69 Fun Facts About Brokeback Mountain

Who directed Brokeback Mountain?

Ang Lee directed Brokeback Mountain, his first film after considering retirement in 2003 following two exhausting productions; he shot it in Canada in summer 2004.

The film is adapted from a 1997 short story by which author?

Annie Proulx wrote the story; she had won the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Shipping News and later wrote the libretto for the Brokeback opera herself.

In which magazine was the short story first published, in October 1997?

The New Yorker published the story in October 1997; it won the 1998 National Magazine Award for Fiction, and the short italic prologue left out of the magazine text was restored in the book.

The story was later collected in which 1999 Pulitzer-finalist book?

Close Range: Wyoming Stories collected it in 1999 in a slightly expanded text and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist; Bad Dirt and Fine Just the Way It Is are the later volumes in the series.

Which actor plays Ennis Del Mar, the more closed-off of the two men?

Heath Ledger plays Ennis Del Mar; he pursued the part from the start, finding the guarded, fearful Ennis more complex than Jack, and earned a Best Actor Oscar nomination for it.

Who plays Jack's wife Lureen, the rodeo rider turned businesswoman?

Anne Hathaway plays Lureen, the Texas rodeo rider who takes over her father's farm-equipment business; she auditioned in a ball gown and hairpiece during a lunch break from another film.

Who plays Ennis's wife Alma?

She was one of the first to audition and earned her first Oscar nomination; she and Ledger became a couple and had a daughter, Matilda.

In what year does the story open, with the two men hired for a summer on the mountain?

The story opens in 1963, when nineteen-year-old Ennis and Jack take a summer job on Brokeback Mountain; Ennis marries Alma that winter after the season ends.

What animals are Ennis and Jack hired to herd on the mountain?

Sheep are what they herd on a summer grazing allotment above the tree line; Ennis and Jack share the work, one tending camp and one sleeping up with the flock.

What is the name of the rancher who hires the pair and later spies on them with binoculars?

Joe Aguirre hires them for the summer and watches the pair through binoculars; he refuses to rehire Jack the following year, remarking that they had found a way to make the time pass.

What are the names of Ennis's two daughters?

Alma Jr. and Jenny are Ennis's daughters with Alma; the grown Alma Jr. visits her father's trailer in the final scene to announce her engagement to an oil-field worker named Kurt.

Where does an upset Jack go to seek solace with male prostitutes after Ennis refuses to move?

Jack drives down to Mexico and picks up a male prostitute in a border-town alley; the scene follows Ennis's divorce, which Jack had hoped would finally let them live together.

What does Monroe, whom Alma marries after divorcing Ennis, manage?

A grocery store is what Monroe manages; Alma works its checkout, and it is at his Thanksgiving table that she finally confronts Ennis about Jack.

In which Wyoming town do Ennis and Alma make their home after marrying?

Riverton is where Ennis and Alma settle and raise their girls, and where Jack drives to find Ennis four years after the summer on the mountain.

According to Lureen, how did Jack die?

A tire exploded in his face, Lureen says, while Jack was changing it on a back road and the rim knocked him out; as she talks Ennis pictures men beating Jack to death.

What does Jack's father insist on doing with his ashes?

To bury them in the family plot is what John Twist insists on, refusing Jack's wish for the mountain; Jack's mother then quietly lets Ennis take the two shirts from Jack's old room.

What are Ennis's last words in the film, spoken to the shirts and postcard in his closet?

"Jack, I swear..." is what Ennis says to the shirts and the postcard of the mountain inside his closet door, then closes it as the film ends.

Which Roger Miller hit does Jack sing along with on the radio while driving to see Ennis?

King of the Road is the song Jack belts along to in his truck; the soundtrack album swaps Miller's original for a cover by Teddy Thompson and Rufus Wainwright.

Which Willie Nelson recording plays over the end credits?

He Was a Friend of Mine, a traditional folk song in Willie Nelson's recording, plays over the end credits; earlier versions include Bob Dylan's and The Byrds'.

Which pair wrote the Oscar-winning screenplay?

Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana wrote the screenplay; Ossana found the story days after it ran in the magazine, persuaded her writing partner it was a masterpiece, and they finished a script by early 1998.

Which novel won one of the film's screenwriters the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction?

Lonesome Dove, the 1985 cattle-drive epic, won its author the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction; all four titles became major screen adaptations, and he ran a vast bookstore in Archer City, Texas.

Which Argentine musician composed the score?

Gustavo Santaolalla composed the score before filming began, working from the story and a single conversation with the director, and played the spare guitar parts himself.

The composer won the Best Original Score Oscar again the very next year for which film?

Babel, Alejandro González Iñárritu's 2006 film, earned him a second consecutive Best Original Score Oscar in 2007; he later scored The Last of Us games and their HBO adaptation.

Which song from the film, sung by Emmylou Harris, won the Golden Globe for Best Original Song?

