Carlson2005 wrote:That's eactly the point I was trying to make: but it seems some people are just so determined to pla the victim over this. When it gets to the stage when Ebert's getting hundreds of death threats for rating BM just his no.2 film of the year after Crash (proof he's part of a homophobic hate crime conspiracy, apparently), you know it's got way out of hand.
It's also crazy, since nobody is going to see the movie anymore. It's basically vanished as if it were never there in the first place
What's so bizarre is that outside the USA, the film has had virtually no cultural impact - in the territories where it hasn't underperformed at the box-office, it's just another gay movie, which aren't exactly thin on the ground in Europe. No-one's demanding a cull of the Academy just because it didn't win any more Oscars.
Everyone made good points- and I do think it's unfair that Ebert is "labeled" just because he put the film on his list at number 2. There is such a drive to push this down our throats- I'm not interested in seeing it.
Carlson2005 wrote:I don't think the two facts are unrelated...
What's so bizarre is that outside the USA, the film has had virtually no cultural impact - in the territories where it hasn't underperformed at the box-office, it's just another gay movie, which aren't exactly thin on the ground in Europe. No-one's demanding a cull of the Academy just because it didn't win any more Oscars.
Good points. I still question what kind of cultural impact has it truly had here...outside of the amount of jokes on TV shows every day, I don't think it's changed anything on the cultural landscape. In my eyes this was no different than other Oscar-honored, Hollywood "message films" like PHILADELPHIA and BOYS DON'T CRY -- movies that, once the "controversy" wears off, nobody talks about or watches again.
My lasting impression of BROKEBACK was that I saw the trailer when I saw RENT (obviously a film with heavy gay content), and the few people who were there also laughed at the trailer like I did......especially since it was immediately preceded by Heath Ledger in CASANOVA, playing a very HETERO-sexual role!
Randy Quaid Sues Over 'Brokeback'
Actor claims producers defrauded him
By TMZ.COM STAFF
(Mar. 23) -- Randy Quaid has filed a lawsuit claiming he was done in by producers of 'Brokeback Mountain.'
TMZ obtained a copy of the lawsuit, filed Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court, claiming producers falsely represented the movie to him as \"a low-budget, art house film, with no prospect of making any money.\" Qauid claims the representations were a ruse from the beginning. 'Brokeback' has grossed around $160 million.
Quaid's suit claims that in 2004, he met with director Ang Lee, who offered him the role of Joe Aguirre. The suit alleges that Lee told Quaid: "We can't pay anything, we have very little money, everyone is making a sacrifice to make this film."
The suit does not specifically state how much Quaid made, but it does claim that the defendants "were engaged in a 'movie laundering' scheme designed to obtain the services of talent such as Randy Quaid on economically unfavorable art film terms..."
The suit asks for $10 million in damages as well as punitive damages. It also seeks "restitution for all ill-gotten gains."
Well, Randy still has to find a way to pay off the creditors (mostly one of the head honchos at Microsoft) for that Michael Caine film he and his wife produced a few years back, the oh-so ironically titled The Debtors...
