Milk

Milk (2008)

Timing: 2:8 (128 min)

7.219/10
2353

7.095/10
26296

7.5/10
186000

All about film

Video 7

Photo 24

Actors and characters

Release date

2008-11-05

Country

United States

Production

Focus Features, Jinks/Cohen Company, Groundswell Productions, Axon Films

Genre

History, Drama

Budget

$20 000 000

Revenue

$54 586 584

Website

http://groundswellfilms.com/portfolio/milk

Director

Gus Van Sant

Actors

Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin, Diego Luna, James Franco, Alison Pill, Victor Garber, Denis O'Hare, Joseph Cross, Stephen Spinella
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Dustin Lance Black

Producer

Bruce Cohen, Dan Jinks, William Horberg, Michael London, Barbara A. Hall, Bruna Papandrea, Dustin Lance Black

Operator

Harris Savides

Composer

Danny Elfman

Artist

Susan Alegria

Audition

Francine Maisler

Editing

Elliot Graham
All team (67)

• Matt Damon was originally planned to play the role of Dan White, however, at the time of filming 'Milk,' Damon was busy with Paul Greengrass’s project 'Green Zone' (2010).
• On November 27, 1978, Harvey Milk and San Francisco Mayor George Moscone were killed by former supervisor Dan White, who had been a long-standing opponent of Milk due to disagreements over gay rights. White received a seven-year prison sentence, but was released after five years. In October 1985, White committed suicide.
• Thousands of San Francisco residents agreed to participate in the extras casting completely free of charge.
• The plot revolves around Harvey Milk turning 48 years old. Sean Penn, the actor playing the main role, was also 48 at the time.
• Attempts to film a movie about the life of Harvey Milk followed the awarding of an 'Oscar' to the documentary 'Times of Harvey Milk'. Various scripts were considered in the early 1990s, but all projects failed until 2007.
• Matt Damon was originally planned to play the role of Dan White, but at the time of filming "Milk," Damon was busy with Paul Greengrass's project "Green Zone" (2009).
• Harvey Milk's "Castro Camera" store was filmed in its original location. By the time of filming (mid-2008), it had already been converted into a gift shop, but the filmmakers, along with the store owner, managed to recreate the look of Harvey's store.
• During the filming of the scene depicting the baptism of Charles, Dan White's son (played by Josh Brolin), Charles White himself was present on set.
• Sean Penn's makeup (he played the main character) included a prosthetic nose and dentures, as well as contact lenses and a wig. He was made up by Academy Award winner Stéphane Dupuis.
• The apartment shown in the film is the very one where Harvey Milk once lived in San Francisco.
• According to Josh Brolin, the scene where his character, Dan White, looks fearfully out the window was not in the script. Brolin and director Gus Van Sant simply tried different variations, attempting to convey the state of paranoia that the character was experiencing, and eventually settled on this scene.
• At the end of the film, the actors in their characters' costumes are replaced with photographs of their real-life counterparts. Many of these photographs were taken by Daniel Nicoletta, who was played by Lucas Grabeel.
• Viewers learn from the end credits that, according to Dan White's lawyers, regular consumption of high-calorie unhealthy food led to changes in the brain. In reality, however, they argued that the constant consumption of high-calorie unhealthy food was not the cause of his depressive state, but a symptom.
• Matt Damon was originally planned to play the role of Dan White, but at the time of filming for "Milk," Damon was busy with Paul Greengrass's "Green Zone" (2009).
• Attempts to film a movie about Harvey Milk's life followed the Academy Award win for the documentary "Times of Harvey Milk." Various scripts were considered in the early 1990s, but all projects failed until 2007.
• Sean Penn's makeup (he played the main character) included a prosthetic nose and dentures, as well as contact lenses and a wig. The makeup artist was Oscar winner Stéphane Dupuis.