A Love That Will Never Grow Old, with lyrics by Bernie Taupin and music by the film's composer, won the Golden Globe but was ruled ineligible for the Oscar because it played too briefly in the film.

The film premiered at which festival, where it won the Golden Lion?

Venice gave the film its world premiere in September 2005 and its top prize, the Golden Lion; the director won the same award two years later for Lust, Caution.

Brokeback Mountain famously lost the Best Picture Oscar to which film?

Crash took Best Picture in the night's biggest upset; Roger Ebert defended the choice, fans raised $26,000 for a Daily Variety thank-you ad, and a 2015 Hollywood Reporter revote of Academy members gave it to Brokeback.

How many Oscar nominations did the film receive, the most of any film that year?

Eight nominations made Brokeback the most-nominated film at the 78th Academy Awards; three other films tied for second place with six each.

Which actress plays Cassie, the waitress Ennis dates after his divorce?

Linda Cardellini plays Cassie Cartwright, the waitress Ennis dates after his divorce and then lets drift away; she later asks him, hurt, what she did wrong.

The film's Best Director Oscar was a milestone for the Academy in what way?

First non-white winner is the milestone: the film's director became the first Asian and first person of colour to take Best Director; he won it again for Life of Pi in 2013.

Who hosted the 78th Academy Awards ceremony in March 2006?

Jon Stewart hosted for the first time, the night Brokeback lost Best Picture; reviews were mixed, and the 38.9 million viewers were down about 8 percent on the previous year.

Which award did Jake Gyllenhaal win for playing Jack Twist?

BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor went to Gyllenhaal in February 2006; he was also nominated for the Oscar, Golden Globe and SAG Award in the same category but lost all three.

In which Australian city was Ledger, a Best Actor nominee at 26, born?

Perth, Western Australia, is where Ledger was born in April 1979; at 26 his Best Actor nomination for the film made him one of the youngest nominees in the category's history.

The story is set in Wyoming, but the film was shot almost entirely in which Canadian province?

Alberta doubled for Wyoming: the production shot in summer 2004 around Calgary, Fort Macleod and Kananaskis Country, choosing the Canadian Rockies over the real locations for financial reasons.

The film's composite mountain includes Mount Lougheed, just south of which Rockies town?

Canmore, in the Bow Valley east of Banff, lies just north of Mount Lougheed; Fortress and Moose Mountain in Kananaskis Country make up the rest of the composite peak.

What was the film's approximate production budget?

$14 million was the budget, modest for a prestige release; Focus Features kept costs down by shooting in Canada, and the film returned many times its cost at the box office.

Which director tried to make the film years earlier and hoped to cast Matt Damon and Joaquin Phoenix?

Gus Van Sant tried to make it years before the eventual version; Damon told him he had just done a gay movie and a cowboy movie and could not follow them with a gay-cowboy movie.

Which Spanish director turned the film down, doubting he would have artistic freedom in Hollywood?

Pedro Almodóvar turned it down, saying he doubted he would be allowed the freedom he wanted inside the Hollywood studio system; the script then sat for years before Focus Features made it.

When first shown the script, the eventual director chose to make which comic-book film instead?

Hulk, released in 2003, was the film the director made first; it and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon left him so drained that he considered retiring before this script tempted him back.

Which actor was originally attached but dropped out because of a scheduling clash with The Black Dahlia?

Josh Hartnett had been attached but left when The Black Dahlia's schedule clashed; Mark Wahlberg also passed after meeting the director, saying the script creeped him out.

The actress cast as Lureen auditioned during a lunch break from filming which sequel?

The Princess Diaries 2 was shooting; she came straight from its set in a ball gown and hairpiece 'way over the top' and won over a doubtful director anyway.

To land the part of Lureen, the actress lied to the director about her experience with what?

Horse riding was the skill she claimed; after being cast she took riding lessons so she could handle Lureen's rodeo scenes before shooting began.

What does Alma Jr. leave behind in Ennis's trailer after announcing her engagement?

Her sweater is what Alma Jr. forgets after the visit; Ennis folds it and places it in the closet beside the two shirts before the film's final line.

During a kissing scene, Ledger almost broke which part of his co-star's body?

His nose, Gyllenhaal said, was nearly broken when Ledger grabbed him, slammed him against the wall and kissed him with full force in their reunion scene.

Who was the film's cinematographer, chosen because he could 'shoot quickly' and give a tranquil look?

Rodrigo Prieto, the Mexican cinematographer of Amores perros and 21 Grams, shot the film; he later worked for Scorsese on The Wolf of Wall Street, Silence, The Irishman and Killers of the Flower Moon.

The theatrical poster was modelled on which earlier film's poster of two star-crossed lovers?

Titanic's poster, with its two lovers' faces against the sky, was the model; producer James Schamus has said the team deliberately borrowed that star-crossed-romance framing.

Which cast member sued Focus Features, claiming he was told it was a no-money art-house film?

Randy Quaid, who plays the rancher with the binoculars, sued for $10 million in 2006 over being told it was a no-money art-house film; he dropped the suit within weeks.

