Look Ye Upon The History of Sound

As foretold yesterday when that lovely poster for The History of Sound dropped we now have the trailer! And yes it's giving big Brokeback vibes, just as the poster echoed a famous image of Jack & Ennis -- I am sure there will be plenty of snarky comments about this being 20 years later and we're dealing with another gay love story starring two (nominally) heterosexuals but you won't hear them from me. I love everyone involved with this movie from director Oliver Hermanus on down to all of the cast so saying I'm onboard is an understatement. Especially...

... with all the absolutely gorgeous shots of Paul Mescal & Josh O'Connor in said trailer. I know that the general feeling out of Cannes was one of disappointment, at least from a lot of the critics I trust and admire who saw it there, but I'm remaining enthusiastic despite that because I've loved every single one of Hermanus' movies to date, usually more than many of my peers, and I don't mind a restrained film which seems to be one of the bigger complaints. If they make me feel real emotions that's what matters; I can just use my imagination to picture Josh tea-bagging Paul. It's not like I haven't already! 

Anyway I suppose I'll get to know what my actual opinion is soon enough since this movie is actually out in actual theaters on September 12th -- no dilly-dallying with a long festival run for this baby! On the one hand I'm sure people who care about awards prospects will be sniffing at that news pointedly but since I'm not one of those people I just celebrate the non-wait. Gimme! In that vein here's that trailer:

And because it's what I do hit the jump for an assortment of 

several more gifs I made of noted moments in said trailer...

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

 ... you can learn from:

Brokeback Mountain (2005)

Cassie: I don't get you, Ennis del Mar.

Ennis: I'm sorry. Was probably no fun anyway, was I?

Cassie: Ennis, girls don't fall in love with fun!

Pretty sure that every gay man who's been closeted for any portion of their life has had some variation on this exact conversation with a girl who had a crush on them -- I remember a couple from high school and oof, those memories are excriutiating. My sincerest apologies to all of those women today. It's a fuck-ton of a situation. 

Anyway that scene is just one of many scenes in Brokeback (every single scene actually) that rings painfully true. And it seems kismet to me that I highlight it today since it's Linda Cardellini's 50th (!!!) birthday today and I was just talking (see below) about what a stunning performance she gives in her handful of scenes in this film the other day, when I saw this on the big screen over the weekend for its 20th anniversary. (There's an entire thread at Bluesky surrounding the below post, if you're so inclined.) 

Also justice for Linda Cardellini who never gets talked about giving one of the great performances in this movie but surely does

[image or embed]

— Jason Adams (@jamnpp.bsky.social) June 21, 2025 at 7:23 PM

Anyway the movie still stuns but I felt downright lousy I'd forgotten Cardellini's wonderful work entirely since the last time I watched the movie (which was probably about a decade ago -- it's hard to re-watch! It hurts!) -- the main foursome's turns just all loom so large. Or if I start thinking about smaller roles I wander off thinking about Jake & David Harbour eye-fucking each other as Anna Faris hilariously blathers on. Good goddamn the sexual tension in that scene is still off the charts...

Let's Do the Brokeback Again

I can't imagine any of my readers don't already know that this year marks the 20th anniversary of Ang Lee's masterpiece Brokeback Mountain and that it's getting re-released into movie theaters for the ocassion -- in case you haven't already bought your tickets and gotten your Jack Twist cosplay prepped here is a link for the former endeavor anyway. And Focus just dropped the above new poster for the occasion as well. I like that Jack & Ennis actually get to touch now here 20 years later, as opposed to the original one-sheet (seen below). That's called progress! Anyway this movie and MNPP itself are pretty inextricably linked -- we just celebrated our 20th anniversary and my writing about Brokeback is what originally got people coming over here to visit. (Notably my pal Nathaniel Rogers at The Film Experience became a fan and so I started writing for him and yadda yadda here we are.) If you click that last link and keep scanning through the many many pages you'll see -- we've been talking these beautiful sad boys for twenty straight (ahem) years. I don't expect that to quit either. Because why? Say it with me! We don't know how to quit them!

