Mark Wahlberg, 53, is best known for his roles in ‘The Departed‘ and ‘The Transformers‘. But the actor lost the opportunity to star in 2005’s Ang Lee epic ‘Brokeback Mountain’, which later became one of the most successful LGBTQ+ movies in history, securing three Oscars.
It was reported that Wahlberg dropped the opportunity to play the role because he was “creeped out” due to it’s same-sex storyline and the graphic descriptive nature of the script.
Mark Wahlberg Refused To Play Same-Sex Romantic Role
In a 2007 interview, he revealed that same-sex scenes between cowboys Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist convinced him that the movie wasn’t his deal. He said, “I met with Ang Lee in that movie, I read 15 pages of the script and got a little creeped out”.
Wahlberg added, “The spitting on the hand, getting ready to do the thing. Obviously, it was done in taste – look how it was received.” The National Enquirer reported that Wahlberg’s priest also advised him to drop the role.
Before Lee, who won the best director for the film, took on the project to Idaho filmmaker Gus Van Sant who also refused to take up the project. He revealed that various A-lister celebrities were approached for the role, but they passed.
He told Indie Wire in 2008: “Nobody wanted to do it. I was working on it, and I felt like we needed a really strong cast, like a famous cast. That wasn’t working out. I asked the usual suspects: Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, and Ryan Phillippe. They all said no”.
Mark Wahlberg Is A Dedicated Christian
Mark Wahlberg has strong beliefs towards Christianity, which is also a major reason why he was against the role. But the movie earned many awards including eight Oscar nominations for Supporting Actor and Best Actor Oscar nods for the lead stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger respectively.
The film took home the awards for Best Director, Best Original Score and Best Adapted Screenplay too. It surprisingly lost the Best Picture Oscar to ‘Crash’, which is also marked as the most upsetting decision in the history of the award shows.
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Actor Jake Gyllenhaal, who took on the role instead of Wahlberg, reflected on the lines in the movie during a 2005 interview. “I wish I knew how to quit you’ – and how powerful that scene was to film”.
He recalled, “That line has moved, it has been mocked, it has been everything in between, but I remember coming out of that scene, off that ridge of the hill, and seeing a number of the crew, some of whom didn’t even know what the movie was about, crying”.
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