Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon all passed up starring in Brokeback Mountain, according to director Gus Van Sant. Van Sant had been extremely interested in directing the story of two gay ranchers struggling with their feelings for each other when it was in the early stages of its development, but struggled to find a cast and ultimately lost out to Ang Lee.

"Nobody wanted to do it. I was working on it, and I felt like we needed a really strong cast, like a famous cast," Van Sant told Indiewire. "That wasn’t working out. I asked the usual suspects: Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Ryan Phillippe. They all said no."

Van Sant didn't elaborate further than saying they had "various reasons" why they couldn't or didn't want to get involved, but they weren't the only ones. Producer and screenwriter Diana Ossana said in April that Joaquin Phoenix also turned down the chance to star. Van Sant also reflected that it might have been easier for him to get the film moving had he not chased that dream cast.

"What I could have done, and what I probably should have done, was cast more unknowns, not worried about who were the lead actors. I was not ready," he said. "I’m not sure why. There was just sort of a hiccup on my part. There was something off with myself, I guess, whatever was going on."