Filmmaker Ang Lee has had a wildly successful career, including acclaimed films like the endlessly rewatchable Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hulk. He's also behind the acclaimed drama Brokeback Mountain, which had some trouble being made. As that title reaches its 20th anniversary, the director explained how it helped him find new passion for his career, and prevented him from an early retirement.
The 2005 movie is on of the best LGBTQ+ movies ever, and was universally acclaimed upon its release. Lee spoke to Deadline about the movie's life, and revealed that he wanted to retire after the long and grueling filming shoots of both Crouching Tiger and Hulk. But shortly before his late father died, he made him promised him he wouldn't retire early so he might set a good example for his child. Ang Lee shared the power of Brokeback on his life, saying:
I wanted to retire. I think Brokeback Mountain brought me back, nursing me back to love life, to love filmmaking. And I’m still standing, still making movies, thanks to that movie. That was the one movie where I felt, 'There’s a movie god who loves me. He wants me to keep going.' And the movie was so perfect. What have I done to deserve that movie? Everything about it was good. At first, I didn’t even want to go back to work. I was so emotionally drained, because my father had passed away, and I was exhausted after the other two movies. Physically, I was drained. I got Achilles tendonitis. My body just gave up.
Talk about an emotional impact. As the filmmaker shared, the last two movies he worked on took a serious physical toll on him. This is far beyond the normal exhaustion that comes with film sets, so it's understandable that he might have considered giving up directing altogether. But in the end the tragic tale gave him a new lease on life and work.
While Brokeback Mountain didn't win Best Picture, it was universally acclaimed upon its release. It was a huge risk for its stars, with Jake Gyllenhaal facing stigma for playing a queer character. In the same interview he spoke about the power the film had, offering:
I don’t know what it is about that movie. It’s a sad movie, but it’s about love. It’s so nurturing. Everybody’s in love. And it was great. Every actor turned out to be great. I didn’t do much, I just did the coverage. I didn’t have a cinematic ambition. I just basically made the day and secured the performances. And then, in the first cut, I realized I’d got something. People are so affected by it. You can never plan how people feel about the movie. It never happens as you’d expect. But people swoon over the movie. I thought it was a small arthouse movie. I thought no American company would want it.
In the end, there are a ton of people who ultimately saw the movie, which was made with a modest $14 million budget and earned $178 million at the box office. Stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger formed a strong bond, and their performances were given a ton of praise. And this was in a time where it was very rare for leading men in Hollywood to play gay characters.
While reflecting on the difficulty of bringing Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to life, Ang Lee spoke the outlet about how much he learned bringing Brokeback Mountain to life. In his words:
I thought nobody would see it, so I could do whatever I wanted. And coming from Hulk, there was practically no budget. So, I learned that the effectiveness of a movie is literally something you cannot predict. It doesn’t correspond with how much effort you put in it. Making Crouching Tiger was a thousand times harder than making Brokeback Mountain. And Brokeback Mountain was a great success that just seemed to happen on its own.
In the end, the he would be given a new passion for filmmaking, and still hasn't retired to this date. Lee brought something new to Gemini Man, and is attached to another upcoming movie titled Thrilla in Manila. And we've got Brokeback Mountain to thank for his ongoing film career.
Thrilla in Manila is still in development, so it's unclear when it will arrive in theaters. we shouldn't expect it as part of the 2025 movie release list, but hopefully more information comes sooner rather than later.
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