“Brokeback Mountain” losing Best Picture to “Crash” at the 78th Academy Awards in 2006 is often cited as one of the most egregious Oscar snubs of all time. Two decades later, “Brokeback Mountain” co-writer and producer Diana Ossana still remembers the sting of losing and the moment she realized the prize would evade her.
Speaking to the New York Times for the film‘s 20th anniversary, Ossana, who co-wrote the script with Larry McMurtry, said she saw entrenched homophobia towards Ang Lee’s film from some of Hollywood’s elite. She recalled attending a party at “Crash” director Paul Haggis’ house and being excited to meet Clint Eastwood, who had enjoyed his own Oscars sweep the previous year for “Million Dollar Baby,” only to be told that the Western icon hadn’t watched her cowboy movie.
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“Paul started walking me over and he goes, ‘Diana, I have to tell you, he hasn’t seen your movie.’ And it was like somebody kicked me in the stomach,” Ossana said. “That’s when I knew we would not win Best Picture. People want to deny [that homophobia was a factor in the Oscar race], but what else could it have been? We’d won everything up until then.”
Ossana went on to explain that the film’s rollout gave her a unique perch from which to view America’s evolving perspective on gay rights in 2005. While watching the movie in theaters, she was able to observe the occasional discomfort people felt towards gay sex scenes, even as the film’s storytelling largely overpowered those biases and captivated audiences.
“The theaters were all packed because everybody was so curious about this movie,” she said. “And when the sex scene between the boys came on, you’d see some people got up and left, but not very many. At the end of the film nobody would leave. They would just sit there nailed to their seats until the lights came on, and there would be people crying.”
Anyone who missed the chance to see “Brokeback Mountain” on the big screen in 2005 now has an opportunity to witness it for themselves, as the film is currently playing in theaters courtesy of a 20th anniversary re-release from Focus Features.
