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Mark Wahlberg turned down the chance to star in one of the most iconic films of all time because he found it “creepy” that the story involved people of the same sex.
Wahlberg, now 53 and best known for roles in The Departed and The Transformers, could have played the lead role in the 2005 Ang Lee film Brokeback Mountain, which became one of the most successful LGBTQ+ films in history and won three Oscars.
However, Wahlberg admitted that he was uncomfortable with the “graphic, descriptive” nature of the script, which tells the story of two American cowboys who become gay lovers. The roles were eventually played by Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal.
In a 2007 interview, Wahlberg said the film’s first sex scene between cowboys Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist convinced him that the film “wasn’t his deal,”
He said, ‘I met Ang Lee in that movie, I read 15 pages of the script and it gave me a bit of the creeps.
Mark Wahlberg passed up the chance to star in one of the most iconic films of all time because he felt ‘creepy’ about the same-sex storyline – Photo 2023
Wahlberg added: “The spitting on the hand, the getting ready to do it.”
‘It was clearly a matter of taste, just look at how it was received.’
The National Enquirer reported at the time that Wahlberg’s Catholic priest had advised him to drop the project.
Before Lee — who would win the Oscar for Best Director for the film — took on the project, My Own Private Idaho filmmaker Gus Van Sant was approached to direct the film. He said that numerous A-list stars had been offered the project, but had turned them down.
He told IndieWire in 2018, “Nobody wanted to do it. I was working on it and I felt like we needed a really strong cast, like a celebrity cast. That didn’t work. I asked the usual suspects: Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Ryan Phillippe. They all said no.
‘Yes, all those young gentlemen rejected the project at the time, for various reasons.’
The film was critically acclaimed and received eight Oscar nominations, including Best Supporting Actor and Best Actor for Gyllenhaal and Ledger.
The film won awards for Best Director, Best Original Score and Best Adapted Screenplay.
Wahlberg, now 53, could have starred in the 2005 Ang Lee film Brokeback Mountain, which won three Oscars. Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal played cowboys and lovers Ennis del Mar and Jack Twist.
In a 2007 interview, Wahlberg said the first sex scene between the cowboys convinced him the film was “not his deal”
Wahlberg is known as a devout Catholic. The National Enquirer reported at the time that Wahlberg’s Catholic priest advised him to drop the project.
Gus Van Sant revealed that both Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio were approached to play the lead role, but said no
Director Ang Lee won the Oscar for Best Director for the film in 2006
The film surprisingly lost the Oscar for Best Picture to Crash – a decision that has since been regarded as one of the biggest upsets in the history of the awards ceremony.
Gyllenhaal reflected on the film’s most famous lines – “I wish I knew how to quit you” – and how powerful that scene was to film.
“That line has been pushed, it’s been made fun of, and everything in between, but I remember coming out of that scene, off that ridge, and seeing a bunch of crew members crying, some of whom didn’t even know what the movie was about,” Jake recalls.
“When I first read that sentence, I thought, ‘What is that?’ Now I realize that anyone who loves movies knows what that feels like. The interesting thing about casting us at such a young age was that we didn’t fully understand what we were getting into, and that’s the beauty of the movie.”