Is Hollywood About To Shatter A "Taboo"?

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MrsSpringsteen

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The movie Brokeback Mountain w/ Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal is coming out this Fall. Their characters have a love/sexual relationship, how explicit it gets I have no idea(my hunch is not very explicit). I saw the trailer yesterday and you can't determine from that. I've read rumors but they are probably just that. Maybe it's based upon a book (I don't know) so in that case they can't exactly avoid the subject, but the question is how far will it go and how comfortable will the audience be with that?

Have there ever been any other mainstream Hollywood movies that portrayed men in a relationship in an explicit fashion? Not that I can think of..

Then there's the issue of having two very good looking men (well in my humble opinion :wink:) portraying that, and somehow does that make it more "attractive" for people?

Would women be more comfortable seeing this movie than men would be, in general?

They must have a web site for it, so maybe we can check that out.
 
I wont watch it. Although even if I was gay I wouldnt watch it, both actors are ugly IMO and Heath Ledger is a complete bell end (I've met him).

Give me some Tom Cruise and Rupert Everett Loving. :drool:

However, such a film wouldn't make me uncomfortable as I am very open minded, but I doubt I'd watch it as it would probably have no appeal.

(shouldn't this be in Zoo Station?)
 
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I put it here in an attempt to have a serious discussion about it and about whether people are willing to accept this in a movie in 2005, have we honestly reached that point yet.. Maybe that's pointless these days in FYM :|

It's not about what you think of Heath Ledger or any other actor in this type of movie palace hero, you can discuss that in Zoo Station
 
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MrsSpringsteen said:
I put it here in an attempt to have a serious discussion about it and about whether people are willing to accept this in a movie in 2005, have we honestly reached that point yet.. Maybe that's pointless these days in FYM :|

It's not about what you think of Heath Ledger or any other actor in this type of movie palace hero, you can discuss that in Zoo Station

I contributed to the thread in a serious manner.
 
i'm excited to see it.

doubt it will go much further beyon the art house set, but that's probably it's intended audience.
 
It's also directed by Ang Lee, I found this on imdb.com - the trailer is there as well

Heath Ledger has a nude scene in which he jumps into a lake. The director intends to edit any actual frontal nudity out of the film, but a paparazzi took photos of Ledger with a digital camera. The photos have appeared on the internet and in some press publications.

According to reports, Heath Ledger nearly broke co-star Jake Gyllenhaal's nose while filming a kissing scene.

Two Men In Love at the Venice Film Festival, 3 September 2005
10/10

Author: bethlambert117 from United States

"It was a real ordeal to get into the screening. The anticipation was palpable. The film arrived surrounded by a plethora of innuendo. "A gay western" "Heath and Jake's hot scenes" As soon as the film started every imaginable preconception flew out of the auditorium. This is a remarkable, moving and powerful love story. The setting is that of a modern western "The Last Picture Show" comes to mind. Ang Lee's attention to detail verges on science fiction. You can actually smell the place. Extraordinary. I'm not going to reveal anything about the story - Gian Luigi Rondi a legendary Italian film critic, revealed the ending to a television audience, what was he thinking?! - The film will be enjoyed much more allowing to story unfold without having passages underlined and attention drawn to this or that particular. I felt compelled to write this comment because I'm overwhelmed. It has changed my perception, I must confess, about certain aspect of same sex love because I didn't think of same sex when I was watching it, I saw two human beings (amazing performances by both actors)I have the feeling "Brokeback Mountain" will make history, deservedly so. "
 
I know I'd certainly be quite interested to see people's reactions to this when this movie's released. I don't know if I'll be seeing the movie, just for the sole reason that I don't get a chance to see a lot of new movies nowadays, but if I come across it and have some time, meh, I might catch it. See what it's like and everything. I think it's cool that Hollywood's willing to deal with this :up:.

And I think there's some women and men who will be interested in it, and some women and men who won't. It all depends on each person's comfortable zone, I'd guess :shrug:. I personally wouldn't be bothered, though-hell, I've read slash stories which were much more explicit than a movie, and had no issues with those, so if I could deal with those, my guess is this movie won't make me bat an eye.

Angela
 
I don't know...the trailer looks bland and really, who is this movie being made for? What kind of audience will see it? Not a chick flick, not a manly action flick. It will be interesting to see how successful it is.
 
I'm sorry but :yawn:

Daniel Day Lewis did this in 1985, or thereabouts. Watch "My Beautiful Laundrette". Russell Crowe in "The Sum of Us".

What is it about prudish Hollywood when many countries around the world have already portrayed homosexuality on the screen.
 
