Just saw this over at imdb, and knew immediately that it belonged here as well.
Sunspot is asking all of us to thank Ang Lee, Heath Ledger, and Jake Gyllenhaal by sending them a postcard. Here's the original article from Sunspot (and no, I'm not familiar with Sunspot either).
Let's all participate!
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Saying Thanks To Heath & Jake
Brokeback Mountain screenwriters Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana
spoke briefly and answered audience questions after a late-January
American Film Institute screening of the film in Los Angeles. Diana
noted the difficulty they had getting the film produced. Everybody
loved the screenplay, they had relatively little trouble securing
financing and directors, but they could never get two young actors
to commit to playing the roles of Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist.
They'd send the screenplay to a promising young actor, the actor
would read it and contact them immediately, excited about the
project, and then slowly drift away, never to be heard from again.
Maybe the actors worried they weren't up to the task. Maybe they
had second thoughts about playing a man in love with another man.
Maybe their agents or handlers talked them out of it. Whatever the
case, this went on for the better part of a decade. Larry & Diana
never could get two actors to commit to the project at the same
time. Producers and directors came and went, and the film remained
unmade.
It might have stayed that way too, if it hadn't been for Jake
Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger.
Thousands of men – and a startling number of women – have taken the
time to express online and in print how much seeing this film has
impacted them, how much it's meant to them, how deeply it mirrors
the landscape of their own lives. As one man put it, Brokeback
Mountain was the first time he's seen a love story in a theater
where the projector was doing all the projecting, instead of relying
on him to do half of it.
The film has also stirred up a storm of indignation from both
extremes of the culture wars. Elite religious fundamentalists are
horrified by the film's vivid portrayal of the lead characters as
human beings – instead of easily-vilified stereotypes – coping with
the corrosive culture of hate these same fundamentalist leaders
actively promote. Meanwhile, Hollywood gossip mongers and vicious
media queens have taken to dissecting every statement, every gesture
Ledger & Gyllenhaal have made in public, as part of a ridiculous,
holier-than-thou crusade to condemn any perceived homophobia on the
part of the two actors.
I'm sure there must be times when the two of them wonder what they
ever did to merit the shrill braying of so many asses. Like many
pioneers before them, they seem to be amassing quite the collection
of arrows in their backs.
If Brokeback Mountain told some part of your own story or the story
of someone you love, if it made you look at your own experiences and
choices anew, if the performances impressed you or connected with
you in a way you hadn't experienced before, let the actors who gave
life to these characters know that. Let them know that their work
has a meaning to you beyond the Hollywood hype machine, beyond the
media manipulators and their manufactured controversies, beyond the
box office and the awards.
Send them a postcard. Just a simple postcard, perhaps featuring a
photograph of some local landscape or a favorite landmark, maybe
your own Brokeback Mountain. You can pick up a couple of cards at a
gas station along a highway, or at a shop near your local tourist
haunts. Some US post offices even have plain postcards, like the
ones Ennis sent in the film, sporting the new 24-cent postcard
rate. Simply write "Thank you" on each card – the same way Ennis
wrote "You bet" on his reply to Jack – sign your name and address
one to Heath Ledger and one to Jake Gyllenhaal care of their agency:
c/o CAA
9830 Wilshire Blvd.
Beverly Hills, CA 90212-1825
Heath and Jake seem like a couple of thoughtful, perceptive guys.
They had to be, in order to portray their roles in Brokeback
Mountain so vividly and accurately. If they receive a bunch
of "Thank you" postcards from folks scattered around the globe they
should get the message loud and clear, and appreciate it the way so
many have appreciated this film and their thoughtful work in it.
Ang Lee also uses CAA, if you would like to thank
him as well.
