December 10, 2005

The Oscar ads for "Brokeback Mountain."

Notice anything? How about this one? And most absurdly. Here's the whole set of Oscar ads. Compare those to the original movie poster. Comments?

IN THE COMMENTS: "Pathetic. But predictable from the so-called progressives in Hollywood, who play liberaler-than-thou but would rather commit actual suicide than the career suicide they fear would come about if they succumbed to 'the gay.'"

28 comments:

chuck b. said...

Too funny. I haven't seen the movie yet, but I did read the critics say the women give standout performances.


(It's hard to watch movies about people who can't make their lives work.)

Ruth Anne Adams said...

Isn't that supposed to be the gay cowboy movie? They all look straight to me in the first posters.

But perhaps I'm being heteronormative to a fault.

Unknown said...

Ding ding ding ding!

Tell her what she's won!

:-)

Wow, that is weird. Thanks for pointing this out, Ann.

Palladian said...
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Palladian said...

Well, naturally! Unless your movie is something like Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and you can't conveniently airbrush out the subject matter for the Academy voters who won't actually be watching the film but voting from press kits, you scrub that gayness clean away!

Pathetic. But predictable from the so-called progressives in Hollywood, who play liberaler-than-thou but would rather commit actual suicide than the career suicide they fear would come about if they succumbed to "the gay".
The one with the baby is especially hilarious. Look, your hero movie star fulfils his biological role, why it's almost like Mary and Joseph beaming over the newborn Christ! The queer cowboy inseminated a woman, it is a miracle! Vote for us!

And, as an aside, it's the ATTACK OF THE BIG FACES. It would be comical if it weren't so unpleasant. Look at Ann's first link; Is that supposed to be attractive? Grainy zits, a blotchy nose, up the nostrils, the gumline? Gross! Back away, you're violating my personal space! And you know you'd rather be dancing with cowboy Heath, right Jake baby?

me said...

Wonderful. I'm a homo, but don't have high hopes for the movie, which will undoubtedly be too earnest. The GLAAD endorsement in particular is the kiss of death


beautifulatrocities

Riane said...

If those are all Oscar ads, they probably don't want to play up the gay side of the movie - they don't want to be too obvious that two straight men playing gay is an Oscar ploy in the first place.

OreamnosAmericanus said...

Are these a joke? If not, they are beyond pathetic.

To Dan, telling Jeff the homo he has no right to call himself that: If you check out his blog, Beautiful Atrocities, you'll see he's not a homo to be trifled with.

Yours,
USMale the Homo

Pooh said...

What. The. Fcuk. I don't even understand the point - is there any possibility that the academy members don't already know that this is "the gay cowboy movie"?

This reminds me of the faux-trailers I saw a few months ago: The Shining as a family comedy or West Side Story as a zombie flick.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Has anyone been reading Boondocks the last couple days? Poor old Grandpa... he was just hoping to see a good old macho cowboy movie!!

Good stuff from my favorite comic strip!

amba said...

Like US Male, I suspect this "ad campaign" of being a joke. I mean, on the news they've been going on and on about how this is a passionate love story between two men. Interestingly, they keep saying, not a gay movie. A movie about two men who fall in love with each other, helplessly. Like sometimes stuff just happens. That made me want to see it.

I keep wondering what wag is going to turn "Brokeback Mountain" into "Bareback Mountin'."

Palladian said...

Oh, you know it will happen, amba. The industry that has already brought us such gems as "Shaving Ryan's Privates" and "A Beautiful Behind" couldn't pass up an opportunity as good as this.

Unknown said...

The only thing I can think is that they're trying to get some nominations for the women as well.

This is pretty funny though.

Troy said...

Now come on... in that one poster it is obvious that Heath Ledger's character loves to be loved from behind -- whether from his wife or from Bubble Boy.

I'm sure they innocently chose the female character.

Also funny -- Bubble Boy's protestations that this is not a gay cowboy movie. Uh. OK. It ain't Ang Lee's the A** Storm. I guess he wouldn't like "gay marriage propaganda" either (which, of course, has no bearing on the quality). Whatever the movie is I'm sure by Ang Lee's standards it is most likely very well done, well acted, and beautifully shot.

KCFleming said...

I was visiting my daughter at college in Missouri, and took her to see I Walk the Line, which we liked. Among the previews was Brokeback, which I had not heard of as yet.

At the end of the clip, there was a pregnant pause, and then the audience ...broke out laughing. I'm sorry, but if the preview of a serious film makes people laugh, well, that movie is dead in the water. It looked like some dumb 50s B-movie cowboy romance with guys. Overacting aplenty just in that short time frame.

