Perhaps it is because of the current political climate, or perhaps it is that I used to live in the Castro District where this film takes place and was filmed in San Francisco, but the trailer for Gus Van Sant’s new movie Milk gives me goosebumps.
There is no question in my mind that both Sean Penn and Josh Brolin will be receive Oscar nominations for their performances in Milk. I haven’t seen other actors even approaching Heath Ledger’s level in any other film this year, but this movie looks to be quite a contender during awards season.
Milk, which also stars Emile
Hirsch, James Franco, Victor Garber and Diego Luna, will be out in wide
release on December 5. The film’s producers include Bruce Cohen and
Dan Jinks, who are the executive producers of Pushing Daisies.
For the uninitiated, Harvey Milk was the first openly gay man in California to be elected to public office; he was on the SF Board of Supervisors. In 1978, Milk and Mayor George Moscone were murdered in cold blood by Dan White, a conservative member of the Board who had resigned and was disgruntled.
Before he was killed, Milk campaigned to defeat Prop 6 (The Briggs Initiative), which would have banned gays and lesbians from working in public schools. Thirty years later we sit on the precipice of eerily similar discrimination with Prop 8, an attempt to deny gays and lesbians the fundamental right to get married.
I applaud Van Sant for bringing this story to life, and I really look forward to seeing Milk; to support the memory of a man who represented real hope and true change.
[Insert the sound of a recognition bell going off in your head, and please vote next week]
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