Brokeback Mountain: Story to Screenplay

It arrived on time, brand-new

Most professional writers regard short stories as a singularly difficult genre. The brevity involved requires a unique gift for precision, a gift that many authors lack. First published in 1997 in the New Yorker, as printed here Annie Proulx's story runs to slightly less than twenty eight pages; nonetheless, the story spans some twenty years and encompasses numerous and very vividly created characters--and it presents an unflinching tale.Proulx's prose is quite stark in directness and drive, and she presents her story with a remarkable clarity and grace. Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist are two uneducated, itinerant ranch hands who meet when they are hired to tend sheep on Brokeback Mountain in the summer of 1963. Alone on the mountain, they begin a sexual relationship which they regard as 'just sex'--but which very quickly develops into a love which, given their backgrounds and era, neither can accept as such. When the summer ends, they go on to lives in the greater world, marriages, children, and all the things that a man is expected to do; even so, their need for each for each other will not be so casually dismissed, and in their failure to recognize it for what it is, and in society's refusal to allow them leaway, they will self-destruct in the most bitter way imaginable.The short story received considerable attention in 1997, and it soon fell into the hands of screenwriter Diana Ossana, who in turn passed it to partner and Pulizter Prize-winning author Larry McMurtry. Recognizing the power of the story, the two acquired the rights to adapt the story into a screenplay. Many who read the screenplay praised it--but in truth, it raised more eyebrows than practical interest. Few producers were remotely interested in a script about gay men, much less gay men in a western setting.In time, however, the screenplay came to the attention of film producer Michael Costigan and the details began to fall into place. Directed by Ang Lee and starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN began filming in 2004. Budgeted a fourteen million dollars, it was considered a "small" film that might do well in urban markets, at least well enough to make back its cost, but nothing more.The film opened in limited release in December of 2005--and critical reception was astonishing. With so many accolades, a savvy marketing campaign was developed to place the film before an ever-expanding market, a host of Academy Award nominations further fueled interest, and within slightly less than three months $118 million dollars world wide. It was a truly astounding, truly unexpected reception.While the Hollywood media machine has inevitably focused on the actors, critics have praised the script as an almost miraculous adaptation of the original story, and it is here published for the first time. Like the story itself, it is remarkable for fusion of sparse dialogue and unexpected poetry, and it reads extremely well. McMurtry and Ossana truly deserve the many critical accolades laid at their feet.The short story and the screenplay are accompanied by three essays by Proulx, McMurtry, and Ossana. All are interesting in their own way, with McMurtry commenting on the issues that surround adaptation of literary material to the screen and Ossana focusing on the processes that eventually brought the script to the screen; the most interesting essay, however is by Proulx, who discusses her inspirations for the story and the sources from which the numerous ideas and images it contains arose.The short story "Brokeback Mountain" is available in several editions, including a stand-alone printing and in Proulx's memorable collection of short fiction, CLOSE RANGE. I would personally recommend the latter--but if you are specifically interested in the screenplay as well, this is your chance. Recommended.GFT, Amazon Reviewer

