Brad Pitt has starred in plenty of hit films and played a variety of characters over the years. From Se7en and Once Upon A Time In Hollywood to Bullet Train and Inglourious Basterds, his filmography is diverse. However, just like every veteran actor, he has turned down plenty of films as well.
Pitt has admitted to leaving The Matrix, and once a director revealed that he had turned down an iconic film that’s still relevant even 18 years after its release. What’s more, is that it even bagged three Academy Awards in 2006 and went on to gross $178 million globally. So why did Pitt turn down the film? He didn’t want to be the next Tom Cruise.
Why Did Brad Pitt Turn Down The Acclaimed Brokeback Mountain?
Today, actors aren’t afraid to star in LGBTQ films. Or at least not as much as they used to be even a decade or so back. The change in attitude is definitely thanks to social movements, but also due to one film that’s still remembered today- Brokeback Mountain. The Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal film is still iconic. However, casting it wasn’t easy.
Even though Ang Lee eventually went on to direct it, Gus Van Sant was initially chosen as the director. He wanted the cast to be full of famous names. But celebs like Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Ryan Philippe, and Matt Damon declined.
In an interview with IndieWire, Van Sant said:
“Nobody wanted to do it. I was working on it, and I felt like we needed a really strong cast, like a famous cast. That wasn’t working out. I asked the usual suspects: Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Ryan Phillippe. They all said no.”
But why did they say no? Even Brad Pitt? While none of them have explicitly addressed this, there’s speculation that they didn’t want to be hounded by rumors of being homosexual like Tom Cruise was till a time.
After all, even being rumored to be gay could have had serious detrimental effects on their career as the film industry probably would have given them the cold shoulder. However, Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger had no such thoughts. Instead, the Spider-Man: Far From Home actor once revealed that they were serious about the film.
Jake Gyllenhaal Revealed Heath Ledger’s Deep Respect For Brokeback Mountain
In an interview with Vanity Fair, Jake Gyllenhaal revealed the one thing that still stuck with him. He said that years after Brokeback Mountain was made and released, the sheer dedication and seriousness of his co-star, Heath Ledger, towards making it astounded him. The actor said:
“One of the things I really remember about the process after the movie came out was Heath never wanting to make a joke. Even as I think culturally, there were many jokes being made about the movie or poking fun at and things like that. And his consummate devotion to how serious and important the relationship between these two characters was.”
Over the years, there have been rumors about rebooting or remaking the film, but nothing concrete has been done yet. But if that does happen, it will be hard to fill the shoes of the two actors who set the bar uber high.
Brokeback Mountain is available on Amazon Prime Video.
Source: IndieWire
