QUOTE
AT THE TORONTO FILM FESTIVAL
Love, real and pretend, on 'Brokeback' set
Ruthe Stein
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
"Brokeback" buzz: Writer Ang Lee had a great excuse for canceling our interview at the Toronto International Film Festival. The director got a call to fly back to the Venice Festival to collect its top prize, the Golden Lion, for "Brokeback Mountain." So I had to settle for just talking to Heath Ledger, who gives an Oscar-caliber performance as an itinerant cowboy in love with a fellow ranch hand. The film is set in Wyoming in the 1960s -- neither the time nor place to expect anyone else to understand.
His tender love scenes with co-star Jake Gyllenhaal were intricately choreographed by Lee. "Jake and I didn't really rehearse," Ledger explains. "It was awkward enough to do them for the camera. We didn't want to have to do them another time." Obviously Ledger didn't have the same misgivings about Michelle Williams, with whom he also goes to bed in the movie. As followers of Hollywood's young crowd know, Williams is carrying Ledger's baby and sporting an engagement ring, which he describes as "modest." In answer to your next question, he says they've yet to set a date.
The possibility of being an Oscar nominee pales in comparison to becoming a father. "I just can't wait to meet my baby," Ledger says, grinning from ear to ear.
Good news for those back home who can't wait to see his film -- it opens Dec. 9, the same as in New York and Los Angeles and weeks ahead of everywhere else. It "only made sense" to open in San Francisco early, said John Foley, Focus Features' president of distribution, because "it is very likely the gay community will attend in great numbers" and a positive response would bring the film "important credibility." In other words locals could make or break "Brokeback Mountain."
Love, real and pretend, on 'Brokeback' set
Ruthe Stein
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
"Brokeback" buzz: Writer Ang Lee had a great excuse for canceling our interview at the Toronto International Film Festival. The director got a call to fly back to the Venice Festival to collect its top prize, the Golden Lion, for "Brokeback Mountain." So I had to settle for just talking to Heath Ledger, who gives an Oscar-caliber performance as an itinerant cowboy in love with a fellow ranch hand. The film is set in Wyoming in the 1960s -- neither the time nor place to expect anyone else to understand.
His tender love scenes with co-star Jake Gyllenhaal were intricately choreographed by Lee. "Jake and I didn't really rehearse," Ledger explains. "It was awkward enough to do them for the camera. We didn't want to have to do them another time." Obviously Ledger didn't have the same misgivings about Michelle Williams, with whom he also goes to bed in the movie. As followers of Hollywood's young crowd know, Williams is carrying Ledger's baby and sporting an engagement ring, which he describes as "modest." In answer to your next question, he says they've yet to set a date.
The possibility of being an Oscar nominee pales in comparison to becoming a father. "I just can't wait to meet my baby," Ledger says, grinning from ear to ear.
Good news for those back home who can't wait to see his film -- it opens Dec. 9, the same as in New York and Los Angeles and weeks ahead of everywhere else. It "only made sense" to open in San Francisco early, said John Foley, Focus Features' president of distribution, because "it is very likely the gay community will attend in great numbers" and a positive response would bring the film "important credibility." In other words locals could make or break "Brokeback Mountain."