It’s difficult to imagine anyone except for Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger playing the lead roles in Brokeback Mountain, but it might have been very different. Before Ang Lee took over, Gus Van Sant was developing the film. However, he’s recently told Indiewire that one of the reasons he didn’t make the movie was how difficult it was to find someone to star.
He says “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.”
It could have been a very different film with them, but before we cry ‘homophobia’ for their decision not to make the movie, Van Sant adds that he was angling to make a movie very different to what others involved were hoping for. He comments, “The original story, which was in The New Yorker, was so beautiful and simple, and Larry [McMurtry, screenwriter] had turned it into something that resembled ‘The Last Picture Show’. Which was really good if you were thinking along certain lines … I was thinking more like ‘Gerry,’ ‘Elephant,’ ‘Last Days.’ I kind of wanted to go back to the simplest view of the short story, which I couldn’t do … I didn’t really want to go and talk Larry and Diana [Ossana, producer] out of what they had created, because it was great.”
Ossana confirmed to Indiewire that those actors were approached, but was very diplomatic about why they might have turned it down, just saying, “Yes, all those young gentlemen (at the time) turned down the project, for various reasons.”
It’s also known that Mark Wahlberg was approached and turned the movie down. At the time Gyllenhaal and Ledger were up and comers, although it was still almost unheard of for a mainstream American film to cast two well-known heterosexual actors to play gay romantic leads in a movie. Indeed, it hasn’t happened that many times since.
A few weeks ago it was revealed that Leo DiCaprio was reteaming with director Quentin Tarantino for his film that takes place in LA at the time of the Charles Manson murders. Now he’s bagged another big name he’s worked with before, as Brad Pitt has also joined the movie, according to 
Leonardo DiCaprio must have enjoyed his time working with Quentin Tarantino of Django Unchained, as Deadline reports that he signed on to star in the director’s upcoming Charles Manson based movie. DiCaprio has been having a self-imposed career break, as he hasn’t actually filmed a movie since The Revenant. However, with the Manson movie expected to shoot later this year, it will mark his first film since his Oscar-winning role.
There’s a bit of intrigue in Hollywood at the moment. There are rumours that Jared Leto is a bit angry about the announcement that 
While Carol may have missed out on a Best Picture Oscar nomination it’s gotten massive amounts of love from the Gay & Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association’s Dorian Awards, which bestowed five prizes on the movie, including Film of the Year, Director of the Year (Todd Haynes), Screenplay of the year (Phyllis Nagy) and LGBTQ Film of the Year. In addition, Cate Blanchett, star of the ‘50s-set lesbian romance, earned Film Performance of the Year – Actress for her titular turn. Haynes also was also hailed as Wilde Artist of the Year (named for the group’s patron saint Oscar Wilde). As for Film Performance of the Year – Actor, Leonardo DiCaprio for The Revenant prevailed. Blanchett previously won a Dorian Award for Blue Jasmine.
When the Hollywood Foreign Press Association hired Ricky Gervais to host the Golden Globes after a three-year gap, you’ve got to think they were hoping for a bit of controversy. After all, all of his previous experiences has commenters asking whether he’d gotten too close to the knuckle.
Although there’s a lot of good buzz for The Revenant, with some saying it could have a strong showing during the upcoming award season, there are also plenty of stories of its difficult production, which went over-budget and stretched out for months longer than originally planned.