Yes, We Got Milk.
Yesterday was the third and final day that my SO and I worked as unpaid extras on the set of the movie Milk. It was a fine ending to our acting experience as we recreated the 1978 Gay Pride Day and were able to be excited instead of angry or somber.
The scene where recently elected City Supervisor Harvey Milk, played by Sean Penn, speaks to the elated crowd from the steps of City Hall involved many takes. I lost count of how many times we heard the same speech, but the words were so uplifting and true I didn’t mind and was glad to cheer and applaud them until Van Sant was satisfied.
“Come out to your families, your friends, your neighbors…!” he implored. “We will fight the lies, the myths, the distortions! …In the Declaration of Independence it declares that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights… “
Come mid-afternoon we switched gears and filmed the parade scenes. Extras formed rows on either side of the street to watch as “Harvey” passed by in his Volvo followed by the San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band and extras as parade participants.
As before, those scenes took a number of takes (with a good deal of standing around in between, of course). After many hours in the unseasonably warm early March day we were getting tired and achy, and several people had sunburns. Although I’d thought to put on sunblock before heading out I still had a touch of red here and there, especially the one place I’d not thought to put the sunblock–my ears. Nonetheless neither I nor my SO would have missed the experience for anything.
I’m anxiously awaiting the release of the film, slated for September or October of this year. The movie is going to be very special to me and my SO since we helped create it.
But acting in the movie and the research I’ve done as a result has had an even more profound effect on me. I came to a much deeper understanding of just how little progress we’ve made in the fight for LGBT equality over the past three decades, and how history has a way of repeating itself. My desire to expose and defeat the Anti-gay Agenda and see equal Human and Civil Rights for LGBT citizens is stronger than ever. And I want to live to see Harvey Milk’s prophetic dream to become a reality.
“If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door.”
Tags: "Milk" movie, Gay Pride Day 1978, Gus Van Sant, Harvey Milk, Sean Penn
