'Brokeback Mountain' Team Reunite for Mark Wahlberg Film

"Brokeback Mountain" scribes return with new LGBTQ film – "Good Joe Bell," which is having its world premiere this week at the Toronto Film Festival.

It has been 15 years since screenwriters won an Oscar for their script for "Brokeback Mountain." The pair haven't written a script since, but return to the screen this week with "Good Joe Bell," starring Mark Wahlberg and based on the harrowing true story of a father coming to terms with the suicide of his young gay son.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the film follows middle-aged Joe Bell (Wahlberg) who embarks on a cross-country walk to raise awareness about the death of his son. Enroute, he must come to terms with his prejudices and his conflicted relationship with his son (played by newcomer Reid Miller).

It was Ossana who convinced McMurtry to take on the project when "director Cary Joji Fukunaga cold-called them in 2014 asking if they would be interested in writing the screenplay," THR reports.

Fukunaga left the project in 2018, turning over directing duties to up-and-coming filmmaker Reinaldo Marcus Green received a call from their mutual WME Endeavor agent, Craig Kestel, asking if he would be interested in directing "Bell." Green directed the award-winning Sundance Film Festival entry, "Monsters and Men."

"I must have spoken with him every day from then on until we started shooting. I've never seen that level of attention from any actor," says Green, who adds he was floored when he saw the writing credits on the script," THR reports.

"McMurtry and Ossana have been writing partners since the early 1990s. Staten Island native Green, an NYU film school alum of African American and Puerto Rican descent, is also helming the upcoming Warner Bros. movie King Richard, starring Will Smith as the father of a young Venus and Serena Williams.

"Green says his wish is for 'Good Joe Bell' to be released sometime this fall or winter, even if that means some sort of hybrid opening, he told THR. "I'm open to however the film needs to be released," he says. "I do hope they will get it out this year, given everything and the election. I think it could strike a nerve."