If you were to mention the name Harvey Milk to a high school classs in Chicago, IL., probably 2 in 10 might know who he is. The numbers might go up however, as the new bio-pic starring Sean Penn and directed by Gus Van Zant is maybe (?) opening wide in the coming weeks. So in honor of Mr. Milk, here is very personal appreciation by an actor friend here in LA who shall remain annonymous. He caught the WGA screening last week
OK, I just got home from a screening of MILK at the WGA. WHAT AN AMAZING FUCKING MOVIE (yes, I have had some wine, but I would have told you the same thing if I could have emailed you right after seeing it) I know you will see it, but my goal is for my family to see it. There was a reception after, and I said this to Dan Jinks (producer) and Dustin Lance Black (writer) - Gus Van Sant wasn't there : (
20 years ago I arrived in Long Beach, CA to try to find myself. I wasn't escaping anything, my family is great, but I was lost. I was ready to embark on a new chapter in my life, figuring out this whole gay thing. I was fortunate that I was able to stay with my uncle, whom I assumed might be gay, but wasn't sure. Any who, being the movie buff that he was, he had every movie I had ever wanted to see and never had, including a few porn (big laugh from both). I didn't know many people in CA so I spent most of my first few days catching up on movies. My Uncle recommended the documentary, "The Life and Times of Harvey Milk". Since It wasn't on my list of must see movies, and I had no clue who Harvey Milk was...I passed. Eventually I ran out of movies to watch and all that was left was the Harvey Milk documentary. So I watched...with awe. Here I thought I was setting out to do something that no one had done before to only discover I was able to do this because of people like Harvey Milk. As scared as I was on this new journey of mine, the one thing I got from this documentary is...I'm gonna be OK.
I then thanked them for making an amazing movie about a man that I hope becomes apart of history like MLK (notice the only difference from MLK and Milk is the "i") They thanked me, and here is my favorite part, and the major point of this...We toasted to GAY UNCLES EVERYWHERE!!!