And what possessed the producers to forego a focus group screening? Or better, just log onto any fanboy movie site and ask, "would y'all go and see a gay cowboy movie that shows alot?
[/pin drop, crickets, cough, cough]

Lone Pony said...

Saw the previews on TV. One guy was standing behind the other giving him a hug. Just don't think I'm ready to watch that.

Joe Giles said...

I think downtownlad may have hit upon the rationale.

Everyone by now knows what this film is about. I don't think they're trying to hide anything to the voters, who aren't exactly a group of Mormons. And if anything, those other ads tell more of a narrative than the original shot.

But all this is moot. How can anyone stand this Gyllenhall guy? Yugh. He makes anything unwatchable.

Chris Althouse Cohen said...

Lone Pony: How can you not be "ready" for such a tame image?

In any case, I can assure all the skeptics that the Oscar ads are genuine. OscarWatch.com is a very reliable website that has been posting Oscar ads, mostly from Variety, for years.

Palladian said...

"And what possessed the producers to forego a focus group screening? Or better, just log onto any fanboy movie site and ask,"would y'all go and see a gay cowboy movie that shows alot?" [/pin drop, crickets, cough, cough]"

So nothing should be made unless it doesn't make "fanboys" uncomfortable? What a cynical and depressing view of the purpose of art. Did it occur to you that the producers may have made the film for other reasons than having blockbuster box office? Or have we been so jaded by the general mediocrity of focus-group dominated Hollywood that we expect nothing more from film?

And anyway, the movie made $545,000 for its opening weekend from 5 theaters, so your predictions of financial doom are quite unjustified.

" Saw the previews on TV. One guy was standing behind the other giving him a hug. Just don't think I'm ready to watch that."

You're upset by the sight of two men hugging each other? Get professional help. And don't go to Italy on vacation.

XWL said...

The five theatres Brokeback Mountain is playing in are, 3 in Manhattan, 1 in West Hollywood, 1 in San Francisco.

For myriad reasons these theatres don't represent the actual nationwide interest level in this picture.

Each of these multiplexes has the film on two screens and have been selling out every performance.

Syriana offers parallels. In its 5 theatre limited release, $370k for a $74k per screen, but this week in 1700+ theatres a middling $12M (but respectable $6800 per screen).

Those numbers suggest that Syriana won't make it's $50M budget in domestic receipts unless it gets a major Oscar bounce.

Likewise when Brokeback Mountain expands it will be playing on smaller screens within less enthusiastic populations.

Still Brokeback Mountain made the all time top ten in per screen average according to BoxOfficeMojo so that's nothing to sneeze at, but if you subtract out the Disney animated films that had special engagements at Disney owned theatres a week before their wide release the list of top per screen films (like Melinda et Melinda) are full of films that did middling to no business in the rest of the United States.

Palladian said...

The budget for "Brokeback Mountain" was "well under" 20 million according to Focus Features.

Palladian said...

I've seen it mentioned that they were making a subtle reference to the Titanic poster with the Brokeback Mountain poster. All I can see in either is BIG HEADS.

geekesque said...

Well, part of it is that this film is much, much, much, much, much more than a story about gay cowboys.

I really don't care about the FYC ads--the film itself is the best I've seen since 2003.

Pooh said...

Geek, if that's the case then the trailers are at least as misleading as the OscarWatch ads. A plot summary based on the trailer I saw would be "Male cowboys have affair. Hillarity ensues."

I'm still going to go see it when it opens here.

sonicfrog said...

Pooh said:

"This reminds me of the faux-trailers I saw a few months ago: The Shining as a family comedy or West Side Story as a zombie flick."

Oh, Pooh. Thank You. Thank You. Thank You for the movie trailor link. Don't know how that slipped by me. Funnier than hell!!!

Sigivald said...

... am I the only one who realises Dan was making a joke, or is all the humor so meta-meta that I can't even tell anymore?

Even odds, I reckon.

Craig Ranapia said...
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Craig Ranapia said...

OK, here's a comment - Did you notice the words FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION and are any of these running outside the trade press? I love a conspiracy theory as much as the next man, but I very much doubt Heath Ledger can be nominated for best actor more than once - and he's completely ineligable for supporting or lead actress.

Anyway, folks, I remember when conservatives use have their talking points a bit more focused. Too faggy? Not queer enough? Oy, make up your damn minds people.