Brokeback Premieres on Glam-lite, Cold Nite

By GIL BRADY
Planet Jackson Hole

Filed 12.10.05

JACKSON, Wyo. -- "This is what love is about," parka-clad director Ang Lee declared on Saturday night as he politely described his controversial new movie about two love-struck Wyoming ranch hands to a handful of paparazzi and reporters moments before Brokeback Mountain's premiere at Jackson Hole's Teton Theatre.

Despite an aggressive ad campaign in the local press promising the attendance of "Brokeback" star Heath Ledger and more, the 51 year-old Lee was the only semi-recognizable celebrity on hand, outside or inside the 64 year-old playhouse. Around 300 shivering locals, tourists and invited guests - some paying $100 for the screening and world famous Cowboy Bar after party - streamed by the Taiwanese born director as they entered the klieg-lit theater. Many sighed with relief upon escaping the subzero December evening setting in just after sundown.

Brokeback Mountain's back-to-back Jackson Hole screenings, which drew over 500 ticket holders, left more than a few weeping fans in the lobby as it continued to win converts of every stripe and build Oscar buzz over the weekend.

"It broke my heart," a teary-eyed Christy Sing remarked, dabbing her cheeks with a napkin in the small, carpeted lobby after watching the movie. "It really affected me."

Replete with graphic love scenes between two cowboys, Lee and Universal/Focus Film's new release had already pocketed the Venice Film Festival's Gold Lion top prize earlier this fall before winning the L.A. Film Critics Association's "Best Picture of 2005" honor on Saturday, making Brokeback Mountain this award season's film to beat.

"I know the story and I enjoyed it," Jackson resident Elizabeth Moore said, adding that she anticipated the movie's success would help Wyoming's tourist industry. Regarding whether Brokeback Mountain would inspire a national debate on gay issues, Moore said, "My wild guess would be yes. What [that debate] will contain, I do not even begin to imagine."

Some on-line conservative groups and bloggers have denounced the film's unconventional gay love story; while many gay and lesbian groups are hailing Brokeback Mountain as a transcendental piece of groundbreaking cinema.

"I thought it was very true. Very beautifully done. More so than any movie I've ever seen," Mark Houser, a local organizer with Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, said following the six o'clock showing. "It's very exciting to see this film premiere in Jackson," he added. "The film itself goes beyond the gay themes. It's such a tragic, heart-wrenching love story. Nevertheless, to have issues of orientation and identity brought up in Wyoming is very exciting for the community."

Lee said the movie's theme of social prejudice differed from The Wedding Banquet, his 1993 film about a gay Chinese man living in New York with his white lover, because Brokeback Mountain was not an "Asian family drama" but a "romantic love story." He did admit, however, that both films "use America" as a way for him to "escape" his Taiwanese upbringing.

"Most of all it's the genre," Lee explained, "I think the content and the heart of [Brokeback Mountain] is very different to me. [The Wedding Banquet] is obligation to society, a feeling of duty. But Brokeback Mountain is what love is about. Which I think is really profound in me."

Ever the humble director, Lee heaped praise on his cast and crew, crediting Pulitzer winner Annie Proulx's short-story by the same name, which inspired his film, and legendary author/screenwriter Larry McMurtry with giving him a critical tour of Wyoming culture and a solid tutorial on the American west before filming began. The director also singled-out the research of his art department and his production designer's talent for capturing elusive period details.

"She did a fantastic job," Lee said, praising Brokeback Mountain's production designer, Judy Becker. "This was tricky because [Brokeback Mountain] was kind of timeless place, and we're doing period piece in a timeless place. The time-marker can be deceptive, so you have to go along with it. Sometime you're right on, like certain TV programs. Sometimes, the sound you hear, outside of here, we're aware of it in the 80s. But in the 70s, the locals don't even hear it: the sort of beat-up trucks they drive in the 60's & 70s that are from the 40s. So, it's a little disorienting."

Lee said he hoped conservatives would come to see his new picture and discover how they feel afterward, predicting that, regardless of one's politics or values, all moviegoers would relate to Brokeback Mountain's pure love story.

Brokeback Mountain opened last week in San Francisco and New York and is arriving at select cities nationwide.

Photo Caption & Credit: "Ang Lee & Friend" By Andrew Wyatt for Planet JH