The film drama Brokeback Mountain won three Oscars in 2006, starring: Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal. However, completely different actors were originally planned – but they declined.
In an interview with IndieWire, Gus Van Sant talks about the plans he originally had for Brokeback Mountain. The director was supposed to take on the project, but his enthusiasm was dampened by the difficulty of casting the leading roles. Ultimately, Ang Lee took over the direction of the film drama.
You can see Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt together in the crime film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood by Quentin Tarantino. A particularly bizarre scene was not even in the script. You can find out more from our colleagues at Moviepilot.
Here you can see the German trailer for Brokeback Mountain:
The “usual suspects” all declined
This was the difficulty with casting the leading roles: Gus Van Sant was to direct Brokeback Mountain, but he ended his work on the project. He felt that the love story needed a strong, famous cast – but that did not work.
In an interview with IndieWire, Gus Van Sant commented on the issue:
No one wanted to do it [the film]. I asked the usual suspects: Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Ryan Phillippe. They all declined.
What I could have and probably should have done was cast more unknown [actors] and not worry about the leading actors. I was not ready.[…]
Gus Van Sant via IndieWire
The producer and screenwriter of Brokeback Mountain, Diana Ossana, confirmed this to IndieWire via email: “Yes, all these young gentlemen declined the project for various reasons.”
Ultimately, both Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal received Oscar nominations for their roles and disproved, according to IndieWire, the belief that playing homosexual characters would cause irreparable damage to one’s career.
How successful is Brokeback Mountain? In 2006, Brokeback Mountain received three Oscars in the categories of Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Original Score. It was nominated for a total of eight Oscars.
It grossed around 178 million dollars worldwide (via IMDb). On Rotten Tomatoes, Brokeback Mountain has an audience score of 82% positive ratings.
Another example of a role in a successful film that a famous actor declined is Matrix. Keanu Reeves achieved international fame as the main character Neo in Matrix. However, he was not the first choice for the lead role.
Will Smith was offered the role. However, he declined and instead participated in another film, which flopped badly:
Will Smith talks about one of the worst decisions of his career: “Why didn’t you do Matrix?”
