Ang Lee Talks About the Heath Ledger/Jake Gyllenhaal Kiss on “Brokeback Mountain”

Ang Lee won the Oscar for directing Brokeback Mountain which somehow lost in the Best Picture race even though it was far superior to Crash. Heath Ledger was nominated for best actor for the film and co-stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Michelle Williams in supporting categories.

Currently promoting his film Taking Woodstock in the UK, Lee talked to www.Metro.Co.UK about directing one of the kissing scenes in Brokeback: “I was directing Heath kissing [Jake Gyllenhaal] and I told him that you would never kiss a woman that hard. He needed to do it in a heroic Western way, more passionately.”

He added: “I remember seeing Michelle watching while we filmed – at that point they were already ‘friends’ – and she had a look of concentration on her face because she also thought he should be stronger with Jake.”

Here is one of the big kissing scenes where the lovers are reunited for the first time since their summer together as ranch hands:


Brokeback Mountain will always be my all-time favorite movie and we will always miss Heath Ledger.