http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/13/business/media/13brokeback.html?_r=1&scp=4&sq=Brokeback%20Mountain%20poster&st=cseUpset 'Brokeback' Fans
Advertise Their Feelings
By STUART ELLIOTT
Published: March 13, 2006Fans of the film "L.A. Confidential" did not take out advertisements in entertainment publications after it lost the best picture Academy Award to "Titanic." It did not happen when "Goodfellas" lost to "Dances With Wolves" or even when "Citizen Kane" lost to "How Green Was My Valley."
But after "Brokeback Mountain" lost the best picture Oscar to "Crash," more than 800 fans — participants in an online discussion group known as the
Ultimate Brokeback Forum — chipped in more than $24,000 to buy a full-page ad in
Daily Variety. The ad, which ran Friday, thanked the makers of the movie "for transforming countless lives through the most honored film of the year."
"I felt we had to do something," said
Dave Cullen, a journalist in Denver who bought the ad after setting up several Brokeback sites, at addresses including
brokeback.davecullen.com. "People were distraught, upset, angry; they couldn't believe it."
A poster who goes by
Texas Girl suggested buying the ad, he said, and after some discussion that they protest the "Crash" victory, the forum participants decided to run "a positive ad."
Charles C. Koones, president and publisher of
Daily Variety and
Variety, owned by
Reed Elsevier, said, " 'Brokeback' really touched a chord with certain audiences. There are those in Hollywood who feel it was robbed." Although his publications have run fan group ads in the past, they typically urged networks not to cancel favorite TV series.
Mr. Cullen said that the
Daily Variety ad cost $15,435, adding that contributors were discussing what to do with the leftover money.
Mr. Koones offered this advice: "You need another ad."