Brokeback Mountain co-writer Diana Ossana has said she realized the film wouldn’t win Best Picture at the Oscars after a key interaction with Clint Eastwood.
The 2005 groundbreaking film, starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal as two cowboys who develop a romantic relationship, famously lost Best Picture at that year’s Oscars to Paul Haggis’s 2004 film Crash, despite being a frontrunner throughout awards season.
The Moment Ossana Knew
Speaking to The New York Times, Ossana recalled attending an Oscar-nominee party after voting had ended, where Crash director Paul Haggis shared a crucial piece of information:
“Paul started walking me over and he goes, ‘Diana, I have to tell you, he hasn’t seen your movie,’” Ossana said.
“And it was like somebody kicked me in the stomach. That’s when I knew we would not win Best Picture.”
Awards Success, But Not at the Oscars
Despite the Academy loss, Brokeback Mountain was widely successful and collected major awards including:
Golden Globes – Best Motion Picture (Drama)
BAFTAs – Best Film
Oscars:
Best Adapted Screenplay (Diana Ossana and Larry McMurtry)
Best Director (Ang Lee)
Best Original Score (Gustavo Santaolalla)
Did Homophobia Cost Brokeback the Win?
Ossana firmly believes homophobia in Hollywood contributed to the Best Picture loss:
“People want to deny that, but what else could it have been? We’d won everything up until then.”
At the time, several Academy voters—including Ernest Borgnine and Tony Curtis—publicly refused to watch the film.
“I absolutely think that block of voters kept this movie from winning Best Picture,” she said.
Audience Reaction Across America
To gauge public response, Ossana traveled to cinemas in Missouri, South Dakota, and Colorado when the film opened:
“The theatres were all packed because everybody was so curious about this movie,” she said.
“When the sex scene between the boys came on, you’d see some people got up and left, but not very many. At the end of the film, nobody would leave. They would just sit there nailed to their seats until the lights came on, and there would be people crying.”
Ang Lee: “Your Guess Is As Good As Mine”
Director Ang Lee, who won Best Director for the film, shared his confusion in a recent Deadline interview:
“Your guess is as good as mine.”
“There are times when I feel like there’s an unlimited willingness to watch the movie. There’s so much love for it. Generally, you feel like it’s a breakthrough, that it broke all barriers. People seem to melt down. And you cannot even define it as gay cinema. It’s not gay cinema, right? It’s a love story.”
Best Picture Contenders in 2006
Other nominees in the Best Picture category that year included:
Good Night, and Good Luck (George Clooney) – Recently adapted for Broadway
Capote – Starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman
Munich – Directed by Steven Spielberg
Crash – Directed by Paul Haggis (Winner)
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