Brokeback Mountain: Story to Screenplay

Author: Annie Proulx, Larry McMurtry, Diana Ossana

List Price: $16.00

Pages: 176

Publisher:  Scribner (December 1, 2005)

Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.4 x 0.5 inches

ISBN: 0743294165   

This little volume contains Annie Proulx's original short story version of BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN as it appeared in The New Yorker in 1997 along with the screenplay to Ang Lee's film by Larry McMurtry (The Last Picture Show, Terms of Endearment) and Diana Ossana. The screenwriters retained much of the spareness, tension, and overt¹ and threatened violence of the original story. They even incorporate much of Proulx's unfilmable descriptions in between the characters' speeches (perhaps as cues for method actors). The biggest change from story to screen seems to be the expanded roles of the women in the men's lives--the wives, girlfriends (created from whole cloth), and Ennis's daughter, Alma Jr. This seems justified², given that the story takes place over twenty years, a period in which both main characters, Jack³ Twist and Ennis Del Mar⁴, carried out a spotty love affair but constructed their public lives according to more conventional mores⁵. Ennis's love of his daughters is genuine and not a substitution or consolation⁶ prize. And the fact that she can see her father's loneliness only adds to the pathos⁷ of his situation.

Each writer contributes an essay about their experience bringing this story to the big screen. Proulx's "Getting Movied" was especially thoughtful and generous. The volume would have been nicely served, however, had Ang Lee contributed an Introduction. If you're a movie credits geek, this book concludes with the entire closing credits, including the sheep wrangler⁸ and bear trainer. Also includes 8 pages of black and white photos from the film.

Book review

Both the short story and screenplay are likely to move you to tears, make you feel like somebody's pulling your guts⁹ out hand over hand a yard at a time, as Annie Proulx writes of Ennis. They can also make you treasure love more.

Proulx's prose is pure poetry. The screenplay is one of the best I've read -- a terrific read and a faithful adaptation and expansion. It's fascinating to have them side by side, to see how certain characters and events were fleshed out, how for example a single sentence [about a terrible misunderstanding of Jack's, for those who know the story] became a tear-jerking three-page sequence of scenes.

The story, script and movie all add depth to each other, like three tellings of the same tale that emphasize different shades. If you're interested in delving¹⁰ deeper into the lives and loves of these characters and the starkly¹¹ beautiful honesty of this world, buy this book.

In addition to the story and script, the book includes three eloquent¹² essays by Proulx and each of the screenwriters, Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana. These offer a good deal of insight and color to the story and whole development process, from Proulx's germ of an idea for a short story to the screenwriters shepherding the project for years, to each of their reactions to the final film. Fascinating and powerful. Strongly recommended.

Author introduction

Although Annie Proulx didn't start her career as a writer until she was in her 50s, in 1993 E. Annie Proulx became the first woman to win the prestigious¹³ PEN/Faulkner book award, for her debut¹⁴ novel Postcards. The following year she won a Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for her novel The Shipping¹⁵ News. She is also the author of Accordion¹⁶ Crimes (1996) and several short stories.