Today's Fanboy Delusion

 Today I'd rather be...

... rolling in the dirt with Mike Faist and Lucas Hedges.

Don't ask me where this video from the theatrical production of Brokeback Mountain came from -- I have no clue, I just stumbled on it on Tumblr last week and set it aside to post when I had a minute. Did this production get a filmed release? I feel as if it would be stupid for it to not get that, given what we saw of the play (hubba hubba) but I know a lot of smiliar wonders have been lost into the ether. So let's just be grateful for this sexy eight-second snippet. 

ETA of course about two minutes after I posted this I found 

a second video! The internet is a kind, cruel mistress.

Brokeback Mounts a 4K Edition

We are inexplicably roaring toward the 20th anniversary of Brokeback Mountain next year and just in time to celebrate the film is getting remastered for top-shelf 4K sadness by the wonderful folks over at Kino Lorber -- click here to pre-order the disc, which is out on June 25th. I started this here website in 2005, just a few months before Brokeback came out, and I can sort of credit that movie with starting my "career" (such as it is) since writing about it was how I started making contacts and friends and gaining readers here on the internet. Hard to believe it's almost been two decades of this nonsense! But at least when movies like Brokeback or Call Me By Your Name come along they inspire me to maybe be a little less nonsensical and share something genuine with y'all. Awwww, feelings! G'bless. I haven't watched Brokeback since... well since they last screened it at FLC, I think in 2017? Honestly seeing it on the big screen is such an overwhelming experience and it'd lost none of its power -- it's not a movie I can watch often but I can't imagine this new 4K restoration won't make the big-screen rounds and I expect to be sitting there with my moist tissues all over again. 

Quote of the Day

"Back then, [‘Brokeback Mountain’] had a ceiling. We got a lot of support — up to that much... It has that feeling. I wasn’t holding a grudge or anything. It’s just how they were."

For some reason today IndieWire chatted with Ang Lee about Brokeback's bullshit Oscar loss for Best Picture to a piece of shit in 2005 -- the 20th anniversary's not til next year, guys! -- and he nails the fact that in 2005 they still weren't gonna go that gay yet. Look at all the LGBT actors who've won since then... crickets... anyway at the link he also tells a devastating story (which he laughs about now) about how a stage-hand kept him backstage after winning Best Director because everybody was assuming he was about to head right on back out for the Best Picture statue... SIGH. He might be able to laugh about it now but I am still coping.

Jake is Prime Beef

Oooh okay it's a "two Jake Gyllenhaal posts in a row" kinda day -- I can roll with that, even if it's a Monday. If we can redefine "a case of the Mondays" to mean "non-stop Jake day" then we'll have fixed the world. Anyway I am sure y'all recall that GQ Korea photo-shoot of Jake that I shared last week -- well they posted a video of the shoot over the weekend and unlike this morning when I skimped on making gifs for Aaron Taylor-Johnson, I did not skimp on the gifs this afternoon with Jake. 

It's a gif-o-rama! But gifs are not the entire reason we're here -- there is Jake News too! Well a rumor anyway, but a killer rumor we're hoping comes true. Deadline's reporting that the second season of Beef -- the show that starred Steven Yeun and Ali Wong and just spent all awards season racking up the awards -- is going to be about two warring couples, and those couples might be played by Charles Melton & Cailee Spaeny (so excellent in Priscilla) and... drumroll please... Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway!

Brokeback reunion y'all! And that's before we even get to the "Jake Gyllenhaal warring with Charles Melton" sexiness apocalypse. Funny enough I was just thinking about Jake in relation to his Brokeback cast-mates a few days ago -- specifically I was thinking I wish he'd do something with Michelle Williams again.  I feel like I haven't seen the two of them in each other's company in a long time and was worried there's a rift (as much as I can or should worry about total strangers anyway). He is the godfather to Michelle & Heath's daughter Matilda though. Maybe they just keep their shit private, and more power to them if that's the case! I just miss my Jack Nasty s'all.

