The upcoming film about two young, rough-edged cowboys (played by heartthrobs Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal), who tumble into love while herding sheep through the crags of Wyoming’s Brokeback mountain during the early ‘60s, was excluded from the Cannes screening schedule altogether. Given Ang Lee’s charmed track history, including critically-acclaimed hits such as The Wedding Banquet, The Ice Storm, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, the elimination of the Taiwanese director’s latest film from the running at Cannes is noteworthy, especially since the contenders this year are helmed overwhelmingly by independent cinema giants like Lars Von Trier, David Cronenberg, Wim Wenders, Jim Jarmusch, and Gus Van Sant (who was originally slotted to direct Brokeback).

Exactly why the project didn’t measure up at Cannes remains unknown, but its exclusion didn't come as a big surprise--Variety reported two weeks earlier that Brokeback Mountain was “looking wobbly for Competition,” and confided that the film reportedly “underwhelmed the selection committee.”

The media was all a’ buzz when Focus Features announced in January 2004 that chiseled Aussie Heath Ledger and blue-eyed hottie Jake Gyllenhaal were signing on to play gay lovers in the adaptation of E. Annie Proulx’s explicit New Yorker short story. Casting had reportedly included consideration of other big names like Colin Farrell, Billy Crudup, and Josh Hartnett.

Both Gyllenhaal and Ledger were open about their willingness to play gay lovers Jack Twist (Gyllenhaal) and Ennis Del Mar (Ledger), cowboys who revisit their attraction over a period of twenty years as Twist becomes a known rodeo performer, and Del Mar remains a ranch hand.

Ledger told the BBC in March of last year: “What is it about wrangling Jake Gyllenhaal up in the mountains that frightens me? Just that! But it obviously doesn't scare me away because I'm doing it. Aren't we at the stage these days when it just doesn't ******* matter? It's a story of love and it's a story between two people. If people can't get over that and just accept it as a story, then that's their problem. I'm big enough and brave enough to do it."

Gyllenhaal’s take on Brokeback’s romantic element was a bit more personal. “It’s about how impossible love can be sometimes and I can relate to that," he told Canada's Calgary Sun. "I grew up in a family where many of our close friends were gay couples. As well as that, every man goes through a period of thinking they’re attracted to another guy.”

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