Do you think Brokeback Mountain's success had something to do with this movie's production? The book has been out for years and I never thought I'd see anyone make a movie of it, but it occurred to me that Brokeback Mountain's plot is very similar and was a huge success-- I wonder if someone picked Dream Boy up after seeing it and thought, "Hmmmm, maybe I can turn this into a hit too."
Thoughts?
Maybe, but I doubt it.
Life is pandemonium!share
i actually thought the same thing when i found out about this film. i think that brokeback DEFINITELY paved the way for this to be made, and there are definitely a lot of similarities that people will not be able to stop themselves from making. what makes me sad is that (hoping that the film will be as beautiful and poetic as the novel) "dream boy" will always be viewed as "brokeback jr." and not the beautiful piece of work it is (or will be, i should say)
* * * all that work. all that pain. all that glitter. all that love. all that jazz. * * *
Hmmmm, I don't know about that. Gay independent movies have been made for years long before "Brokeback" ever came around, and just because there are a few similarities in the story doesn't mean that one influenced the other. Great ideas are unwittingly "shared" all the time. Perhaps one of the producers enjoyed "Brokeback" and greenlighted the film based on that, but I doubt it. All the money came from private investors (in other works, rich gay men with money. Haha)
shareyes gay independent movies have been made for quite some time but virtually none was successful and none as successful as brokeback. i dont wanna be cynical and say that it's impossible for the producers to simply wanna make it happened despite the brokeback similarities, but it's highly unlikely. every movie that ever comes out now with a gay storyline will be compared to brokeback and most certainly wont measure up, which makes it some what daunting for the filmaker i assume: They will either be crushed by the movie that came before or leach off its success
shareHonestly, I feel that Brokeback Mountain and Dream Boy are nothing alike (in tone, in the themes they tackle, in the protagonists they present to us and so on) other than taking place in the past and in a highly conservative environment - two points which many other gay themed movies out there also share.
I think there have been plenty of gay movies before and there would have continued to be plenty of gay movies even if Brokeback Mountain had tanked in the boxoffice department (which it had no chance of doing, what with the publicity, the level of curiosity that the line 'the gay cowboys' evoked, the prestige that Ang Lee brought with him to the project and the sheer attraction factor of the lead actors).
I also think that movie studios might be more prone to gamble on a gay movie succeeding in both critical and financial terms and it doesn't have to do with a specific concept. I think that same new openness is what brought us Milk as a big budget production with a famous director, a huge cast of (handsome young) stars and a good chance at the Oscars before it was even released - - and Milk couldn't be more different from Brokeback Mountain.
I do think this project was not aiming nearly as high and was probably far more driven by the wish to get this story out there than a thought that it could succeed as much as BBM did. The ultimate proof? The way it's being released. First through festivals, then through limited release and then it goes to DVD, where it will probably succeed the most.
By the way, I also thought I'd never see this movie filmed, but it was mainly because I had no idea how they could transfer the last part, which deals with ghosts, trauma, haunting memories, surreal existence, the splitting and merger of time and people, etc. I feel the movie captured only a part of this complex ending, so I don't think I was quite so wrong in assuming it was a very difficult task, taking this book on.
"He shall be an adder on the path, to bite a horse's heel"share