Anyway Jake & Anne have of course worked together since Brokeback -- perhaps I should have called this a "Love & Other Drugs reunion"! Now there's a forgotten movie. Which is a shame because Jake is fucking fire in that -- see some memorable photos of said fire here. It's an under-appreciated movie though, and Jake & Anne obviously have wonderful chemistry, and I adore this Beef rumor. Let's make it happen. And let's pretend that we can will it into being by hitting the jump and saying a prayer to the streaming gods right now over all of my beautiful Jake gifs...

Jonny On Orgasms & Brokeback Mountain

Ooh today is coming in hard and fast -- do you hear me, Jonathan Bailey, coming hard and fast! -- because no sooner had I posted that Oliver Jackson-Cohen photoshoot then did I see a new Jonathan Bailey photoshoot for Interview magazine! But even better -- Jonny is chatting with his Crashing co-star Phoebe Waller-Bridge and listening to the two is just like firecrackers popping off. Here's a choice bit where PWB asks him about if there were any gay romances he had on-screen to learn from:

"Unfortunately, there just weren’t that many were there growing up... but I met Matthew Rhys recently, who I just love. And I was thinking about that relationship in Brothers and Sisters. And then there was Queer as Folk. Russell, T. Davies changed the game. So many people owe so much to him just purely for visibility. There is no Tim and Hawk to a 2023 audience without Queer as Folk.... 

Speaking of history, I was doing media studies with an amazing teacher and I decided that I was going to do my dissertation about the representations of Hutus and Tutsis and the Rwanda genocide, looking at Hotel Rwanda and Shooting Dogs. And then Brokeback Mountain came out and I was like, “Hang on, how can I possibly create a world where I can go and have a free pass to go to the cinema to watch it 10 times?” I’m really proud of my 17-year-old self, I wasn’t necessarily out, but I changed the topic to representation of homosexuality in Brokeback Mountain and I watched that film 10 times. And this amazing teacher, Dr. Brunton, who probably had an idea of what was going on, was just like, “This is brilliant, keep going, keep going.” And I think it was the best mark I ever got."

There's also a lot of talk of eye-fucking strangers and orgasms and everything you want to hear Jonathan Bailey talk about so make sure you go read the entire thing. But first here I have the photos for you after the jump...

Pics of the Day

I don't know why they've waited so long into the run of the Brokeback Mountain musical that's been playing in London for weeks and weeks now (it ends on August 12th) to share these sexy ass images of its stars Lucas Hedges and Mike Faist, but since I'm unfortunately never going to see it in the flesh I am just glad they're sharing at all. We also got a different one back in June, click here for that. (via, thx to Serge for the heads-up)

 

Good Morning, World

Bored out of my mind yesterday (even though I'm exceedingly busy) I stumbled upon this, uhh, generous photo of Mike Faist and Lucas Hedges in the stage adaptation of Brokeback Mountain that I told y'all about awhile back and which is right now still playing in London. Don't ask me where it came from, it was some rando Twitter account, but maybe you've seen more? And maybe you'll want to share a link to said more in the comments? But if not we can at least stop for a moment and appreciate this much! Have any readers been able to see the show?

 

Good Morning, Gay Cowboys

A short trailer for a short film but in no way short of excitement -- we have been gifted with the first tease of Pedro Almodovar's gay cowboy movie Strange Way of Life this morning! Starring Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal as the second sadder more grizzled half of Brokeback Mountain and then some hot young actors who (besides Manu Rios) I don't know the names of as the first sexier half...

... this movie, although only thirty-ish minutes long I think, appears to be Something. A lot of Something! Here is the plot description:

"A man rides a horse across the desert that separates him from Bitter Creek. He comes to visit Sheriff Jake. Twenty-five years earlier, both the sheriff and Silva, the rancher who rides out to meet him, worked together as hired gunmen. Silva visits him with the excuse of reuniting with his friend from his youth, and they do indeed celebrate their meeting, but the next morning Sheriff Jake tells him that the reason for his trip is not to go down the memory lane of their old friendship...."

