Peter Guber.

Peter Guber knows the movie business like no one else. In the 1980s he produced smash hits like Flashdance and Barman. In the early 1990s he ran Sony's Columbia Pictures, overseeing A Few Good Men and Philadelphia. Still a producer, Guber also now hosts the Hollywood talk show Sunday Morning Shootout on AMC along with Variety editor Peter Bart. So what does Guber think of the Brokeback Mountain phenom? Is it repeatable? If so, what's next?

Why are mainstream audiences embracing this film?

The film is good--it's compelling, and it has a story. And there's value in it for individuals: individuals who feel loneliness or feel disaffected or feel they've not been able to be their authentic self--gay, straight, whatever--or they feel that they didn't follow their destiny. It exhibited the kind of dislocation in someone's life that people constantly feel, but it came from a different angle. And this is the beauty of it: It's transformative. It [lets people say], "Hmm. This person who I never believed I had anything in common with, this cowboy, I see what I have in common with him."

And how did the marketing campaign get that across?

I have to be careful how I say this, but the distribution company hid the bacon. They showed the guy kissing the girl, the guy hugging the girl, the wedding, people riding off into the sunset, music, horses going into the woods. They gave you all the awards, all the hoopla, all the success, but they hid the bacon.

But surely everyone who's considering seeing this movie knows ...

No, no, no, no. Don't agree with you. As you widen your audience out, television advertising is one of your most important tools. If a person's thinking about it and looks at the commercial--it can either turn you on or turn you off. And [Focus Features] decided they would sell the film with awards and pretty pictures and the cast. I'm not calling it disingenuous: I'm calling it smart because they felt that if they got the audience in there, they would enjoy it. It gave [moviegoers] a chance to really sample and move through it where otherwise they might not have.

Is Brokeback Mountain's success repeatable, financially and culturally?

Everything is repeatable, but if you do it exactly the same way, you're bound to fail. Even for the gay audience it has got to be different. People want some certainty--good talent, terrific creative people--but they want the variety of something different. The alchemy for success is variable every time.

Is the market for gay films bigger now?

Everybody's questioned themselves about [their sexuality[. Every human being. So you're tapping into some universal component. I think when you say "gay" it crosses all markets, all ethnicities, all religions. So I think the audience is huge. But you can't appeal to someone just on the basis of one small point. If you do, I think you lose.

So what might the next big gay movie be like?

One theme I haven't really seen explored is, What happens when two women or two men want to have a child? That whole process. I've seen it in my kids' schools, I see it everywhere, but I haven't seen a mainstream film with that. I think that's a really rich area. There can be humor, heart and pathos, pain. I'm not talking about a dirge. That ain't gonna work--no matter if you do it with elephants, it ain't gonna work.

You mean more of a gay Kramer vs. Kramer.

That's right. It's got to be at that level. We're in the emotional transportation business. A film hits you in the heart or in the gut before it hits you in the head.

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