Brokeback Moutain - Freaking Out the Right

[YouWantitWhen????]

Posted: 11/7/05 at 1:19am

The Righties are all freaked out that a movie with gay cowboys might actually be nominated/win and Oscar.

From Drudge:

"HOLLYWOOD ROCKED: 'GAY COWBOY' MOVIE BECOMES AN OSCAR FRONTRUNNER

Arriving with nudity and explicit gay sex scenes between two cowboys, UNIVERSAL/FOCUS FILMS's BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN has quietly become an award season frontrunner, interviews with Academy members reveal.

"It could very well be the last film standing at this year's Oscars," a top Hollywood producer not associated with the film explained from Hollywood.

"There was not a dry eye in the house at the screening at Telluride [Film Festival in Colorado]," says the producer, who asked not to be named out of respect for the cast and crew of the producer's own Oscar contender. "Watch it come out of the gate at the Golden Globes with super controversy."

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS critic Jack Mathews predicts the gay cowboy movie, which takes place in Wyoming, may be "too much for red-state audiences, but it gives the liberal-leaning Academy a great chance to stick its thumb in conservatives' eyes."

Director Ang Lee's movie staring Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger won the Golden Lion, the top prize at the Venice Film Festival earlier this fall.

But will a movie even Madonna calls "shocking" sit with the heartland?

Playwright and lifelong Wyomingite tells the STAR-TRIBUNE of Casper this week that she has never encountered a gay cowboy, and doesn't think it's right for Hollywood to portray Wyoming as a state with gay cowboys.

Her message to the writers of BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN: “Don't try and take what we had, which was wonderful -- the cowboys that settled the state and made it what it was -- don't ruin that image... There's nothing better than plain old cowboys and the plain old history without embellishing it to suit everyone."

Meanwhile, Michell Howard of the state's Travel and Tourism Division says her agency is already hearing a buzz that people in other countries are expressing interest in visiting Wyoming because of the film.

“It's gotten rave reviews from the international community,” she said. “I don't know if they're more tolerant or something, but they're viewing it as a great Western movie.”

Developing...

GAY COWBOYS - THE RIGHT IS FREAKING OUT! Updated On: 11/7/05 at 01:19 AM

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 11/7/05 at 1:35am

I guess it was too much to hope for that this wouldnt happen.

It just bothers me that the movie will be looked at as "controversial" and "an eff u to the right". It seems like it's so much more than that.

[YouWantitWhen????]

Posted: 11/7/05 at 1:39am

Even if it was nominated or won on merit alone, which it probably will, the right in this country could never acknowledge that art might involve themes that make them really uncomfortable. They would most likely perceive it as a direct attack or a vast left-wing conspirary to corrupt the moral fiber of our society. Because goodness knows, values are something those honest, God-fearing war mongers currently in power clearly understand and respect.


Updated On: 11/7/05 at 01:39 AM

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 11/7/05 at 1:48am

Oh there was no way this film was going to avoid controversy. And it hasn't even started yet. We're going to have the Christian Coalition out and Rush Limbaugh and all the usual jokers screaming against the "gay" cowboy flick.

But Druge has a very valid point when he talks about the left promoting the film in spite of the right. This year the liberal Oscar voters might have justified reason for "flipping off" the conversative right wing -- especially if the film really is one of the best of the year.
Updated On: 11/7/05 at 01:48 AM

[YouWantitWhen????]

Posted: 11/7/05 at 1:54am

I have a feeling it will do well in the Coasts and some major cities, but can already see the picket lines forming for any theaters tryng to show it in middle America.

Even here in LA there was morning radio station that was giving the whole idea of a gay-themed Western grief. The female host just kept going on about not wanting to watch two men kissing. It was kind of surprising, because the show has a decent sized gay following. (At least based upon callers to the show).

But, controversy sells. I can just see Rush and Fox News going rabid over the film. Kind of might make a great piece of reality TV - the right goes wild - clips of reactions to Brokeback Mountain.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 11/7/05 at 2:53am

I actually would be very curious to see the release schedule for this film. It wouldn't surprise me if they held it in select cities for a long time and avoided certain markets almost entirely.

That would actually be a brilliant marketing move. Don't open the movie at all in the bible belt, and let the controversy shift to censorship.

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 11/7/05 at 3:17am

"Oh there was no way this film was going to avoid controversy."

You're right, but I guess I was hoping it wouldnt really start until the movie was out.

Updated On: 11/7/05 at 03:17 AM

[cturtle]

Posted: 11/7/05 at 6:52am

all i can say is i'm very eager to see it. may it arrive in theatres soon.

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 11/7/05 at 7:14am

Madonna called it "Shocking", well what ever sells that girls cd's..

[PalJoey]

Posted: 11/7/05 at 8:23am

I love that one of them said "I'm sure those cowboys got lonely and carried away, but that doesn't make them GAY!"

