BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN Opening in Los Angeles on December 9

From Academy Award-winning filmmaker Ang Lee comes an epic American love story, BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, the winner of the Golden Lion Award for Best Picture at this year’s Venice International Film Festival.

The film is based on the short story by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annie Proulx and adapted for the screen by the team of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana. Set against the sweeping vistas of Wyoming and Texas, the film tells the story of two young men -- a ranch-hand and a rodeo cowboy -- who meet in the summer of 1963, and unexpectedly forge a lifelong connection, one whose complications, joys, and tragedies provide a testament to the endurance and power of love.

Early one morning in Signal, Wyoming, Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) meet while lining up for employment with local rancher Joe Aguirre (Randy Quaid). The world which Ennis and Jack have been born into is at once changing rapidly and yet scarcely evolving. Both young men seem certain of their set places in the heartland – obtaining steady work, marrying, and raising a family – and yet hunger for something beyond what they can articulate. When Aguirre dispatches them to work as sheepherders up on the majestic Brokeback Mountain, they gravitate towards camaraderie and then a deeper intimacy.

At summer’s end, the two must come down from Brokeback and part ways. Remaining in Wyoming, Ennis weds his sweetheart Alma (Michelle Williams), with whom he will have two daughters as he ekes out a living. Jack, in Texas, catches the eye of rodeo queen Lureen Newsome (Anne Hathaway). In the years that follow, Ennis and Jack struggle to keep their secret bond alive. They meet up several times annually. Even when they are apart, they face the eternal questions of fidelity, commitment, and trust. Ultimately, the one constant in their lives is a force of nature – love.

A Focus Features and River Road Entertainment presentation, BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN also stars Linda Cardellini and Anna Faris. The executive producers are Alberta Film Entertainment, William Pohlad, Larry McMurtry, Michael Costigan, and Michael Hausman. The producers are Diana Ossana and James Schamus. Based on the short story by Annie Proulx, the screenplay is by Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana. The director is Ang Lee.

Focus Features will release BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco on Friday, December 9th, and in additional cities on Friday, December 16th. BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN is MPAA-rated “R” (for sexuality, nudity, language, and some violence) with a running time of 134 minutes.