It premieres at Cannes next month and then I guess we'll see from there? There is a little more info (as in quotes from Pedro) over at IndieWire; otherwise just watch the trailer here:



ETA after some research it appears that the actors playing the younger gay cowboys are José Condessa and Jason Fernández, and the latter was kind enough to share some shots from the film shoot on his Insta which I haven't seen before! And if I haven't seen them then I am guessing that you haven't seen them, because I been paying attention real close. Anyway hit the jump for the photos which are howdy-doo real promising...

Pedro's Strange Ways

Speak o' the devil! (Did you see those hot-cha-cha pictures of Pedro Pascal we posted earlier?) Here is the official poster for Pedro Almodóvar's short film Strange Way of Life starring Pascal and Ethan Hawke -- this is the "gay western" that Almodóvar's been talking about ever since ye olde Brokeback days. Here's an official still too:

Knowing how rich Pedro's short film The Human Voice with Tilda Swinton was a couple years back the fact that this is only thirty minutes long gives me no pause whatsoever. Anyway it's premiering at Cannes and we cannot wait. That poster up top is so Johnny Guitar we might explode!

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Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

... you can learn from:

Brokeback Mountain (2005)

Ennis: If you can't fix it, Jack, you gotta stand it.

Today would've been Heath Ledger's 44th birthday.

What a loss. Click here for a good piece on his legacy.

The Brokeback Boys of (Not) Broadway

West Side Story breakout Mike Faist is grabbing that movie's heat by the horns and riding it into some interesting (read: gay) territory. He's already filmed Luca Guadagnino's tennis-set love-triangle Challengers opposite Josh O'Connor and Zendaya (which Luca slyly admitted would have some "queerness" in an interview, although if he just meant "because I am directing it" or what wasn't clear) -- and speaking of there is news on that front, as it's being reported the film is hoping to premiere in Venice and then come out in the U.S. on September 15th (thx Mac). (Also at that link is the news that Luca's next movie, the William Burroughs adaptation Queer starring Daniel Craig, will begin filming next month and is also going to co-star Frances McDormand!) 

But also up for our former and most recent Riff is the long gestating stage adaptation of Brokeback Mountain! Him and Lucas Hedges are going to do it in London. And it's a musical? Can't wait for the "Spit Lube" song. In all seriousness it doesn't entirely sound like the characters themselves will be singing -- it sounds like a band will be playing country songs astride the stage antics. This is set to debut in August. I am perfectly fine with this, by the way -- it was Annie Proulx's story before it was Ang Lee's movie and there's lots of room for different interpretations. Do I think it's kind of weird that this very American story will be playing in London? Kinda! But that might just be me being annoyed I won't be able to see it talking. 

Cowboys on the Verge of a Nervous Ho-Down

Later this year Pedro Almodóvar has announced he will be directing a 30-minute Gay Western -- what he calls his "answer to Brokeback Mountain," which he almost made before Ang Lee -- called Strange Way of Life, which will star Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal. Indiewire has an interview with Almodóvar all about it -- he's talked in the past about why he turned down Brokeback, because he knew Hollywood wasn't going to let him make the super sexy cowboy fuck-fest he saw in his head. And Strange Way appears to be his chance at finally making his Gay Western... although if it'll be a fuck-fest we've yet to see. Here's what Almodóvar will share:

"He was reticent to reveal too many details about the storyline, but said that Hawke plays a sheriff named Jake, while Pascal will be the gunslinger Silva, and the characters live on opposing sides of the desert. The pair haven’t seen each other in 25 years. “So one of them travels through the desert to find the other,” Almodóvar said. “There will be a showdown between them, but really the story is very intimate.” Could it even be…romantic? Almodóvar chuckled. “You can guess,” he said. “I mean, masculinity is one of the subjects of the movie.”

