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Not for Reproduction Copyright 2008 QNotes Not for ReproductionPenn ‘pushes envelope’ in filmfrom page 31c o p r i g h tlover, Scott Smith, Emile Hirsch (“Into the was characteristically fearless about depicting.Wild”), Diego Luna (“Y Tú Mama También”) “He wanted to push the envelope in termsof the physical expression ofhis character’s homosexuality,”Jinks says. He explainsthat Penn wanted to dismantlethe audience’s preconceivednotions of him asquickly as possible.For an off-handed example,when describing circuitparty performer Flava’s portrayalof ’70s gender-bending2 0 0 8disco king Sylvester in thefilm, Jinks notes,“He’s quiteA scene from ‘Milk’ — Harvey Milk confronts anti-gay, brilliant and, like many others,got a big, fat, wetfellow City Supervisor Dan White, his future assassin.onscreen kiss from Sean Penn.”Despite Milk’s historical significance, hisstory is not widely known today, even withinthe LGBT community.“In a weird way, we’reand Lucas Grabeel (“High School Musical”).Victor Garber (“Alias”) plays Mayor GeorgeMoscone, while Josh Brolin (“No Country ForOld Men”) takes on the role of the tortured,tragic assassin, White.The cast includes straightactors playing gay characters, gayactors playing straight charactersand every other combination.“Wec o p rwantedito have sexualgpreferenceblindcasting,” says Cohen.“Forh tthis movie to have not included allthose different permutations, wefelt would have been a mistake.”It was also important to thefilmmakers that “Milk” be shotentirely on location in SanFrancisco — and largely in theCastro District.“San Francisco, tous, is a character in the movie,”Jinks says warmly, explaining therefusal to substitute more costeffectiveor efficient locations.c o p r“There’sino place togpark a carh tin San Francisco, let alone set upan entire base camp,” he adds,“but2 0 0 8we felt pretty passionately that wehad to do it.”Jinks and Cohen emphasizethat city officials and, in particular, residentsand merchants in the Castro welcomed theproduction with open arms — even as thefilm’s crew transformed contemporary storefrontsinto 1970s streetscapes.Just as it was crucial to the filmmakers torecreate the look of the era, they were alsoQ - L I V I N Gactually excited,” Cohen says.“It’s not like,‘Oh,him again!’ It’s quite the opposite.”And if Cohen, Jinks, Black and Van Santfelt a personal importance as gay men intelling this story, it “only helped to serve thefilm,” Cohen says.He emphasizes that the goal was “to makea film that is entertainingand emotional. Not just tothe people that know theHarvey Milk story going in,but more importantly to thepeople — gay and straightalike — who don’t knowHarvey Milk, and who aregoing to come to this moviewith a fresh slate. Hopefully,we’re going to take them on areally beautiful journey.”In May, a bust of HarveyMilk was unveiled outsideSan Francisco City Hall.The same month, thec o p r i g h tEmile Hirsch as Cleve Jones, an activist and Milk studentintern. Jones later went on to conceive the NAMES California Assembly votedProject AIDS Memorial Quilt.to declare May 22 “Harveydetermined to accurately capture the cultural Milk Day” in the state. ◗climate of the time. The pre-AIDS period was— “Milk” (Focus Features) will be releasedone of uninhibited sexuality, something Pennto movie theaters Nov. 26.38 SEPTEMBER 20 . 2008 • QNotesNot for Reproduction Copyright 2008 QNotes Not for Reproduction