
I'm just back from Sundance, where my client Queer Lounge is the hub for gay filmmakers and films in Park City. Two years later, almost any panel or conversation or interview about gay film usually turns back to Brokeback Mountain.
Arriving back in Manhattan early last evening, the news of Heath Ledger's death had already been pinged, IM'd, blogged, and whirled around the world. It was strange to look down 6th Avenue towards Soho and think that all that sadness was just a short walk away.
One of the great things about giving life back to this blog is that I've been able to go back through the archives and link to past posts. My first entry about Brokeback Mountain was on September 15, 2005, with one of the first reviews of the film from the Toronto Film Festival.
A.O. Scott from the New York Times wrote:
"Mr. Ledger's wrenching performance is the stuff of Hollywood history."
Lots more followed.
Watching the clips last night from Brokeback Mountain was wrenching...and it was the first time that I realized that Ledger was only 24 or 25 when he made the film.
And last night a reporter from Time magazine emailed from Park City to see if she could go down to Queer Lounge to interview gay festival-goers about what Heath Ledger meant to them and the gay community.
A lot.
I'll miss seeing Ledger interviewed 20 years from now about how his performance - and how his humility, honesty, and kindness in discussing the movie -- played a tiny role in changing how the world sees gay men.
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