who had loved his personal Oscars sweep the earlier yr for “Million Greenback Child,” solely to be informed that the Western icon hadn’t watched her cowboy film.
“Paul began strolling me over and he goes, ‘Diana, I’ve to inform you, he hasn’t seen your film.’ And it was like any person kicked me within the abdomen,” Ossana stated. “That’s after I knew we’d not win Greatest Image. Individuals need to deny [that homophobia was a factor in the Oscar race], however what else may it have been? We’d gained the whole lot up till then.”
Ossana went on to clarify that the movie’s rollout gave her a singular perch from which to view America’s evolving perspective on homosexual rights in 2005. Whereas watching the film in theaters, she was capable of observe the occasional discomfort folks felt in direction of homosexual intercourse scenes, even because the movie’s storytelling largely overpowered these biases and captivated audiences.
“The theaters have been all packed as a result of all people was so inquisitive about this film,” she stated. “And when the intercourse scene between the boys got here on, you’d see some folks received up and left, however not very many. On the finish of the movie no person would depart. They might simply sit there nailed to their seats till the lights got here on, and there can be folks crying.”
Anybody who missed the possibility to see “Brokeback Mountain” on the large display in 2005 now has a chance to witness it for themselves, because the movie is presently taking part in in theaters courtesy of a twentieth anniversary re-release from Focus Options.
