Michelle Williams knew the 2005 film Brokeback Mountain would be a success because of a very special reason.
In an interview on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen on Friday, April 4, Williams told the host that the film’s press tour clued her in to the film’s enormous impact.
“I just remember doing the junket and you don’t get an opportunity to see a lot of grown men cry. That was the moment that I think we all knew that it was going to be special to people,” she explained.
The movie starred Jake Gyllenhaal and Willianm’s late ex, Heath Ledger as Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar, two men who engage in a secret romantic relationship for 20 years. Williams and Anne Hathaway starred as the men’s prospective wives.
(William started dating Ledger in 2004. They welcomed a daughter, Matilda, in 2005 before splitting in 2007. Ledger died of an accidental drug overdose in 2008, months after the couple’s split.)
Cohen also told Williams he was “upset” the movie didn’t win Best Picture at the Oscars. Crash took the honor instead.
In 2024, Brokeback Mountain director Ang Lee revealed he was told to wait backstage at the Oscars ceremony following his win for Best Director because everyone believed Brokeback Mountain would win. “I got my award, which was [second to] last to the big one, and I was walking off the stage, they called me down, and said, ‘Stay here. That’s your mark. Everybody assumes you will win, so stay at that mark,” he told IndieWire
“Right next to the stage was the curtain. The next was best picture. ‘Stay here, just stay here,’” he continued. “I saw Jack Nicholson, his profile, he opened the envelope, and I go, ‘Oh my God, oh my God.’ It took like 10 seconds before he announced, and then he went, ‘Crash.’”
Williams currently stars in the Hulu series Dying for Sex, which premiered Friday, April 4. The show follows the story of her character, Molly Kochan, who sets off on a sexual journey after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. The series also stars Jenny Slate as Kochan’s best friend, Nikki Boyer.
The series is based on the podcast by the same name, which documented the actual life of the real Kochan, who died in 2019.
“I was so moved by the podcast — it just absolutely hooked my heart, and I couldn’t ignore it. I was a puddle on the floor,” Williams shared in an interview with Women’s Health published on Friday. “I couldn’t really articulate why it had moved me so deeply. I listened to it again; a puddle on the floor again. There was a connection there that I needed to honor.”
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