Go tell it on the 'Mountain'

'Brokeback' a Box Office Success So Far

By SANDY COHEN,
AP Entertainment Writer
December 29, 2005

LOS ANGELES - Who's afraid of a couple of gay cowboys? Not moviegoers, who helped "Brokeback Mountain" post the highest per-screen average over the film-flush holiday weekend.

The Ang Lee film, which follows the 20-year forbidden romance between two roughneck ranch hands, earned $13,599 per theater, compared with $9,305 for weekend winner "King Kong" and $8,225 for "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe." (full story)
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Go Tell It on the 'Mountain': A Q&A With Director Ang Lee

by Sandie Angulo Chen

Chinese director Ang Lee admits that a gay love story set in Wyoming couldn't be farther from the adage "film what you know," but that's what made the subject so compelling to the Oscar-nominated auteur behind 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' and 'Sense and Sensibility.' After his brooding take on 'The Hulk' wrapped, Lee remembered Annie Proulx's short story 'Brokeback Mountain' and realized it was exactly what he wanted to tackle next. Despite the fact that homosexuality is such a divisive issue in this country, Lee, his creative partner James Schamus and best-selling screenwriter Larry McMurtry were rarin' to go. The result is a heartbreaking epic about two '60s ranch hands who discover passion one lonely summer while tending sheep. If some audiences aren't ready for cowboy-on-cowboy love (portrayed by definitively hetero sex symbols Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger, no less), Lee says it doesn't bother him. Those who are ready will see why this period drama is roping in some of the best reviews of the year. (full story)