Seeking ‘Brokeback’s’ backdrop

THERE is no Brokeback Mountain. But that doesn’t mean people won’t pay to see it.

The mountain, like the Annie Proulx short story in the New Yorker (now in a book) that spawned the much-honored motion picture bearing the name, is fictional.

Proulx placed it somewhere in northern Wyoming’s Bighorn Mountains. Because it was cheaper, director Ang Lee shot the film in Alberta, Canada, in the Rockies, primarily in the Kananaskis Country, near Banff National Park.

But if you film it, tourists will come.

Where “Shane” brought Wyoming’s Grand Tetons into national focus, “Brokeback Mountain” – a tale of cowboy-cowboy love that received eight Oscar nominations Tuesday – carries with it a special kind of baggage.

Ten Sleep, a little town (population 300) at the base of the Bighorns, has drawn some attention as the nearest settlement to the country that likely inspired Proulx. “It’s a charming little place,” said Diane Shober, director of Wyoming’s travel office.

The nearest sizable town is Worland (population 5,200), 28 miles west, where Mike Willard is executive director of the Worland-Ten Sleep Chamber of Commerce. “We’ve got beautiful country out here,” Willard said, “and a lot of great people, and we’re very open to everybody and anybody.”

But along with the wide-open spaces and down-home vibe comes a sobering bit of history that leads back to “Brokeback.” Matthew Shepard, a 22-year-old gay college student, was beaten to death in Laramie in 1998. Still, lured by the promise of pristine wilderness and, perhaps, by the unquestionably romantic setting, travelers will surely visit. Some may wind up visiting the Wyoming mountains shown in the movie’s ads and posters. They’ll be dazzled – but misled.

“Yep, that’s the Tetons,” said Jackie Skaggs, public information officer for Grand Teton National Park, about 275 road miles west of the Bighorns. She was looking at the film’s website. “It looks like it’s taken from a point on the Snake River near Blacktail Ponds, and that is the classic full-range view.”

Shober of the state travel office said half the calls coming into her office have been about “Brokeback.”

“They’re seeing the wide-open spaces that are indicative of Wyoming, so we’re excited for what that could mean for us.”

So is Alberta.

There may be no more beautiful a stretch of mountain scenery than the Rockies from Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, which straddles the Montana-Alberta border.

Unlike most of Wyoming’s Bighorn region, the Rockies along the Alberta-British Columbia line have been a serious tourist draw for generations, spawning world-class hotels, spas and ski resorts.

“Everybody I know who’s seen the movie, whether they like the story line or not, says, ‘My gosh, it looks like it goes on forever,’ ” said Judy Love Rondeau, of Travel Alberta. “I don’t think people realize there’s countryside like this left.”

Information: Wyoming: (307) 777-7777, www.wyomingtourism.org. For Worland-Ten Sleep: Chamber of Commerce, (307) 347-3226, www.tensleepworlandwyoming.com.

Alberta: (800) 252-3782, www.travelalberta.com.