That' why we appreciate Heath and Jake even more...
From:
http://blogcritics.org/archives/2007/02/28/214419.php---------------------------------------
Mark Wahlberg "Creeped Out" By Brokeback Mountain RoleWritten by Chris Evans
Published February 28, 2007
Apparently Mark Wahlberg was happy filmmaker Ang Lee passed him over for one of the roles in Academy Award winning film Brokeback Mountain because the idea of playing a gay cowboy "creeped him out."
At some point during the development of the film, he and Joaquin Phoenix were considered for the roles of Jack and Ennis, but Wahlberg felt uncomfortable about gay sex acts in a tent.
Wahlberg says, "I met with Ang Lee on that movie, I read 15 pages of the script and got a little creeped out. It was very graphic, descriptive - the spitting on the hand, getting ready to do the thing. I told Ang Lee, ‘I like you, you’re a talented guy, if you want to talk about it more…’ Thankfully, he didn’t.”
Obviously the parts eventually went to Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal who both received Oscar nominations for the film, and the movie was almost unanimously critically claimed, but Wahlberg says he had no real desire to see the film.
He adds, “I didn’t rush to see Brokeback, it’s just not my deal… Obviously, it was done in taste - look how it was received.”
Now here’s my thing. I can understand a straight man being uncomfortable with the gay sex scenes in the film, but to use the words “creeped out” is almost disgusting. What’s creepy about it? It’s just a sex scene like in any other movie. It’s simulated. It’s not like anyone’s actually asking you to put your penis in anyone’s ass. And considering the fact that he's done some pretty explicit scenes in his day, it’s disappointing to me that he’d have that attitude about the film.
I'm the first person to shoot down gay men who are angry because some straight guy doesn't enjoy watching two men get it on, because why would they? They're straight. And like I said, it makes sense that it would make him uncomfortable or uneasy. But in your last film you shot a man dead. It's easier for you to play that than to play a man who's in love with another man?
Then he has the nerve to say that obviously the movie was well received because the homosexuality was done in taste. Excuse me? So because this is a story about two gay men, the sex needs to be tasteful and classy, yet there’s no problem with the millions of raunchy and explicit heterosexual sex scenes that are out there in movies that have been great films.
I would think Mark would be even more sensitive considering his uncle who he has discussed before. He said,
My uncle was gay and he was a teamster and a truck driver and he was a guy's guy, but he kept this secret his whole life. Imagine how hard that must have been for him. I feel so bad. Every time my dad brings it up, he cries because he loves his brother more than anything. He doesn't care what it was. He was born that way. Acceptance is the key. The only way you're gonna succeed in life and really grow as a human being is through acceptance.
I love Mark, as an actor — and he’s a gorgeous man. But these statements seriously disappoint me. I thought he had outgrown this crap years ago. It's called acting, Mark. It's all pretend.