He's filming the short in Spain’s Almería region, which is where a bunch of spaghetti westerns were filmed back in the day, but Almodóvar says they aren't an influence on what he's planning. He's filming it later this year before he gets to work on his full-length English-language feature-debut, the one with Cate Blanchett that I told you about previously. Now I suppose we will just wait and see if Pedro Pascal will go and give any interviews about his personal life in relation to this, long sigh inserted here for purposeful effect...

Saddle Up, Movie Lovers

Not that it's ever a good time to not think about Brokeback, but I've definitely had Ang Lee's 2005 gay cowboy masterpiece on my brain more often than not over the past few months thanks to Jane Campion's The Power of the Dog and the awards conversation surrounding that film over the past few months -- so what a wonderful coincidence that we're all about to have the opportunity to see Brokeback on a big screen again! It's the 20th anniversary of Focus Features this year, and they're going to be screening several of their classic films at AMC theaters around the U.S. to celebrate that -- from April 29th through may 5th there will be five dollar screenings of Brokeback, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Atonement, and several more magical motion pictures -- you can check out AMC's site here for more info. And there's a trailer, too!

If you hit the jump I have the full press release...

Quote of the Day

Over the weekend I shared two batches of Jake Gyllenhaal photos with y'all -- right here and right here -- which you maybe missed since I never post on the weekend and you'd be rightly inclined to not visit over the weekend due to that fact. I like to keep ya on yer toes, baby! Anyway the photos were for the Sunday Times but I hadn't been able to read the interview because paywalled -- thankfully some quotes have been snatched up by other outlets, and here's a choice bit from Mr. G on Brokeback Mountain (via), specifically whether he thinks a movie about a gay relationship could be cast with two straight actors today:

"Aaahh. I don’t know. Maybe? Part of the medicine of storytelling is that we were two straight guys playing these parts. There was a stigma about playing a part like that, you know, why would you do that? And I think it was very important to both of us to break that stigma. ... But then again I think that has led the way towards people saying, you know, people of all different experiences should be playing more roles, that it shouldn’t be limited to a small group of people. And I believe that. But at the same time, I was very proud to be in that space and to be given that opportunity. And the reaction from the majority of the gay community when the movie came out, I got this sort of — we both did, everyone in the movie — we got this overwhelming sense of open-heartedness and gratitude.”

I think we all have confused and contradictory opinions on this subject because there is no hard answer -- I think it just depends on the situation, and he's right that it was a huge deal in 2005, these name actors taking on these gay roles. You had to be there. And I wouldn't give up Jake or Heath's performances, or Timothee Chalamet's performance in Call Me By Your Name, for the world. But of course LGBT actors need better, fairer opportunities, and there's not nothing to the lived-in experience that they'd bring to these roles. I mean just think how much better the world would be without having been forced to suffer through James Corden in The Prom? 

Anyway that subject's been talked to damned death, even by me, so let's move on. Jake's new movie The Guilty is playing here in NYC right now -- I didn't go but he did a big Q&A at The Paris Theater (speaking of Call Me By Your Name) this past weekend, which is what the above photo is from -- and hits Netflix on Friday; I reviewed it right here when it played TIFF a few weeks back. He's very good in it, while the movie itself is fine. It's fine. See it for Jake, Jake's biceps, and you'll be happy. On the Netflix front there's yet another chat with Jake at that streamer's new magazine called Queue, which is what the top photo is coming at us from, and I have two more below along with some photos of him rocking his pink tux at the Tonys too!  Hit the jump for them...

No Pants Harbour

Well I did not have "David Harbour makes me feel funny in my business while wearing a pleated skirt" on my bingo card for this week, but I'm perfectly pleased to have been proven wrong -- these snaps of the Stranger Things (and Brokeback Mountain...

