Alberta? Embracing gay cowboys? (Globe & Mail)

[Phillip Dampier]

Mostly people want to know where Brokeback Mountain is. Proulx set the story in the Big Horn Mountains in the north of the state near Sheridan, but the mountain itself doesn't exist. But when director Ang Lee visited the state to get a sense of place, he was attracted to the Wind River Mountains, to the southwest of Sheridan. The low cost of production in Canada eventually transplanted the film to Alberta.

But that's not stopping Wyoming's tourism industry.

"Wyoming inspires heralded movie's look," notes the state's tourism website.

In a bid to woo visitors, the office quotes Lee, who recalled some supervising notes he wrote on the script when he was shooting some mountain peaks in Alberta.

"I said, 'A cheap imitation of Wyoming,' " Lee recalled.

Ouch.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060207.TOURISM07/TPStory/National

[horo04]

Cheap imitation?!!   What everyone sees in the movie is all Alberta!  This part of the country I live in is no cheap imitation!  Reviews have said the movie is beautifully set...it sure isn't Wyoming they are showing!  You all come visit and see our "cheap imitation".....bet you won't agree with that remark once you go through "Brokeback country", Alberta!

[Aussie Chris]

Cheap imitation?!!   What everyone sees in the movie is all Alberta!  This part of the country I live in is no cheap imitation!  Reviews have said the movie is beautifully set...it sure isn't Wyoming they are showing!  You all come visit and see our "cheap imitation".....bet you won't agree with that remark once you go through "Brokeback country", Alberta!

*chuckles*  Poor horo!  There was no way you were going to be able to let that one slide was there?    No doubt that there will be many tourists coming your way, if I ever make it up there I'll be sure to visit both locales!

[Lynne]

Reviving this thread, because I ran across another article today that discusses checking out filming locations in Alberta and BBM towns in Wyoming:

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/14472072.htm

-Lynne

[TJ]

In the strictest interpretation of Annie Proulx's original short story with emphasis on how it was published in books, the story is set in the state of Wyoming and not just in one particular location.

She used a contrast of opposites even when Ennis grew up in the SW corner of Wyoming, in Sage, and Jack Twist grew up at Lightning Flat (used to have real post office) in Crook County in exteme NE Wyoming.

Sort of OT here, since Annie Proulx states that Ennis "ate at that place in Dubois" after they got paid in 1963, her Signal and Brokeback Mountain must have been somewhere west of Dubois which is NW of Riverton which is in Fremont County. Since Annie Proulx's Signal is not in Fremont County, it must have been in Teton County. (Even the 2nd linked article mentions that Brokeback Mountain must be in the Tetons Mountains which are in the county of the same name.)

In the book when Ennis is looking for a Brokeback Mountain postcard at Higgins' gift shop in Signal (that's near where the Stoutamire ranch was located and where AP's K. E., Ennis' brother, lived in the spring of 1963), he says that BbM is north of Signal and not over in Fremont County.

Signal and Brokeback Mountain are fictional places; but, almost all of the other location names can be found on a Wyoming map.

The screenplay writers and the movie people used artistic license in their adaptation of Annie Proulx's story.

[TJ]

In a bid to woo visitors, the office quotes Lee, who recalled some supervising notes he wrote on the script when he was shooting some mountain peaks in Alberta.

"I said, 'A cheap imitation of Wyoming,' " Lee recalled.

Well, since the State of Wyoming does not have production facilities for the making of movies like the Province of Alberta, Canada does, it was cheaper to film up there.

Even California (where I have lived) and Oklahoma (where I have lived off and on since 1942, I was born in the state) have places which could represent other areas of the USA. A number of movies have been made in Tulsa and in Oklahoma.

[moremojo]

Cheap imitation?!!   What everyone sees in the movie is all Alberta!  This part of the country I live in is no cheap imitation!  Reviews have said the movie is beautifully set...it sure isn't Wyoming they are showing!  You all come visit and see our "cheap imitation".....bet you won't agree with that remark once you go through "Brokeback country", Alberta!

My mother made a drive from Texas up into Montana, by way of Wyoming, many years ago with her then-husband. She had been fascinated by Montana since childhood, and had always wanted to go there, so this was a dream come true for her. She says she saw lots of gorgeous scenery on the way, and in Montana, ran into a couple that were coming back from Alberta. The woman in this couple said that the Canadian Rockies were even more beautiful than the American mountains. My mother didn't doubt her, but Montana was as far as she wanted to go, and the beauty on the American side of the border was sufficient for her.

Now that she has seen Brokeback Mountain, I wonder if she now regrets her decision to not venture further that trip. BTW, my mother had some interesting comments on Wyoming, which I might share at a later time on this site.

Cheers,
Scott