‘Brokeback Mountain’ writer reveals honest feelings about Oscar loss

Brokeback Mountain’s co-writer Diana Ossana opened up about the exact moment she knew the romance film will not win an Oscar.

The film, starring Anne Hathaway, Jake Gllenhaal, Heath Ledger and Michelle William, despite being the frontrunner of the 2005-2006 awards season was snubbed at Oscars.

The co-writer Ossana recounted to The New York Times, "Weeks before the ceremony, after Oscar voting was closed, she attended a party for the nominees at the home of Paul Haggis, the director of Crash. Clint Eastwood was in attendance and Ossana, a fan of Unforgiven, was eager to meet him."

"Paul started walking me over and he goes, ‘Diana, I have to tell you, he hasn’t seen your movie.’ And it was like somebody kicked me in the stomach," Ossanna recalled. "That’s when I knew we would not win best picture."

The film lost lost best picture to Crash on Oscar night, despite winning the most best film prizes of awards season beforehand including at the Golden Globes and BAFTAs.

Reported by Varity, several members of the Academy’s acting branch publicly opposed Brokeback Mountain, most notably Ernest Borgnine and Tony Curtis.

The performers said they would not watch "Brokeback," with Curtis saying in an interview that contemporaries like "Howard Hughes and John Wayne wouldn’t like it" and "this picture is not as important as we make it. It’s nothing unique. The only thing unique about it is they put it on the screen. And they make ’em [gay] cowboys."

Brokeback Mountain was recently re-released in theatres by Focus Features to commemorate its 20th anniversary.