Real romance on "Brokeback Mountain"
The tagline for "Brokeback Mountain" reads, "Love is a force of nature."
And they're not kidding. Seems Mother Nature may have contributed to "Brokeback" co-stars Michelle Williams and Heath Ledger falling in love after shooting their first scene together in Ang Lee's unorthodox western love story.
The actors got short notice that, due to melting snow, they needed to rush and film a scene that takes place in the happy and carefree early days of Ennis and Alma's relationship.
The scene required the two to ride a toboggan down a steep and slippery mountainside in Alberta, Canada. When the sled toppled over, the couple had to tumble and frolic in the powdery white snow. "For the first few takes, they rode down the mountain, fell off the toboggan and got up giggling and laughing," recalls costume designer Marit Allen.
"But after the last take, Michelle didn't get up and she couldn't even move. She'd twisted her knee quite badly and was in a lot of pain so an ambulance was called. But Health was absolutely beside himself. He was so upset. He felt it was his fault because he had rolled off the sled on top of her so when the ambulance arrived to take Michelle to the hospital, he insisted on getting in with her and the door closed behind them. There was a romance from that moment on."
A romance that resulted in the birth of their daughter, Matilda Rose, a little over six weeks ago.
Photo: Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams in Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain."
( Focus Features)
From blogger Ron Franscell at http://underthenews.blogspot.com ...
Imagine what insights might be gleaned if we could send a Desert Storm Marine to review the movie "Jarhead" or a murder survivor to review "Capote?" Our readers would be treated to an intense "insider's" perspective on the story -- the story, not the filmmaking.
Tonight, director Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain" -- about two young gay cowboys in 1963 Wyoming -- opens in a handful of big-city theaters. It will open in Houston on Dec. 16. For now, there are no plans for it to be shown in Southeast Texas ... not a big surprise.
At my newspaper, we asked Ron Douthitt, a novelist and screenwriter who also had a gay relationship in his youth, to reflect on the film, which he saw in a November screening. We hoped his perspective would add to our readers' understanding of this controversial story in this film version of Pulitzer Prize-winner Annie Proulx's short story and Pulitzer Prize-winner Larry McMurtry's script. An excerpt:
"If you've ever felt the kind of love where the feeling so far transcended the sex, when spending time with that person anywhere is all that matters, then this story is for you. If you've ever shared the kind of love, when the thought of just knowing if the person with whom you share that bond is going to be safe and all right -- with or without you around -- allows you to sleep at night, then this story will touch you deeply. The only unusual element is that the story revolves around two men."