It seems that a few of Hollywood’s leading men passed on, on what turned out to be a hugely successful feature.
According to Gus Van Sant, both Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt both passed on starring in the drama Brokeback Mountain.
Van Sant who was originally considered to direct the 2006 drama revealed in an interview with IndieWire that, “Nobody wanted to do it. I was working on it, and I felt like we needed a really strong cast, like a famous cast. That wasn’t working out. I asked the usual suspects: Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Ryan Phillippe. They all said no.”
This was confirmed via email to the outlet by the film’s producer and screenwriter Diana Ossana who wrote, “Yes, all those young gentlemen (at the time) turned down the project, for various reasons.”
The film that chronicles the complicated love story of two cowboys earned considerable acclaim earning eight Oscars nominations (the most of any film that year) including best actor and best supporting actor for Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, respectively.
As for Van Sant not directing the film, he added, “I was not ready. I’m not sure why. There was just sort of a hiccup on my part. There was something off with myself, I guess, whatever was going on.”
