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Bonus! The debate over Ang Lee's changes to Brokeback Mountain
🕑 Added 2025-07-06 16:00:15 +0000 UTCPretty much any time a book is adapted into a movie, the book was better ... but there are a few notable exceptions, and one of them is Brokeback Mountain. And that's according to Annie Proulx, who wrote the book! In this week's bonus video, we're looking at one change to the story that she vigorously opposed ... until she saw it on the screen and realized that Ang Lee's changes to her story made them movie better.
Plus! More Brokeback Mountain jokes, including a bunch that Patrons helped me track down. And a little sneak peek at my upcoming videos, featuring Natasha Lyonne!
Here are some of the clips referenced in this week's bonus video:
Brokeback Kong on The Soup: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyRd5bFRpdE
Jake Gyllenhaal on SNL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuqr22c990s
Natasha Lyonne making Jay Leno look dumb (her joke starts around 3:44): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axC7K97qm0w
And here's a backup link to the bonus video in case the embed doesn't work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sb9kAS64K8Q
Comments
Max Pitroff
Way late to the conversation on this, but my quintessential pick for "movie that is better than the book" has to be Double Indemnity, which I had no idea was adapted from a novel in the first place until I learned about it in a film class. The novel is extremely noir pulp, but the film really elevates the material.
Matt Baume
That does seem to be the vibe! Not quite "fake it til you make it," just "fake it and then fake it some more"
Nermal
The weirdest thing I ever heard from my friends that went to “pray away the gay camp” was that in response to one young man who raised his hand and asked how he could physically perform the act with a woman if he wasn’t attracted to them at all. The counselor told him that “men can have sex with anything. If a farmer can have sex with a sheep you can have sex with a woman”.
