To commemorate its 20th anniversary, Brokeback Mountain is set for a limited re-release in cinemas.
The iconic gay drama, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and the late Heath Ledger, will be shown nationwide in the U.S. on 22 and 25 June. According to the film’s distributor Focus Features, the re-release will be accompanied by “an all-new film poster, as well as forthcoming merchandise and other connected initiatives”.
Directed by Ang Lee, Brokeback Mountain follows Ennis Del Mar (Gyllenhaal) and Jack Twist (Ledger), two star-crossed cowboys navigating a forbidden romance in the American West of the 1960s.
Widely hailed as a turning point for LGBTQIA+ representation in mainstream media, the heart-wrenching drama won three Academy Awards—including Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay—and earned acting nominations for Ledger, Gyllenhaal and Michelle Williams.
Infamously, Brokeback Mountain lost the coveted Best Picture award to Paul Haggis’ critically divisive Crash—a decision still regarded as one of the Academy’s most controversial. As Williams recently remarked on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, “I mean… What was Crash?”
Since its release, Brokeback Mountain has continued to earn universal critical acclaim and is frequently ranked among the greatest LGBTQIA+ films of all time. At the time of its debut, however, it was reductively dubbed a “gay cowboy movie” and frequently parodied for its subject matter.
In a 2019 interview with Sunday Times, Gyllenhaal revealed that Ledger “would never joke” about the movie, and often shut down those who would”: “Someone wanted to make a joke about the story or whatever, he was like, ‘No. This is about love. Like, that’s it, man. Like, no.'”
Three years later, the Nightcrawler star expanded on his comments in an interview with Vanity Fair, saying: “The relationship between Heath and me while making this movie was based on a profound love for many people we knew and were raised by. A deep respect for their love and their relationships.”
“There were many jokes being made about the movie, or poking fun at, things like that,” Gyllenhaal explained. “And [Ledger’s] consummate devotion to how serious and important the relationship between these two characters was—it showed me how devoted he was as an actor and how devoted we both were to the story and the movie.”
Watch the 20th anniversary trailer for Brokeback Mountain below.
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