‘Brokeback Mountain’ co-writer admits: “Knew we would not win” Best Picture Oscar after meeting Clint Eastwood

A writer for the 2005 gay neo-Western romance Brokeback Mountain recently recalled the film's Oscar snub as it makes its 20th anniversary comeback to theaters.After voting concluded, a few weeks prior to the awards ceremony, co-writer Diana Ossana recently recalled that Crash director Paul Haggis introduced her to Clint Eastwood at an Academy Award nominees' party.Ossana told The New York Times, "Paul started walking me over, and he goes, 'Diana, I have to tell you, he hasn't seen your movie.'" And I felt as though I had been kicked in the stomach. I realized then that we wouldn't win Best Picture.Brokeback Mountain famously lost the Oscar to Crash, even though it took home a record number of Best Picture honors during the awards season, including the Golden Globe, BAFTA, Critics' Choice Award, and Independent Spirit Award.Ossana continues to believe that the loss was caused in part by Hollywood's homophobia. “People want to deny that, but what else could it have been? We’d won everything up until then," she remarked.Ossana told The Times, "I absolutely think that block of voters kept this movie from winning Best Picture," following the public remarks of famous Academy voters like Ernest Borgnine and Tony Curtis that they would not see the Ang Lee-directed film.

Lee had previously considered the rejection of Deadline. Last month, he declared, "Your guess is as good as mine." “There are times when I feel like there’s an unlimited willingness to watch the movie. There’s so much love for it. Generally, you feel like it’s a breakthrough, that it broke all barriers. People seem to melt down. And you cannot even define it as gay cinema. It’s not gay cinema, right? It’s a love story.”“I’m nothing but grateful.

I have no bitterness. It never occurred to me," Lee, the film's Best Director winner, continued.In addition, Ossana and Larry McMurtry's Brokeback Mountain won Best Adapted Screenplay. Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Williams, Rodrigo Prieto, and Gustavo Santaolalla were nominated for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Original Score, respectively.