Jake Gyllenhall and Heath Ledger both received high praise for their roles in Brokeback Mountain but they wen’t the first choice for the roles. Several actors turned down playing Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar before the film finally made it to cinemas.
The film was eventually directed by Ang Lee and won three Academy Awards from eight nominations. Before Lee came on board to direct the movie spent years in development and originally Gus Van Sant was planning to direct the film.
Van Sant shared in a recent interview with the IndieWire that many well known actors turned down the opportunity to be in the film.
“Nobody wanted to do it,” Van Sant said. “I was working on it, and I felt like we needed a really strong cast, like a famous cast. That wasn’t working out. I asked the usual suspects: Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Ryan Phillippe. They all said no.”
Actor Matt Damon has publicly commented on the role before, saying it was one of his greatest regrets that he passed on the film.
In 2007 Damon told Entertainment Weekly that he was concerned about being type cast in gay roles.
“Years ago, Gus Van Sant wanted to do it with me and Joaquin Phoenix. But I was on my way to Italy to do The Talented Mr. Ripley and then All the Pretty Horses. And Gus wanted to do Brokeback right after. And I was like, ‘Gus, I’m going to do a gay movie, then a cowboy movie. I can’t follow it up with a gay-cowboy movie!’’’
Earlier in his career Van Sant wrote and directed My Own Private Idaho which starred River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves. At the time both actors were warned that gay roles could be damaging to their careers.
Van Sant also revealed that he had been approached to direct Call Me By Your Name.
OIP Staff
/
