Ang Lee western, with a new twist

Director Ang Lee is at work in Canada on a film that puts a new spin on a well-worn genre. “Brokeback Mountain” is the story of two men -- a cowboy and a ranch hand -- who fall in love in the 1960s.

The high-profile project involves a story by Pulitzer Prize-winning author E. Annie Proulx that has been adapted for the screen by “Lonesome Dove” author Larry McMurtry. The male stars are Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal. In the tale, both men end up taking wives, but neither female role has been cast.

“It scared ... me for obvious reasons,” Ledger recently told the London Free Press. “I loved the script because it is such a pure love story.... There’s never been a western like this before.”

Randy Lewis