Which NBA team owner pulled the film from his Salt Lake-area multiplex in January 2006?

Larry H. Miller, owner of the Utah Jazz, dropped the film from his Megaplex at Jordan Commons in Sandy hours before its opening in January 2006.

Brokeback Mountain was the first major film released the same day on DVD and in what other form?

Digital download through online services arrived on 4 April 2006, the same day as the DVD, a first for a major studio release.

The buyer of the two closet-scene shirts at a 2006 charity auction compared them to what?

The ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz were what collector Tom Gregory compared the shirts to after paying $101,100.51 for them on eBay; he later lent them to the Autry museum in Los Angeles.

What did the word 'brokeback' come to mean in Chinese slang after the film?

Homosexuality is what 'brokeback' (duanbei) came to mean in Chinese slang, used for gay men and love between men; the film itself was never released in mainland Chinese cinemas, though bootleg copies circulated.

Which was the only Arab country to screen the film, albeit in censored form?

Lebanon screened it with cuts, the only Arab country to show it in cinemas; elsewhere in the region, including the United Arab Emirates, it was banned from theatres.

Where did the opera of the story, with the author's own libretto, premiere in 2014?

Madrid's Teatro Real staged the premiere in January 2014; composer Charles Wuorinen approached the author after seeing the film, and the commission followed impresario Gerard Mortier there from New York City Opera.

Which two actors played Jack and Ennis in the 2023 West End stage version at @sohoplace?

Mike Faist and Lucas Hedges played Jack and Ennis respectively in Ashley Robinson's adaptation, staged with live songs by Dan Gillespie Sells of The Feeling.

In which year was the film added to the US National Film Registry?

2018 was the year the Library of Congress added it to the National Film Registry, in the December batch that also included Jurassic Park and The Shining.

Why did the story's author later say she wished she had never written it?

Fans kept sending her rewrites 'fixing' the ending, she told The Paris Review in 2009 — unwanted manuscripts giving the two men a happy ending — which made her wish she had never written it.

In the short story, Ennis grew up around which Wyoming town near the Utah line?

Sage, near the Utah line, is where the story places Ennis's upbringing, on a small poor ranch in the opposite corner of Wyoming from Jack's home.

In the short story, Jack Twist grew up in which tiny Wyoming town up on the Montana border?

Lightning Flat, a speck of a town near the Montana border, is where the story places Jack's boyhood ranch; Ennis visits his parents there after Jack's death and finds the shirts.

What did the author say sparked the story?

A middle-aged man in a bar watching only the men playing pool was the spark, the author said; she saw him in Sheridan, Wyoming, and began wondering about the life of a gay ranch hand there.

Roughly how many years does the film's story span?

20 years, roughly: it runs from a summer of herding in the early 1960s to the early 1980s, by which time Ennis lives alone in a trailer.

Roughly how much did Brokeback Mountain gross worldwide?

$178 million worldwide, roughly $83 million of it in North America, made it one of the biggest art-house hits of the decade for Focus Features.

Why did provincial officials initially refuse to let the film's flock into the Rockies?

Risk of disease to local wildlife was the concern — domestic flocks can pass illnesses to wild bighorn — so permission came for one mountain only, with the animals trucked in and out daily under a biologist's eye.

Which hymn does Jack sing by the campfire, saying his mother believed in the Pentecost?

Water Walking Jesus is the hymn Jack sings by the fire, explaining his mother believed in the Pentecost; Ennis replies that he may be a sinner but has not yet had the opportunity.

Which rodeo event does Jack compete in, mostly getting thrown?

Bull riding is Jack's rodeo event; he is thrown repeatedly and admits he never wins much, and he first meets Lureen at a Texas rodeo where she barrel-races.

In which Texas town do Jack and Lureen make their home?

Childress, in the Texas Panhandle, is Lureen's hometown, where she and Jack settle and where her father's farm-equipment business gives Jack his job.

Roger Ebert compared the film's observant quality to the work of which Swedish director?

Ingmar Bergman was Ebert's comparison; his four-star review called the film 'observant as work by Bergman', praising how much it shows through what the men do not say.

Which Today Show critic apologised after calling Jack Twist a 'sexual predator'?

Gene Shalit called Jack a 'sexual predator' in his Today review; after GLAAD protested he said he regretted the wording, and his gay son Peter publicly defended him.

Where did Brokeback Mountain rank on The New York Times' 2025 list of the 100 best films of the 21st century?

17th was its slot on The New York Times' June 2025 poll of more than 500 filmmakers and critics, which put Parasite first.

Which editor completed the film after Geraldine Peroni died during post-production?

Dylan Tichenor finished the cut after Geraldine Peroni died in August 2004, months before release; both editors share the credit.

What did Ennis's father take him to see as a boy, shaping his lifelong fear?

The corpse of a man murdered for living with another man — Earl, beaten, dragged and left in an irrigation ditch — is what Ennis's father took his two sons to see when Ennis was nine.