Cannes 2009

Reporter lashes out at Brokeback director Ang Lee

By Quinn Bender

Oscar-winning director for Brokeback Mountain, Ang Lee, was tongue-lashed in Cannes Saturday by a Brazilian reporter who decried the homosexual themes in Lee's films.

During a press conference for the director's latest comedy-drama, Taking Woodstock, a story about the legendary music festival which features a closet homosexual in the lead role, the reporter derailed the conference with a minutes-long diatribe of how Brazilians, he said, find the gay-themes repulsive.

The moderator eventually cut him off then offered Lee the chance to respond: "Mr. Lee, the gentleman seems to detect a threat of homosexuality."

The soft-spoken Lee, almost on cue from the laughter of many among the hundreds of journalists, said accepting other people's homosexuality is simply like the era portrayed in his film. "You just have to go with the flow," he said. 

"I think we [human beings] are composed with many elements inside. Everybody is very complicated.

"I'm fascinated by great stories -- these just happen to revolve around homosexuality... I hate being categorized as a certain genre of filmmaker. I want to be seen as complicated."

Asked later by Movieset if his remarks were intended to be hostile, the reporter brushed off the incident, saying he was joking with Lee, that his comments were designed simply to amuse his conservative viewers.

Taking Woodstock tells the true story of Elliot Tiber, played by Demetri Martin, a down-on-his-luck interior designer in New York. His homosexuality however is not central to the plot. He lands a deal to hold a small concert next to his parents' property in order to save their farm from foreclosure. Three weeks later, half a million people arrive in White Lake, New York, and Tiber finds himself swept up in a generation-defining experience that would change his life, and American culture, forever.

Lee described Taking Woodstock as "a small film around the edges of a big event."

"[Woodstock] is an iconic symbol. It's been romanticized. It was dirty and it was filthy, but you have to give those kids credit. They had three days of peace and music. I don't think you could do that today."