[YouWantitWhen????]

Posted: 11/7/05 at 10:29am

And here is what Madonna really said, because we know that Druge would never take anything out of context. She did say the word "shocking", but in a little different way:

"MADONNA HAILS 'BRAVE' GYLLENHAAL AND LEDGER


Superstar MADONNA has hailed "brave" Hollywood hunks JAKE GYLLENHAAL and HEATH LEDGER for portraying gay cowboys in their forthcoming movie BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN.

Madonna was treated to an early screening of the ANG LEE-directed movie, by one of the movie's producers, and is delighted the actors have taken on such controversial roles.

The MATERIAL GIRL enthuses to British gay magazine Attitude, "I loved it. Shocking. Surprising. The guy who financed my movie did that too. He's a very mild mannered chap from Minnesota and we'd just screened the latest cut of my film and he asked if I wanted to see it.

"I was thinking, 'OK, this really square, straight guy,' and he showed me this movie. It's amazing.

"They're really good those boys and they did a great job. It's very brave of them."




MADONNA HAILS 'BRAVE' GYLLENHAAL AND LEDGER

[lildogs]

Posted: 11/7/05 at 10:40am

I'm not sure who the playwright and longtime Wyomingite is, but is she insane? Is she talking proudly of the same cowboys who killed American Indians and decimated the bison population? It's a work of fiction, sweetie, just like your revisionist history.

And Brokeback is hardly the first gay western--Red River anyone?

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 11/7/05 at 11:31am

I just hope that the movie will connect with people, even if it angers a lot of other people.

[robbiej]

Posted: 11/7/05 at 11:54am

My best friend just saw it for the second time at a BAFTA screening. Said to bring two sets of tissues...for two different reasons, if you get my drift.

Updated On: 11/7/05 at 11:54 AM

[SonofMammaMiaSam]

Posted: 11/7/05 at 11:58am

I don't understand Robbie

[Albin]

Posted: 11/7/05 at 11:59am

Fuc* the right.

I can't wait for this movie to come out. It probably won't open right away here in Podunkville where I live so I'll need to make a road trip.

[YouWantitWhen????]

Posted: 11/7/05 at 12:17pm

Supposedly it opens in limited release in SF, NY and LA on
December 9, 2005, with a wider release date of December 16.

[Albin]

Posted: 11/7/05 at 12:19pm

Sometimes the little town in upstate NY where I live can be a little behind the times. "Chicago" finally opened here in March 2003 after it opened wide in January.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 11/7/05 at 12:25pm

“Don't try and take what we had, which was wonderful -- the cowboys that settled the state and made it what it was -- don't ruin that image... There's nothing better than plain old cowboys and the plain old history without embellishing it to suit everyone."

How ignorant is that? The movie is set in the 60s. Different cowboys than the ones who settled the state, I would think. And unless she personally knew every cowboy since the settlement of Wyoming, she doesn't know if they were gay or not. What an idiot!

"Playwright and lifelong Wyomingite tells the STAR-TRIBUNE of Casper this week that she has never encountered a gay cowboy, and doesn't think it's right for Hollywood to portray Wyoming as a state with gay cowboys."

And I guess if she's never personally encountered an African-American, then Hollywood should not imply that black people live in the US. And what's up with those atoms? I've never seen one personally. It must not exist.

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 11/7/05 at 12:36pm

It's always funny when people want the things that have been a part of their life to be seen and experienced in the same way that they've seen and experienced them. They seem to think they have ownership of it. It's like people who go against other people because they interpret the Bible differently.

[YouWantitWhen????]

Posted: 11/7/05 at 12:52pm

Variety has reviewed the movie - pretty positive:

"That most chameleonlike of directors, Ang Lee, pulls off yet another surprising left turn in "Brokeback Mountain." An achingly sad tale of two damaged souls whose intimate connection across many years cannot ever be properly resolved, this ostensible gay Western is marked by a heightened degree of sensitivity and tact, as well as an outstanding performance from Heath Ledger. With critical support, Focus should have little trouble stirring interest among older, sophisticated viewers in urban markets, but trying to cross this risky venture over into wider release reps a marketing challenge for the ages; paradoxically, young women may well constitute the group that will like the film best."
Brokeback Mountain

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 11/7/05 at 3:12pm

There are no gay cowboys?? HAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Oh, honey, is she ever in denial!!

The more the right screams, the bigger the box office on this film...

[harris007]

Posted: 11/7/05 at 3:28pm

cant deside if i wanna see this or not

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 11/7/05 at 3:29pm

why wouldn't you want to see this, harris? It's supposedly a GREAT film on top of being a film about hot, gay cowboys!!!!

[Calvin]

Posted: 11/7/05 at 3:32pm

Puh-leeze, girl. You know Matt Drudge is going to see this movie 40 times with his fag hag, Ann Coulter. He can even use his fedora to cover up his "excitement."