After 20 years, Michelle Williams is just as confused as the rest of us by a major Academy Award injustice.
The 5x Oscar nominee recently questioned why the Academy snubbed her 2005 Ang Lee-helmed gay western Brokeback Mountain, which infamously lost the Best Picture trophy to Paul Haggis’ Crash.
“I mean, what was Crash?” Williams asked on Watch What Happens Live while discussing the film’s continued impact.
“People were so open about it,” she recalled. “I just remember doing the junket. You don’t really get an opportunity to see a lot of grown men cry. That was the moment that I think that we all knew that it was going to be special.
Brokeback Mountain starred Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal as ranch hand Ennis Del Mar and rodeo cowboy Jack Twist, who begin a 20-year love affair while herding sheep together in 1963.
Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams in ‘Brokeback Mountain’ (2005) (Focus Features/Courtesy Everett Collection)
After the film’s snub originally sparked backlash in Hollywood, and was even unofficially re-voted as Best Picture in 2015, Lee blamed the loss on the Academy’s homophobia last year.
“Back then, [Brokeback Mountain] had a ceiling,” he told IndieWire in March 2024. “We got a lot of support — up to that much. It has that feeling. I wasn’t holding a grudge or anything. It’s just how they were.”
Earning her first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress, Williams played Ledger’s wife Alma. The film also starred Anne Hathaway, Linda Cardellini, Kate Mara, David Harbour, Anna Faris and Randy Quaid.
Brokeback Mountain ultimately won Best Director for Lee, Best Adapted Screenplay for Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana and Best Original Score for Gustavo Santaolalla. In addition to Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress, the film was nominated for Best Actor for Ledger, Best Supporting Actor for Gyllenhaal and Best Cinematography for Rodrigo Prieto.