Never Forget David Harbour Played Jack Twist’s Side Piece pic.twitter.com/qr72sLPyV0

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) October 30, 2017

... let us not forget!) actor come via GQ where he's modeling for the designer Thom Browne, who's been trying to get men (that is cis men) into skirts for ages. And to be honest this is the first time I've been like... well maybe?  Such is the power of David Harbour's barely glimpsed thigh. Hit the jump for about a dozen more...

And With That, Happy 40 to Jake Gyllenhaal

After a full week of celebrating Jake Gyllenhaal, this is it and it is here, folks -- it's his 40th birthday today! We've come so far! You shoulder never ever underestimate my ability to stretch my Jake Gyllenhaal obsession unto total annihilation for all parties involved. On that note, even though I recapped the entire week as it went along, it just feels right to give us a round-up of everything in one final post. So here be links to all of Jake Week!

Day 1: Jake's Finest Nutters

Day 2: Jake's Best Costumes

Day 3: Jake's Best Nudity

Day 4: Jake's Best Partners

Day 5: Jake's Best Movies, Ranked!

I also included some bonus content in the Twitter thread I kept up all week for this series, so make sure you click over and check that out. There are very important pieces of the puzzle to be seen therein. Very important! 

I truly should have made this holy rectangle of space the site's banner for this week pic.twitter.com/OmHOGO68oa

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) December 18, 2020

Anyway I live in abject terror every day of my life that my fanboying over Jake will ever be seen by his own big beautiful eyeballs so god forbid he read this message himself, but we here at MNPP truly do wish him the best 40th birthday. He's been my favorite actor for 19 years and counting, and I don't foresee that changing any time soon. He continues to challenge himself and do strong, interesting work, and the projects he's got lined up on IMDb (all of which we've covered in minute detail already, of course) all sound like shit I wanna watch. Good work, and Happy Birthday, You.

And now a bonus! Because I am incapable of ever stopping. And also y'all deserve a treat after all this rambling. I noticed when I worked on the nudity list on Wednesday that Jake has a nude scene I've somehow never posted here on the site, which... well, that is a truly, wildly inexplicable thing. It's from Velvet Buzzsaw, he does the cutest little "hey here's my butt" waddle, and I've got the whole thing giffed right on after the jump...

10 Off My Head: Jake the Top

If you haven't been here all week... what, you have something better to do? You know we are in the middle of a pandemic, right? We're in the middle of a pandemic, it's literally life or death out there, and you still can't come to MNPP before Friday? I mean, I am trying to not be offended here. Trying, but failing. It's fine. It's fine. Whatever. I'll carry on. So like I was saying, if you haven't been here all week to see it, because you've been, I don't know, preferring to stare at the wall then read all my hard work or whatever, then you've missed that I've spent all week celebrating the 40th birthday of the actor Jake Gyllenhaal, which is tomorrow. 

I've been celebrating with lists! Ridiculous lists! Monday I did his best nutbag roles, Tuesday I did his greatest costumes, Wednesday I went lascivious and stared at his bum a bunch, and yesterday I picked his best screen partners. For today, our final day, I figured I'd better go big or go home. I mean I'd love to go home. Did I mention the pandemic? We should all be home. But I digress. Here on our last day of list-making I challenged myself to a most painful proposition. I have decided to not just pick my ten favorite Jake movies... BUT TO RANK THEM. Oh my god this one hurt, you guys. I am bloody, my brains are battered, and all for your entertainment. Enjoy!

My 10 Favorite Jake Gyllenhaal Movies... Ranked!!!

10. Jarhead (dir. Sam Mendes)

9. Okja (dir. Bong Joon-ho)

8. Source Code (dir. Duncan Jones)

7. The Sisters Brothers (dir. Jacques Audiard)

6. Zodiac (dir. David Fincher)

5. Wildlife (dir. Paul Dano)

4. Donnie Darko (dir. Richard Kelly)

3. Nightcrawler (dir. Dan Gilroy)

2. Enemy (dir. Denis Villenueve)

1. Brokeback Mountain (dir. Ang Lee)

------------------------------------------

That number one was obvious from outer space, I'm sure.

Now tell me yours in the comments...