Ang Lee recalls stylistic friction between Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger proving useful for Brokeback Mountain
Ang Lee described Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal's occasional disagreements during filming as "not quarrelling, but a clash of styles"
Aux News Brokeback Mountain
Take it from acclaimed director Ang Lee: sometimes a little bit of co-worker tension can turn into something beautiful. In a new piece for Empire’s Greatest Actors issue, the director pays tribute to the late Heath Ledger and muses on their experience working together on Brokeback Mountain in 2006. The acclaimed film won Lee an Academy Award for Best Director and saw both Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal nominated for acting awards as well.
In the film, Ledger and Gyllenhaal star as two cowboys who struggle to come to terms with their sexuality (and feelings for each other) across a decades-long relationship. According to Lee, watching the pair of actors build a relationship on and offscreen was something he cherished. “I saw it unfold right in front of my eyes,” Lee recalls, “from rehearsal all the way to filming.”
However, Lee also says Ledger and Gyllenhaal had “a very different attitude towards their work,” which occasionally caused some discourse behind the scenes.
“Sometimes there was friction – not quarreling, but a clash of styles,” Lee recalls. “Sometimes I would mediate that, but they were both good in different ways. They would always make the effort to find a way through.”
Earlier this year, Gyllenhaal also reflected on Brokeback Mountain, and told Vanity Fair that his relationship with Ledger during filming “was based on a profound love for a lot of people that we knew and were raised by in our lives, a deep respect for their love and their relationship.”
Gyllenhaal continued: “There were many jokes being made about the movie, or poking fun at, things like that. And [Ledger’s] consummate devotion to how serious and important the relationship between these two characters was — it showed me how devoted he was as an actor and how devoted we both were to the story and the movie.”
When Lee looks back on working with Ledger, he mostly just feels lucky to have been in the room to witness Ledger’s “God-given gift” before the actor’s untimely passing. Ledger died in 2008, the same year he filmed the project that posthumously won him his Academy Award, Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight.
“Heath Ledger was a brilliant young actor,” Lee shares. “God only knows what he would have achieved later in life. He had so much talent — I’m sure he would have been a great director.”
32 Comments
mmm, friction.
I hear spitting in your hand helps with that
It really doesn’t.
Saliva works for 2 seconds and then turns into super glue
Uh, maybe you should see a doctor.
You might want to see a doctor.
And as for super glue . . . yikes!
CAME (here for that)
Well yeah of course there are gonna be tensions between Spiddermen and The Joke, they’re mortal enemies!
Spider-man?
Perfect. Just perfect.
Back in 2005 every discussion about this film seemed to involve so much giggling and people smirking at the idea of two guy having a love story together. I even recommended this to a friend who was really into romances at the time and she refused, saying, ‘But they’re gay!’ It seems like a very different world now.
The assholes who were up in arms about gay cowboys in 2005 are now up in arms about trans people. Progress?
You put a question mark there, but yeah, this absolutely is progress. Gay romance movies are now so common they’re on Hallmark. It’s not like the people who hated gay people back then were big fans of trans people and have regressed. The circle of people considered to be boring normies has objectively expanded in size. If Brokeback Mountain came out today, there’s be very little criticism or snickering about it being gay, and a mountain of criticism of it “centering white cis men as representative of the gay community yet again.”
Oh yeah, I’m there with all that, was just kind of making a joke about how dipshits will always find something to be unnecessarily afraid of.
Hallmark doesn’t have gay romance movies where you literally see two guys getting it on in a tent. Yes, that sort of thing is more accepted in films now, but not by a mile. Millions of people would’t get near that movie for the same reasons they avoided it before if it were released today.
The country went from having a bill that outlaws gay marriage to having a bill that guarantees marriage equality in less than 10 years, which is impressive. But the conflict over trans rights will be a mess – in part because it involves children’s rights to healthcare and self identification, which are things the US doesn’t necessarily believe in.
My guess is that it’ll take time but in the long run we’ll end up with “most people are passively in favor of trans rights (and more actively so once they realize they know trans people), and a small fragment will continue to rail against it as the end of civilization.” Especially because with children’s rights, you can have adorable kids do PSAs saying “I just want to be who I am” and people who aren’t stone-hearted monsters will say, “Well, sure, I guess.” It would follow the usual path of people claiming without evidence that it’s a Bad Thing, but as time passes and civilization doesn’t collapse, will realize that it’s fine.
Only in your small world. Stop dividing people. Its people like YOU who stand in the way of progress.
What the actual fuck are you talking about?
I think the thing is, and BIll Burr made a joke about this a while back is that, guys seeing to women make out can insert themselves into one side of that and be like ok, but when 2 guys make out not so much. Also men AND women can find 2 women making out hot, but pretty much only gay men find 2 men making out hot lol.
Not saying you’re wrong, but tons of straight women love watching gay male porn. It’s totally a thing.
Hmm did not know that lol. It was the joke I always used to make when they did the Guy’s Gone Wild thing, like the only people who want that are gay men, which he you do you, but you can get men AND women to watch Girls Gone Wild lol
haha I remember when they tried to do Guys Gone Wild too, it seemed like they didn’t really understand their market when they came out with those
Slight correction: I have known many lesbians who also find two men going HAM on each other sexy. There have been friends who told me that they dig how aggressive, yet non-violent some of it can be. Also, I have seen it portrayed in some movies/shows too. (I think it was something that popped up in “The Kids Are All Right” (2010), if I’m not mistaken?)
I know many straight women who would beg to differ.
One of my multitude of gay friends – I am straight and live in NYC, and think I actually have fewer straight friends than gay – holds the same theory.
Heath Ledger, way, way too soon.
This seems like a whole lot of story for one sentence in Ang Lee’s piece that he doesn’t expand on. Would’ve been interesting to hear more specifics on how they differed. You got me AV Club, fuck me for falling for this clickbait headline.
All that tension was resolved over a bowl of pudding.
I actually think Gyllenhaal is more effective than Ledger in that movie.