Brokeback Mountain, Capote, and Transamerica Receive Oscars

Pre-Oscar buzz dubbed 2005 the year of the queer, with LGBT-themed films screening in more mainstream venues than ever before. Movies such as Brokeback Mountain, Capote, and Transamerica garnered multiple Oscar nominations and awards and also awards from other media and entertainment organizations.

Date March 5, 2006

Locale Los Angeles, California

Key Figures

• Philip Seymour Hoffman (b. 1967), American actor
• Felicity Huffman (b. 1962), American actor
• Ang Lee (b. 1954), Taiwanese director
• Heath Ledger (b. 1979), Australian actor
• Jake Gyllenhaal (b. 1980), American actor

Summary of Event

The year 2005 was heralded as a turning point for films featuring lesbian, gay, transgender, and bisexual stories. Sources that track box-office information, such as Box Office Mojo show that films with LGBT-related content played consistently at theaters throughout the year, and were major draws. Many of these films made the transition from art houses to suburban multiplexes, and several were nominated for various industry awards, such as the Golden Globes, Independent Spirit Awards, and, most notably, the Academy Awards, or Oscars.

As the Oscars approached, Brokeback Mountain, the most honored film of 2005—and definitely the most talked about—had already won several awards, including best picture from BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts), the Golden Globes (Hollywood Foreign Press Association), the New York Film Critics Circle, and the Satellite Awards (International Press Academy). With eight Oscar nominations, Brokeback Mountain was considered a frontrunner for the Academy Award for Best Picture. The film, which centers on the long-term and, ultimately, tragic relationship between two Wyoming cowboys—played by Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal—spurred much controversy and discussion over its subject matter. Conservatives disapproved of the gay relationship between the two main characters, while LGBT groups criticized the film’s marketing, which omitted gay references, and its lack of LGBT people in production and performing roles. However, many other filmgoers commented on the universality of the motion picture. The uproar over the film, plus its many nominations and awards, generated widespread interest, which went from a modest opening in only five theaters to its wider release in more than two thousand theaters. To the surprise and chagrin of many, Brokeback Mountain lost the Best Picture Oscar to Crash but won in three other categories: Best Director (Ang Lee); Best Adapted Screenplay (Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana); and Best Original Score (Gustavo Santaolalla).

Another critically acclaimed film, Capote, was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture. A biographical film (biopic) about gay American journalist and writer Truman Capote, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, the story focuses on Capote’s research for his “nonfiction novel” In Cold Blood: A True Account of a Multiple Murder and Its Consequences (1965). Hoffman had been recognized for his work as Capote by BAFTA, the Golden Globes, the Independent Spirit Awards, and the Screen Actors Guild among others, and he continued his winning spree by receiving the best actor Oscar for his amazing performance. Hoffman’s award was the only Oscar that Capote received. Many noticed, however, that Hoffman did not acknowledge Capote in his acceptance speech.

Transamerica, starring Felicity Huffman, who also has a lead role in the popular television series Desperate Housewives, earned two Academy Award nominations. Huffman, as a male-to-female (MTF) transgender person, earned critical praise and many best actress awards, including a Golden Globe, an Independent Spirit, an award from the National Board of Review, and an award from the International Press Academy; the Oscar, however, went to Reese Witherspoon, who won the award for Walk the Line.

Other Oscar-nominated films with LGBT characters included The Constant Gardener and Mrs. Henderson Presents, bringing the total number of Academy Award nominations for LGBT-related films to twenty-one. Other motion pictures released in the United States in 2005 with LGBT-related themes or characters include (from the United States) D.E.B.S., Dorian Blues, The Dying Gaul, Eating Out, The Family Stone, Happy Endings, Heights, Loggerheads, Mysterious Skin, Rent, Saving Face, and Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang; from the United Kingdom came Breakfast on Pluto, Imagine Me and You, and My Summer of Love. France offered the films Crustacés et coquillages (Cote d’Azur, US title) and Le Clan (Three Dancing Slaves, US title), India produced My Brother Nikhil, Israel offered Lalehet al hamayim (Walk on Water), and Thailand had Sud Pralad (Tropical Malady, US title) and Beautiful Boxer.

Although LGBT-themed films became more mainstream, starring roles continued to go to straight actors, or to actors believed to be straight. Neither of the Academy Award–nominated actors of the films discussed above identified as an LGBT person during the productions or screenings of the films. At the time, many LGBT actors chose to remain in the closet for fear of compromising their careers, a situation that scholar Larry Gross characterizes as “an unmistakable tinge of minstrelry . . . when gay actors are locked into the closet by their own ambitions and the paranoia of the industry, and audiences must be firmly assured of the heterosexual credentials of those playing gay for pay.”

As acceptance of LGBT people grew over the following decade, the number of openly LGBT actors and other celebrities increased and were more often involved in LGBT-themed films. However, even as openly gay, lesbian, and bisexual actors found greater success, the issue of transgender characters frequently being played by non-transgender actors persisted. Films such as Dallas Buyers Club (2013), for which actor Jared Leto won an Academy Award for his portrayal of a transgender woman, and The Danish Girl (2015), which starred Eddie Redmayne as real historical transgender woman Lili Elbe, drew criticism from the LGBT community for this reason.

Significance

In the year 2005, films focused on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender characters received an unprecedented number of critical accolades and awards. While many of these films were independently produced, their success went on to encourage more major studios to produce and finance similar projects.

Bibliography

Denham, Jess. "The Real Reason Eddie Redmayne Was Cast as a Trans Woman in The Danish Girl." Independent. Independent, 1 Sept. 2015. Web. 1 Oct. 2015.

Gross, Larry. “Year of the Queer: Hollywood and Homosexuality.” Truthdig. Truthdig, 27 Feb. 2006. Web. 1 Oct. 2015.

Holleran, Andrew. “The Magic Mountain.” Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide. Gay and Lesbian Review, 1 Mar. 2006. Web. 1 Oct. 2015.

Rohwer, Susan. "Jared Leto a 'Revelation' in Dallas Buyer's Club.' But the Role Should've Gone to a Trans Actor." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 1 Nov. 2013. Web. 1 Oct. 2015.

Scott, A. O. “A Complex Metamorphosis of the Most Fundamental Sort.” New York Times. New York Times, 2 Dec. 2005. Web. 1 Oct. 2015.

Taylor, Ella. “Chameleon.” LA Weekly. LA Weekly, 29 Sept. 2005. Web. 1 Oct. 2015.