Milk
Cast & Crew
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Director
Gus Van Sant -
Writer
Dustin Lance Black
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Jack Lira
Diego Luna -
Cleve Jones
Emile Hirsh -
Scott Smith
James Franco -
Dan White
Josh Brolin -
Harvey Milk
Sean Penn
Synopsis
His life changed history. His courage changed lives. In 1977, Harvey Milk was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, becoming the first openly gay man to be voted into public office in America. His victory was not just a victory for gay rights; he forged coalitions across the political spectrum. From senior citizens to union workers, Harvey Milk changed the very nature of what it means to be a fighter for human rights and became, before his untimely death in 1978, a hero for all Americans. Sean Penn stars as Harvey Milk under the direction of Gus Van Sant in Milk, filmed on location in San Francisco from an original screenplay by Dustin Lance Black, and produced by Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen. Milk charts the last eight years of Harvey Milk's life. While living in New York City, he turns 40. Looking for more purpose, Milk and his lover Scott Smith (James Franco) relocate to San Francisco, where they found a small business, Castro Camera, in the heart of a working-class neighborhood. With his beloved Castro neighborhood and beautiful city empowering him, Milk surprises Scott and himself by becoming an outspoken agent for change. With vitalizing support from Scott and from new friends like young activist Cleve Jones (Emile Hirsch), Milk plunges headfirst into the choppy waters of politics. Bolstering his public profile with humor, Milk's actions speak even louder than his gift-of-gab words. When Milk is elected supervisor for the newly zoned District 5, he tries to coordinate his efforts with those of another newly elected supervisor, Dan White (Josh Brolin). But as White and Milk's political agendas increasingly diverge, their personal destinies tragically converge. Milk's platform was and is one of hope – a hero's legacy that resonates in the here and now.
Latest Updates
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Cast your final vote for Milk's 'Who Inspires You' contest for you chance to win cash money!
Published on: February 13, 2009
Final voting is now open to the public at www.FilmInFocus.com/WhoInspiresYou. To determine which of the 4 finalists in the online "Who Inspires You?" contest will win donations for the college organizations of their choice. The contest itself was inspired by real-life civil rights hero Harvey Milk and Focus Features' Best Picture Academy Award nominee Milk, which stars Best Actor Academy Award nominee Sean Penn as Harvey Milk. Focus CEO James Schamus made the announcement today.
Contest entries were submitted from November 22, 2008 through January 30, 2009. The finalist round voting period, open to any and all worldwide visitors to the FilmInFocus website and contest link, is underway and ends at 11:59:59 PM Pacific Standard Time on Saturday, March 1, 2009. Each visitor to the site is limited to casting one vote.
The "Who Inspires You?" College Mosaic Contest, which was open to college students only, called for students to create a tile for the Milk mosaic (www.milkmosaic.com) – with full audio-visual capabilities and/or text-driven – commemorating their inspirations. Entry tiles were evaluated through the criteria of inspirational tone, creativity, and originality. Each entrant named a college organization to be gifted with prize money; a First Prize of $1,500 will be donated to the winning finalist's selected organization, and a Second Prize of $1,000 will be donated to the runner-up finalist's selected organization.
The finalists' user names are GeminiBoy, Murphyk331, Norsed, and Dashano; the campus organizations that they have selected as prize money beneficiaries are, respectively, Gamma Nu Omicron, College Democrats, Emma Goldman Society for Queer Liberation, and Reach Out!
Mr. Schamus said, "Harvey Milk has inspired a new generation to become involved in our world today. All the entrants have demonstrated considerable creative and charitable drive, and we invite the public to share in their stories and cast the deciding votes."
Milk is playing in theaters nationwide and beginning its run overseas. Harvey Milk, elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977, became the first openly gay man to be voted into major public office in America. His victory was not just a victory for gay rights; he forged coalitions across the political spectrum. From senior citizens to union workers, Harvey Milk changed the very nature of what it means to be a fighter for human rights and became, before his untimely death in 1978, a hero for all Americans.
In addition to Best Picture and Best Actor, Milk's other Academy Award nominations (totaling 8) are in the categories of Best Director (Gus Van Sant), Best Supporting Actor (Josh Brolin), Best Original Screenplay (Dustin Lance Black), Best Film Editing (Elliot Graham), Best Costume Design (Danny Glicker), and Best Original Score (Danny Elfman).'Milk' is out in theaters now.
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Interview: Cleve Jones - Played by ?
Published on: January 26, 2009
Emile Hirsch has taken some time out to talk about his latest role in Gus Van Sant's biopic 'Milk'. Hirsch talks about how real and true the film is to the actual events that happened in the 70s, and how much he looked like Cleve Jones, his character. He also talks about The Castro, a neighborhood rooted to the story of Milk's movement, and how much its changed. The actor goes on to talk about Penn, the romantic scenes and what's next. 'Milk' is out in theaters now.
"...My rent in 1978 was, I think, $50 a month. Probably the most significant change is that it's no longer new. At that time, you had hundreds of young kids arriving every day from all over the world to be part of something that had never been seen before. Everyone was very much aware of that. It seemed like every week somebody was coming up with some brand new, often outlandish, idea. So it was an incredibly exciting time..."
Read the full interview here.
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Sean Penn up for Best Actor
Published on: January 22, 2009
Sean Penn has been nominated for Best Actor in a Leading role by the Academy Awards for his performance in Milk. Milk is also up for other categories including Josh Brolin for Best Supporting Actor, Best Picture, Costume Design, Directing, Film Editing, Music, and Original Screenplay. Nominations for the 81st Academy Awards were announced today by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Sid Ganis and Oscar® winner Forest Whitaker.
Academy members from each of the branches vote to determine the nominees in their respective categories – actors nominate actors, film editors nominate film editors, etc. In the Animated Feature Film and Foreign Language Film categories, nominations are selected by vote of multi-branch screening committees. All voting members are eligible to select the Best Picture nominees.
Official screenings of all motion pictures with one or more nominations will begin for members this weekend at the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater. Screenings also will be held at the Academy's Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood and in London, New York and San Francisco.
Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2008 will be presented on Sunday, February 22, 2009, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.
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