Ang Lee's Oscar-winning 2005 romantic drama Brokeback Mountain is one of the more pivotal films in all of queer cinema history, and while Jake Gyllenhaal and the late Heath Ledger gave the performances of their lives as story's two leads, there actually was a point in time where other people were being considered for those roles! (We know, looking back, it's hard to imagine anyone else playing Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar as well as Jake and Heath did!)
Take a trip down memory lane with us and revisit seven other A-List actors who almost could have been cast in Brokeback!
During a December 2021 interview with News.com.au, the Pearl Harbor alum and beloved '90s/'00s heartthrob revealed that he was supposed to star in the groundbreaking drama film as Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger's character), but had to drop out of production because of contractual obligations with the 2006 film The Black Dahlia.
"Unfortunately, I was going to do Brokeback Mountain," Hartnett said. "I had a contract with The Black Dahlia that I had to film, so I had to drop out of it."
And not only was he supposed to Ennis, but Oscar-winning Joker star Joaquin Phoenix Hartnett was supposed to play Jack Twist opposite of him!
"I always wanted to kiss Joaquin," Hartnett continued. "So that's my biggest regret."
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Yup, that's right. According to Hartnett, Her and Joker star Joaquin Phoenix was going to play the Jack Twist to his Ennis Del Mar!
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Before Brokeback Mountain's directing gig went to Ang Lee, My Own Private Idaho's Gus Van Sant was considered to direct the gay drama film and of the many names he had in mind to star in the film, one of them was none other than Leonardo DiCaprio, one of Hollywood's biggest movie stars!
"Nobody wanted to do it," Van Sant told IndieWire in 2018. "I was working on it, and I felt like we needed a really strong cast, like a famous cast."
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Leo's Once Upon a Time in...Hollywood co-star and fellow screen legend Brad Pitt was also asked by Van Sant if he would star in Brokeback, but he reportedly turned the opportunity down.
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Matt Damon was also approached to star, according to Van Sant, but also said no.
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As was Cruel Intentions star Ryan Phillippe. (Though Phillippe had already made his own impact when he played one of daytime TV's first openly gay characters, Billy Douglas, on ABC’s One Life To Live in 1992.)
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Marky Mark was another name being considered for a role in Brokeback, but according to him, he was "creeped out" by the script when discussing it with director Ang Lee.
"I met with Ang Lee on that movie, I read 15 pages of the script and got a little creeped out," Wahlberg told press in 2007. "It was very graphic, descriptive — the spitting on the hand, getting ready to do the thing. I told Ang Lee, 'I like you, you're a talented guy, if you want to talk about it more...' Thankfully, he didn't...I didn't rush to see Brokeback, it's just not my deal... Obviously, it was done in taste — look how it was received."
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