On a vaguely related note, I saw a clip of a film called the 'Brown Bunny' where the actress gets down and sucks on a geeza's old fella. You saw the whole thing, no punches pulled (except for the lack of ejaculation, though it was hinted she might have disposed of that personally, hence me not seeing it). This wasn't a porno, this was a serious 'artistic' film that was shown at Cannes.

I doubt any taboo like that has been bettered in serious international cinema.
 
Heard of Brown Bunny and if I remember correctly, Roger Ebert said it really sucked. No pun intended.
 
Palace_Hero said:
On a vaguely related note, I saw a clip of a film called the 'Brown Bunny' where the actress gets down and sucks on a geeza's old fella. You saw the whole thing, no punches pulled (except for the lack of ejaculation, though it was hinted she might have disposed of that personally, hence me not seeing it). This wasn't a porno, this was a serious 'artistic' film that was shown at Cannes.

I doubt any taboo like that has been bettered in serious international cinema.

The UK film, "Intimacy," broke that taboo back in 2001. I guess Vincent Gallo was jealous and had to top it. Of course, Gallo had his unrealistically large ejaculation moment in "Trouble Every Day" back in 2001, as well.

In terms of "The Brown Bunny," the film was booed at Cannes, and it's considered so bad as to wonder how it ever made it into Cannes at all.

Melon
 
blueeyedgirl said:
I'm sorry but :yawn:

Daniel Day Lewis did this in 1985, or thereabouts. Watch "My Beautiful Laundrette". Russell Crowe in "The Sum of Us".

What is it about prudish Hollywood when many countries around the world have already portrayed homosexuality on the screen.

I believe they're talking about "taboos" in the Hollywood studio sense. There's been plenty of independent films here.

A lot of the "taboo" has been because of the 1982 "Making Love" fiasco, which is the film that actually broke the taboo in Hollywood. What Hollywood remembers, though, are test audiences gagging and running out of the theater screaming. If the same thing happens again, "Brokeback Mountain" will probably be the last gay film they ever attempt.

Melon
 
http://movies.msn.com/movies/article.aspx?news=201168

"Ang Lee's tale of the homosexual love between two cowboys set in the conservative West of the 1960s won the Venice Film Festival's top award Saturday.

Based on a novella by "The Shipping News" author E. Annie Proulx, the movie has sweeping vistas, lonesome men, bucking broncos and smoldering campfires. It also has sex scenes between two men whose lives are changed, disturbed and entwined after being hired to tend sheep for a summer in Wyoming."
 
i just hope that no one calls the actors "courageous" for "daring" to play a gay person. there is nothing courageous about playing gay, but there is something cowardly about refusing to play gay. it really disgusted me when i saw an interview with Anthony Michael Hall and he talked about a scene he did with Will Smith in "Six Degrees of Separation" in which he plays Simth's boyfriend (and i think both actors went to great lengths to say "I'M NOT GAY!" at any chance they got). AMH was all, "gosh, it was such a hard scene for me to play, because, you know, I'M NOT GAY, and kissing a man was weird for me because, you know, I'M NOT GAY, but it was an interesting part for, you know, ME A STRAIGHT GUY" etc.

it's like, "wow, you're an actor! how courageous it is for you to portray characters that are different from yourself!"

just my $.02
 
Irvine511 said:
i just hope that no one calls the actors "courageous" for "daring" to play a gay person. there is nothing courageous about playing gay, but there is something cowardly about refusing to play gay

I agree w/ that, very good point

That's Hollywood for you though. They think they're just so forward thinking and acting when they're not in so many instances

I haven't read any interviews w/ Heath or Jake, I'd be interested in what they have to say. I'd like to ask Jake personally strictly for research purposes, it has nothing to do w/ those puppy dog eyes or anything :wink:

we should see it together irvine, I'll bring the popcorn :wink:
 
that didn't come out the way I meant it to, it was more like "don't stand me up" because I have been stood up on a first date before, as embarrassing as that is to admit

I am going to try to find out what Jake and Heath have to say and I will report back to you :wink:
 
MrsSpringsteen said:
that didn't come out the way I meant it to, it was more like "don't stand me up" because I have been stood up on a first date before, as embarrassing as that is to admit

I am going to try to find out what Jake and Heath have to say and I will report back to you :wink:


one of the rumors i had heard was that, coinciding with the movie's release, Jake was going to publically disclose his bisexuality.

just a rumor, and seems not to be happening, yet, but still ...

:hyper:

i'd never stand you up, Mrs. S.

(i'd fear what Mr. S's guitarist, Little Steven, aka "Silvio," would do to me)
 
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