Milk
Short description
Milk dramatizes the life of Harvey Milk, who became the first openly gay man elected to public office in the United States. Approaching forty and dissatisfied with his life in New York, he moves to California with his partner, Scott Smith, and the two open a camera shop in San Francisco's Castro district. The store becomes a gathering place for a gay community facing widespread discrimination, and Milk gradually turns from shopkeeper into its most visible spokesman.
His activism pushes him into electoral politics, where he confronts business owners, unions and established politicians while courting voters across the city. After several failed campaigns he wins a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, where he fights for legislation protecting gay and lesbian residents. Among his colleagues is the conservative Dan White, whose frustration with Milk builds toward violence. The film follows Milk's public rise alongside his private life, including a destructive relationship with the troubled Jack Lira.
Gus Van Sant directed from a screenplay by Dustin Lance Black. It is the thirteenth of the eighteen features Van Sant has directed, arriving between Paranoid Park and Restless. Sean Penn plays Milk, with Josh Brolin as Dan White, Emile Hirsch as Cleve Jones, James Franco as Scott Smith, Diego Luna as Jack Lira and Alison Pill as Anne Kronenberg. Made for about 20 million dollars, it took roughly 55 million worldwide. On IMDb it holds 7.5 from 186,000 votes and on TMDB 7.2 from 2,493, while critics rated it 8.3 from 241 reviews.
What's left behind the scenes
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
