The Last Gay Word: Playing Gay On Brokeback Mountain (AfterElton.com)

[Phillip Dampier]

A columnist speaks to the issue if Brokeback Mountain should have been cast by gay actors.

But Heath Ledger's performance as Ennis Del Mar is a revelation. He is literally the perfect actor for the role. Even E. Annie Proulx, the author of the short story upon which the movie is based, has said that she didn't understand that character as well as Ledger did.

Thank God the casting directors for Brokeback Mountain cast as wide a net as possible. Thank God they didn't rule out Heath just because he's straight.

I think gay critics of the Hollywood also assume that there is a finite number of "gay" projects -- a very, very small finite number! -- and that if one of the project "slots" is filled by a straight person, there's one fewer for actual gay actors or writers.

There are no slots to be filled. There is always room for another truly great actor, or another great piece of writing.

http://www.afterelton.com/columns/2006/2/lastgayword.html

[John Passaniti]

This to me is like saying instead of casting Marlon Brando in The Godfather, they should have picked an actor with real Mafia ties.  Or perhaps more to the point, they shouldn't have cast Randy Quaid in Brokeback Mountain because in real life, he's not homophobic.

Frankly, I'd rather have an actor as good as Heath playing Ennis than a poorer real-life gay actor in the same role.

To be logically consistent, shouldn't the same people saying that Jack and Ennis should have been played by real-life gay actors also say that the original story shouldn't have been written by Annie Proulx?  After all, she's not gay, and even if she was, she would be a lesbian.  What could a lesbian possibly know about male gays?

Personally, I'm still upset that the role of the mountain in Brokeback Mountain was played by a non-Wyoming mountain in Alberta.

[Scott6373]

Just close your eyes for a moment and listen to the dulcit tones of...Sean Hayes...saying "Jack I swear..."  I shudder to think at all the oportunities they had to screw up this film...and am astonished that they didn't take any of them.

[Aussie Chris]

I think the operative word here is "acting" gay.  Whoever said that an actor had to be personally qualified to act in a role, an oxymoron if ever there was one: a "qualified-actor".  Regardless, BBM goes way beyond all these trivialities.  I can't remember ever seeing a film that so clearly represents a genuine intimacy between two people without a single cliché or shying away from the physical and social realities, revealing (finally) the truth that true and pure love is both genderless and label-less.  Anyone who wants to make the orientation of the leads a subject for their activism is sorely looking at the wrong film to do it.  BBM is way too mature for them!

[Phillip Dampier]

Just close your eyes for a moment and listen to the dulcit tones of...Sean Hayes...saying "Jack I swear..."  I shudder to think at all the oportunities they had to screw up this film...and am astonished that they didn't take any of them.

   ROFL!  Succinctly put, and very funny too.

Even on shows like Will & Grace, they have managed to de-sex the homosexuals and turned it into a singles show with everyone lamenting their crazy endless dating, interloper friends, and shameless guest star appearances.  It is a funny show and good sitcoms on American television are few and far between, but I cringe everytime I hear someone saying "gays are already on the TV" and point to a show like Will & Grace.

I think the most pointed example about this is whether Jake & Heath will do the guest shot on the show and re-enact their kiss.  The biggest deal about this is whether it will get passed the NBC censors! 

[Phillip Dampier]

Anyone who wants to make the orientation of the leads a subject for their activism is sorely looking at the wrong film to do it.  BBM is way too mature for them!

From what I've been hearing, now every male lead in Hollywood wants to do a gay film after seeing what Brokeback Mountain has accomplished.  You can be sure few of them will actually turn out to be masterpieces.  I have a feeling we're about to get inundated in romance dramas with gay characters.  The cynical side of Hollywood has already seen success in gay romance stories as being a great new form of the "chick flick."  Boyfriends already uncomfortably tortured by watching Brokeback will now have to endure much, much more.