Brokeback Mountain author Annie Proulx regrets writing it because of obsessive fans

Annie Proulx says that since her story Brokeback Mountain was turned into a film she has been inundated by mail from obsessed fans who want the story to have a happy ending – to the point that she now regrets writing it at all

The author of the short story Brokeback Mountain has told The Paris Review that she now regrets writing it because of the way fans have responded to it since it was made into a film by director Ang Lee.

Annie Proulx told The Paris Review that the main characters in the story, Jack and Ennis, were the first that she had written in her literary career that felt ‘very damn real’ to her.

‘I think it happened with “Brokeback Mountain” because it took me so long to write that story,’ Proulx said.

‘It took at least six weeks of steady work, which is not my usual pace. So yeah, they got a life of their own. And unfortunately, they got a life of their own for too many other people too.’

When asked what she meant by this, Proulx revealed that the attention from obsessive fans of the film had been too much for her.

‘I wish I’d never written the story,’ Proulx said, ‘It’s just been the cause of hassle and problems and irritation since the film came out. Before the film it was all right.’

Proulx said that while many people in Wyoming had objected to her setting her tragic love story between two cowboys in the state, that wasn’t the biggest problem for her.

‘In Wyoming they won’t read it. A large section of the population is still outraged,’ Proulx said.

‘But that’s not where the problem was. I’m used to that response from people here, who generally do not like the way I write. But the problem has come since the film. So many people have completely misunderstood the story. I think it’s important to leave spaces in a story for readers to fill in from their own experience, but unfortunately the audience that “Brokeback” reached most strongly have powerful fantasy lives.

‘And one of the reasons we keep the gates locked here is that a lot of men have decided that the story should have had a happy ending. They can’t bear the way it ends—they just can’t stand it. So they rewrite the story, including all kinds of boyfriends and new lovers and so forth after Jack is killed.

‘It just drives me wild. They can’t understand that the story isn’t about Jack and Ennis. It’s about homophobia; it’s about a social situation; it’s about a place and a particular mindset and morality. They just don’t get it. I can’t tell you how many of these things have been sent to me as though they’re expecting me to say, Oh great, if only I’d had the sense to write it that way.’

A LOOK AT THE ROUGH AND TOUGH LIFE OF GAY RODEO COWBOYS

While the notion of a "gay cowboy" may have only emerged in the eye of the public after 2005's Brokeback Mountain, gay rodeos have actually been around since the 1970s. 

On a recent This is Life with Lisa Ling, the veteran journalist takes an in-depth look at this fascinating subculture and the gay men and women who call the rodeo ring their home.

Jake Gyllenhaal Reveals What He Learned From Making “Brokeback Mountain”

Jake Gyllenhaal says his experience withBrokeback Mountain taught him something vital. And it has nothing to do with the importance of man-on-man action. (Although he probably learned something about that, too.)

In an interview with The Huffington Post’s Ricky Camilleri, Gyllenhaal not only credited the movie — which he said has “a beautiful story” — with boosting his career (“it was a huge turning point”) but with teaching him about the political significance that a motion picture can have.

“It gave me the idea that movies can be important, that they do have some sort of political value,” he said.

Gyllenhaal, whose role as a ranch hand who engages in a secret gay affair earned an Academy Award nomination, said the film now “lives in its own space. It’s one of those films that’s really no longer mine, it’s sort of everyone’s.”

As for whether or not the actor knew going in that it would have such a huge effect, the actor said, “It just took off. It’s become something beyond what any of us could have imagined.”

Certainly it’s the movie that catapulted Gyllenhaal into the fantasies of gay men everywhere. And how does he feel about the movie now? “It’s an honor to be a part of,” he said.

Watch a Free, Live Webcast of the New 'Brokeback Mountain' Opera Brokeback

This week we reported that a new opera based on the classic Annie Proulx short story and film Brokeback Mountain opened in Madrid. Now, you'll be able to see it:

Medici.TV will present a free, live webcast of the world premiere production of Charles Wuorinen’s new opera, "Brokeback Mountain," from Madrid’s Teatro Real on Friday, February 7 at 2pm (EST).

The American composer, whose honors include both a Pulitzer Prize and a MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant, based his opera on the short story of the same name by his fellow Pulitzer Prize-winner Annie Proulx, who wrote the libretto herself. Starring Canadian bass-baritone Daniel Okulitch and American tenor Tom Randle as closeted ranch hands Ennis del Mar and Jack Twist, Madrid’s world premiere production is directed by Ivo van Hove, general director of the Toneelgroep in Amsterdam, under the leadership of conductor Titus Engel.

The live webcast will be available for free streaming on demand for 90 days, beginning on February 7. You can also watch medici.tv concerts on the iPhone with the free medici.tv App.

‘Brokeback Mountain’ Opera to Open This Week in Madrid

A modern opera adaption of Brokeback Mountain is set to open in Madrid later this week, AFP reports:

 

The Canadian bass-baritone Daniel Okulitch [right] as the hesitant Ennis and American tenor Tom Randle [left] as his devoted Jack play out their tale of secret love in homophobic 1960s Wyoming against a photographic backdrop of brooding mountains

At a dress rehearsal ahead of last night's world premiere, their voices soared over New York composer Charles Wuorinen's score, the orchestra sounding ominous and frenetic by turns as the doomed romance moved to its climax.

"The whole opera is about a typical kind of impossible situation, a tragic situation," said Wuorinen, who called on the writer Annie Proulx, author of the novella on which the film was based, to write the libretto.

"In this case, it's two people who in some way want to have a relationship which in their time is forbidden by society," Wuorinen told AFP.

"That's a very traditional operatic problem to deal with."

The English-language production will be premiering at Madrid’s Teatro Real.