Ang Lee’s iconic same-sex romance Brokeback Mountain stars Jake Gyllenhaal and the late Heath Ledger as Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist, star-crossed cowboy lovers in the American West during the 1960s. Widely hailed as a turning point for LGBTQIA+ stories in mainstream cinema, the heart-wrenching drama won three Academy Awards, including Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, with additional acting nominations for Ledger, Gyllenhaal, and Michelle Williams. However, Brokeback Mountain lost Best Picture to Paul Haggis’ critically divisive drama Crash, a decision that remains one of the Academy Awards’ most controversial (and dumbfounding).
