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Nearly 20 years after Brokeback Mountain hit movie theaters, Jonathan Bailey is reflecting on how the movie affected him.
Bailey, who was named PEOPLE’s Sexiest Man Alive on Nov. 3, told Esquire U.K. in an article published Monday, Nov. 10 that he wrote a dissertation on the movie in school when he was in “sixth form” (ages 16-18).
“For my dissertation, I started writing about the representation of Hutus and Tutsis in films about the Rwandan genocide,” Bailey, 37, said in the piece. “Then Brokeback Mountain came out. I can’t remember if I just wanted a reason to go back 10 more times to see it, but I was completely activated.”
“Overnight, I decided to make my dissertation about the representation of homosexuality in the film,” he said of the movie’s impact.
Bailey discussed Brokeback Mountain while telling the outlet about a mentor he had as a student: his teacher, Dr. David Brunton, for whom he wrote the dissertation at Magdalen College School in Oxford, England.
“I remember coming to him and saying, ‘I want to do this. And he said, ‘Do you know what? I think you’re on to something,’ ” he said of Brunton’s support for the project.
“I got a very good mark on that fastidiously researched essay,” Bailey added.
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Bailey told Esquire U.K. that Brunton “saw me for who I was” and described the teacher as “just the most incredible, inspiring person.”
Brokeback Mountain, of course, starred Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger as two cowboys who grow close and develop a romantic relationship while working together in the 1960s. The movie follows both men throughout their lives as they struggle to define their relationship while marrying women and growing families of their own. Randy Quaid, Michelle Williams and Anne Hathaway also starred in the movie.
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Brokeback Mountain won three Academy Awards at the 2006 Oscars: Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director for filmmaker Ang Lee and Best Original Score. Ledger, Gyllenhaal and Williams each received nominations for their performances in the movie, and the film was also nominated for Best Picture that year (Crash took home the trophy.)