'Brokeback Mountain: Story To Screenplay' by Annie Proulx, Larry McMurty, and Diana Ossana (2005) offers readers the opportunity to appreciate the two textual sources from which the exceptional 2005 Ang Lee was derived. McMurty, of course, is the author of 'The Last Picture Show' (1966) and the brilliant screenplay of the 1971 film of the same title.Proulx's short story has enjoyed an esteemed and prestigious career. First published in the New Yorker in 1997, it went on to win the National Magazine Award and an O. Henry Prize; Proulx herself has won the Pulitzer Prize.However, 'Brokeback Mountain' is a short, fairly pedestrian tale told in the clipped, self-consciously restrained Hemingway style. In the included essay, 'Getting Movied,' Proulx states that "it was a hard story to write," and "the story went through more than sixty revisions"; unfortunately, Proulx's difficulties and concerted efforts show everywhere on the page. Elsewhere, Ossano praises its "rawness and power" and describes being wracked by "deep, gut-wrenching sobs" upon finishing it; McMurty refers to it as "a masterpiece."These admissions by the author, and the extreme praise by her adapters, can only inspire readers to question the literary sophistication of all three. It's difficult to believe that anyone conversant with Euripides, Shakespeare, Hilda Doolittle, Louis-Ferdinand Celine, Jean Genet, Erskine Caldwell's 'Tobacco Road' (1932) and 'God's Little Acre' (1933) or even Andrew Holleran's 'The Dancer From The Dance' (1978) could be as moved as McMurty and Ossana appear to have been over what is essentially an unimaginative and humdrum tale that almost any competent craftsmen could produce to order.The problem is not the theme or subject matter, but the manner in which Proulx executes her story: sentences like "A slow corrosion worked between Ennis and Alma, no real trouble, just widening water" underscore the tale's failed style, which attempts to sound down-home but simply sounds contrived and artificial. Proulx acknowledges that writing 'Brokeback Mountain' was an unusually powerful personal and creative experience, but the text is defined by an artificial gloss of 'tastefully' repressed emotion which isn't persuasive or touching in the least.'Brokeback Mountain' was published, with unfortunate prescience, just before the Matthew Shepard tragedy occurred in Wyoming, where the story takes place. But readers should remember that homophobia and corresponding acts of violence certainly aren't limited to rural or suburban America, as urban 'hate crime' statistics reveal year after year. Nor are same-sex unions necessarily more conspicuous outside of large cities. 'Brokeback Mountain' is set in the more innocent period of the 1960s and 1970s; it certainly seems feasible that Jack and Ennis might have bought a ranch together in a different part of the state--or in another state altogether--and simply passed as brothers or cousins.Another potential trouble is that Proulx seems to conceptualize people in terms of externalized 'types': before meeting Ang Lee, she frames him in her mid as "A Taiwanese-born director, probably a thoroughgoing urbanite, who had recently recreated The Hulk" and doubts that they would have anything to say to one another. Before attempting another story of same-sex love or homophobia, Proulx might consider reading Kinsey's 'Sexual Behavior in the Human Male' (1948), C. A. Tripp's 'The Homosexual Matrix' (1975), and even Gore Vidal's heretical 'Myra Breckinridge' (1968) to get a more balanced and accurate view of the vicissitudes of human sexuality. Perhaps not surprisingly, Lee's film reflects the depth, keen understanding, and subtly concerning its subject that Proulx's story does not.Reading McMurty and Ossana's screenplay is almost as powerful an experience as viewing Lee's poignant film, and their work provides this volume with its real value.

With both the original short story (incredibly well written and will surely one day be a classic) and the screenplay in one volume, along with essays by the screenplay writers Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, and the wonderful Annie Proulx herself on the making of the film, this is a "must buy" for any Brokeback fan. As well as being able to compare the short story and the wonderful way McMurtry and Ossana adapted the story faithfully for the screen, missing not a detail, and a glimpse into the making of the film, the screenplay's invaluable for those times when no amount of rewinding and viewing again can make out what the hell Ennis is mumbling! As the title of the book says, from story to screenplay, combining both with the thoughts and recollections of those most closely involved in taking the story from the page to screen, gives more insight into the process involved.I own two copies of the book - one which I dip into on a regular basis which is now battered and worn, being well read, but my other stays safely stored away, just perfect like both the story and screenplay, but this is definitely a book for reading.

This has become an invaluable extra dimension to what is one of the most profound cinematic experience I have ever had.

This was really helpful as my daughter is doing a project on the film.

Amazing book, amazing story, real and strong emotions. Annie Proulx is a gifted writer and the story line is so delicate and romantic. The Screenplay was way cooler and went in great depths about the love between the men as well as more backstories about their lives and spouse's.

Da mich der Film fasziniert hat - wollte ich das Screeplay dazu lesen. War es wert!