With all the buzz about the men of Brokeback Mountain and their love for each other, the stellar supporting cast, female for the most part, is being overlooked.
On first note, the casting of this film could seem quite peculiar. Take, for instance, my fourteen-year-old sister. She is in love with Heath Ledger and Orlando Bloom - we like Aussies. She's also a huge Dawson's Creek fan, which she discovered courtesy of reruns. She was more concerned with cartoons and dolls during the original run dates when we had viewing parties for "The Creek" in my college dorm. She's also seen both Princess Diaries movies and probably would recognize Jake Gyllenhaal as "the hottie from the ice age movie [The Day After Tomorrow]" as opposed to The Good Girl or Donnie Darko which is when I fell for the boy. Given that, I think my Midwestern Christian conservative little sis (who was raised most of her life in the South) would get the shock of her life when Heath Ledger's character Ennis first drops his jeans. Of course, this would not nearly be as shocking as my stepmother's reaction to her daughter’s exposure to gay love!
I remember taking my little sis and our even younger sister to see Return of the King. During one of the final scenes, she yelled out "Oh my Gosh, they're gay!" Clearly, she was confused by any kind of male-on-male affection. As a side note, this is the same sister than ran into Ang Lee during my college graduation, literally.
All that said, I wanted to share some notes on the casting, which, by the way, is absolutely perfect and pivotal to the film. According to a recent article on Zap2It, the casting was actually a result of special effects.
“Since the story spans 20 years in the characters' lives, Lee wanted to cast young actors because it was easier to simulate age than to simulate youth. This meant that he often had to audition performers whose previous work appealed to a younger audience and therefore might not be the obvious choice for the heartbreaking epic with adult themes. The filmmaker finally settled on ‘Princess Diaries’ star Anne Hathaway and former ‘Dawson's Creek’ star Michelle Williams.”
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Article comments
1 - Chris Evans
I personally am very pissed that Anne Hathaway is not getting the same kind of recognition for her work in this movie that Michelle Williams is. I thought they both were equally great. Yeah, maybe Michelle's character is shown a bit more in the movie and has a bigger part, but the reason Hathaway's performance is so phenomenal is because she takes what for any other random young actress would be a "bit part", and makes it sensational. All of her little scenes with Jake, and ESPECIALLY that scene at the end where Heath calls her and she explains what "happened". Where are HER friggin' nominations, man?
2 - Mitch Crumrine
I think Hathaway was fantastic as well, she just get's very little screentime. She's also not Judi Dench (yet) and not going to get such accolades for such little screentime. I agree the phone conversation at the end was a standout moment for both Hathaway and Ledger, but my personal favorite is the Thanksgiving turkey scene. It is such a simple scene, but really brings home the family dynamic and fills out the Twist family's personas.
3 - Chris Evans
Yes, DEFINITELY. Other than the phone scene, and the scene at the end where Ledger says "Jack, I swear", that scene is probably my favorite.
4 - Webbster
"...and Orlando Bloom - we like Aussies."
Mr Bloom is a British Citizen.