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JAKE GYLLENHAAL:
“I think it’s an interesting movie, there’s a timeless aging, there are dates on things but I also feel like this relationship could be five years; it could be 30 years. What happens between the two of them and how they feel in it doesn’t really have a timeframe on it to me.”
HEATH LEDGER:
“I trusted the story in Ang’s hands. I loved the script because it was mature and strong, and such a pure and beautiful love story. I hadn’t done a proper love story, and I find there’s not a lot of mystery left in stories between guys and girls; it’s all been done or seen before.”
ANG LEE:
“I cast Jake first and then Heath. As soon as I met Heath I imagined they would be a good match for a romantic love story. The way I went about the lovemaking scene is that we talked about it during the rehearsal time, at what point in the drama it fit in, is there character development? But, we didn’t rehearse it, I just rolled the camera and expected them to deliver. I told them, ‘If you don’t believe it, nobody will.’”
GYLLENHAAL:
“When it came to doing love scenes, the best metaphor I can give is that it felt like we both dove off the boat into the deep end. We really went for it. We knew we had to consummate this some how, it couldn’t just be a story about friendship, because there’s a part of two people connecting intimately, sexually, that drives that intimacy through the years. We knew we were going to have to commit to it, and there was a high five and jump in.”
LEDGER:
“I had fear going into it, but that was all the more reason to do it; it was exhilarating when I committed to [the movie].”
LEE:
“I remember thinking at one point in the first lovemaking scene in the tent, ‘This is brave.’ Particularly Jake, the way he pounds. It was [shot] very close with a hand-held camera. The whole scene was in one shot. What we were shooting for with this story was to see their private moment, and I think as actors they are pretty brave.”
GYLLENHAAL:
“Both Heath and I were incredibly surprised to see Ang at press conferences totally articulate and really very clear about what he was saying about the film, because he asked us to play whatever we were going to play. He did manipulate us in ways, and I think that really angered us at times, and then at the same time we feel really proud of the end results. So there’s an odd benevolence to him and his process.”
LEDGER:
“Brokeback Mountain is a love story for this generation.”
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THE CONCEPT:
