Milk is a
2008The year 2008 in film saw many new films released worldwide, including several major mainstream sequels, prequels, and remakes as well as original films.-Top grossing films:...
AmericanThe cinema of the United States has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...
biographical filmA biographical motion picture—often shortened to biopic—is a film that dramatizes the life of an actual person or people. They differ from films “based on a true story” or “historical films” in that they attempt to comprehensively tell a person’s life story or at least the most...
on the life of gay rights activist and politician
Harvey MilkHarvey Bernard Milk was an American politician and the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors...
, who was elected to the
San Francisco Board of SupervisorsThe San Francisco Board of Supervisors is the legislative body of the City and County of San Francisco, California.- Government and politics:...
. Directed by
Gus Van SantGus Green Van Sant, Jr. is an American film director, screenwriter, photographer, musician, and author. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Achievement in Directing for his 1997 film Good Will Hunting and his 2008 film Milk, and won the Palme d'Or at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival for his...
and written by
Dustin Lance BlackDustin "Lance" Black is an American screenwriter, director, film and television producer, and LGBT rights activist. He has won two Writers Guild of America Awards for his work on the television series Big Love and an Academy Award for the 2008 film Milk.-Early life:Black grew up in a Mormon...
, the film stars
Sean PennSean Justin Penn is an American film actor and director, also known for being a political activist. He is a two-time Academy Award winner for his roles in Mystic River and Milk, as well as the recipient of a Golden Globe Award for the former and a Screen Actors Guild Award for the latter.-Early...
as Milk and
Josh BrolinJosh James Brolin is an American actor. He has acted in theater, film and television roles since 1985, and won acting awards for his roles in the films No Country for Old Men and Milk.-Early life:...
as
Dan WhiteDaniel James "Dan" White was a San Francisco supervisor who assassinated San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, on November 27, 1978, at City Hall. In a controversial verdict that led to the coining of the legal slang "Twinkie defense," White was convicted of the...
. The film was released to much acclaim and earned numerous accolades from film critics and guilds. Ultimately, it received eight Academy Award nominations, including
Best PictureThe Academy Award for Best Motion Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible...
, winning two for
Best Actor in a Leading RolePerformance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
for Penn and Best Original Screenplay for Black.
Attempts to put Milk's life to film followed a 1984 Oscar-winning documentary of his life and the aftermath of his assassination, titled
The Times of Harvey MilkThe Times of Harvey Milk is an American documentary film that premiered at The Telluride Film Festival, the New York Film Festival, and then on November 1, 1984 at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco...
, which was loosely based upon
Randy ShiltsRandy Shilts was a pioneering gay American journalist and author. He worked as a freelance reporter for both The Advocate and the San Francisco Chronicle, as well as for San Francisco Bay Area television stations....
's biography,
The Mayor of Castro StreetThe Mayor of Castro Street is a book written by Randy Shilts telling the story of Harvey Milk. It was published by Stonewall Inn Editions.- Adaptations :...
. Various scripts were considered in the early 1990s, but projects fell through for different reasons, until 2007. Much of
Milk was filmed on
Castro StreetCastro Street may refer to:* Castro Street in The Castro, San Francisco, California* Castro Street , a 1966 short documentary film directed by Bruce Baillie* Castro Street Station, a Muni Metro underground station in San Francisco...
and other locations in San Francisco, including Milk's former storefront,
Castro CameraCastro Camera was a camera store in the Castro District of San Francisco, California, operated by Harvey Milk from 1972 until his assassination in 1978...
.
Milk begins on Harvey Milk's 40th birthday, when he was living in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
and had not yet settled in San Francisco. It chronicles his foray into city politics, and the various battles he waged in the Castro neighborhood as well as throughout the city, and political campaigns to limit the rights of gay people in 1977 and 1978 run by
Anita BryantAnita Jane Bryant is an American singer and gay rights opponent. She scored four Top 40 hits in the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including "Paper Roses", which reached #5...
and
John BriggsJohn V. Briggs is a retired California state politician who served in the California State Assembly and the California State Senate. He is perhaps best known for sponsoring Proposition 6 in 1978, also known as the Briggs Initiative, which attempted to remove all gay or lesbian school employees or...
. His romantic and political relationships are also addressed, as is his tenuous affiliation with troubled Supervisor Dan White; the film ends with White's double murder of Milk and Mayor
George MosconeGeorge Richard Moscone was an American attorney and Democratic politician. He was the mayor of San Francisco, California, US from January 1976 until his assassination in November 1978. Moscone served in the California State Senate from 1967 until becoming Mayor...
. The film's release was tied to the 2008 California voter referendum on gay marriage,
Proposition 8Proposition 8 was a California ballot proposition passed in the November 2008, general election. The measure added a new section to Article I of the California Constitution...
, when it made its premiere at the
Castro TheatreThe Castro Theatre is a popular San Francisco movie palace which became San Francisco Historic Landmark #100 in September 1976. Located at 429 Castro Street, in the Castro district, it was built in 1922 with a Spanish Colonial Baroque façade that pays homage — in its great arched central...
two weeks before election day.
Plot
Milk opens with archival footage of police raiding
gay barA gay bar is a drinking establishment that caters to an exclusively gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender clientele; the term gay is used as a broadly inclusive concept for LGBT and queer communities...
s and arresting patrons during the 1950s and 1960s, followed by
Dianne FeinsteinDianne Goldman Berman Feinstein is the senior U.S. Senator from California and a member of the Democratic Party. Feinstein was first elected to the U.S...
's November 27, 1978, announcement to the press that Milk and Moscone have been assassinated. Milk is seen recording his
willA will or testament is a legal declaration by which a person, the testator, names one or more persons to manage his estate and provides for the transfer of his property at death. For the devolution of property not disposed of by will, see inheritance and intestacy...
throughout the film, nine days (November 18, 1978) before the assassinations. The film then
flashes backA flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened prior to the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
to New York City in 1970, the eve of Milk's 40th birthday and his first meeting with his much younger lover, Scott Smith.
Unsatisfied with his life and in need of a change, Milk and Smith decide to move to San Francisco in the hope of finding larger acceptance of their relationship. They open Castro Camera in the heart of
Eureka ValleyEureka Valley is the historic name of the greater Castro district of the city of San Francisco, California. The term Eureka Valley describes a larger area, including many residential areas, while "the Castro" denotes mainly the predominantly gay-oriented commercial district on Castro Street and...
, a
working classWorking class is a term used in academic sociology and in ordinary conversation to describe, depending on context and speaker, those employed in lower tier jobs as measured by skill, education, and compensation....
neighborhood in the process of evolving into a predominantly
gay neighborhoodA gay village is an urban geographic location with generally recognized boundaries where a large number of lesbian, gay, transgender, and bisexual people live or frequent...
known as
The CastroThe Castro District, commonly known as The Castro, is a neighborhood within Eureka Valley in San Francisco, California. It is widely considered the world's best known gay neighborhood having transformed from a working-class neighborhood through the 1960s and 1970s...
. Frustrated by the opposition they encounter in the once
IrishThe Irish people are a Western European ethnic group who originate in Ireland, in north western Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolgs, Tuatha Dé Danann and the Milesians The Irish...
-
CatholicThe word Catholic is derived from the Greek adjective , meaning "universal". In the context of Christian ecclesiology, it has a rich history and several usages. For some, the term "Catholic Church" refers to the church in full communion with the Bishop of Rome, made up of the Latin Rite and the 22...
neighborhood, Milk utilizes his background as a businessman to become a gay activist, eventually becoming a mentor for
Cleve JonesCleve Jones is an American AIDS and LGBT rights activist. He conceived of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt which has become, at 54 tons, the world's largest piece of community folk art as of 2009...
. Early on, Smith serves as Milk's campaign manager, but his frustration grows with Milk's devotion to politics, and he leaves him. Milk later meets Jack Lira, a sweet-natured but unbalanced young man. As with Smith, Lira cannot tolerate Milk's devotion to political activism, and eventually
hangsHanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. It hurts a lot. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", although it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would...
himself.
After two unsuccessful political campaigns in 1973 and 1975 to become a city supervisor and a third in 1976 for the
California State AssemblyThe California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature. There are 80 members in the Assembly, representing an approximately equal number of constituents, with each district having a population of at least 420,000...
, Milk finally wins a seat on the
San Francisco Board of SupervisorsThe San Francisco Board of Supervisors is the legislative body of the City and County of San Francisco, California.- Government and politics:...
in 1977 for District 5. His victory makes him the first openly gay man to be voted into major public office in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Milk subsequently meets fellow Supervisor Dan White, a
Vietnam veteranVietnam Era veteran is a phrase used to describe someone who served in the armed forces of participating countries during the Vietnam War. The term has been used to describe veterans who were in the armed forces of South Vietnam, the United States armed forces, and countries allied to them,...
and former police officer and firefighter. White, who is politically and socially conservative, has a difficult relationship with Milk, and develops a growing resentment for Milk when he opposes various projects of White's.
Milk and White forge a complex working relationship. Milk is invited to, and attends, the
christeningChristening may refer to:*Baptism*Infant baptism*Ship naming and launching...
of White's first child, and White asks for Milk's assistance in preventing a
psychiatric hospitalA psychiatric hospital, sometimes known as an asylum, is a hospital specializing in the treatment of serious mental illness, usually for relatively long-term inpatients....
from opening in White's district, possibly in exchange for White's support of Milk's citywide gay rights ordinance. When Milk fails to support White because of the negative effect it will have on troubled youth, White feels betrayed, and ultimately becomes the sole vote against the gay rights ordinance. Milk also launches an effort to defeat Proposition 6, an
initiativeIn political science, the initiative provides a means by which a petition signed by a certain minimum number of registered voters can force a public vote on a proposed statute, constitutional amendment, charter amendment or ordinance, or, in its minimal form, to simply oblige the executive or...
on the California state ballot in November 1978. Sponsored by
John BriggsJohn V. Briggs is a retired California state politician who served in the California State Assembly and the California State Senate. He is perhaps best known for sponsoring Proposition 6 in 1978, also known as the Briggs Initiative, which attempted to remove all gay or lesbian school employees or...
, a conservative
state legislatorThe California State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of California. It is a bicameral body consisting of the lower house, the California State Assembly, with 80 members, and the upper house, the California State Senate, with 40 members...
from
Orange CountyOrange County is a county in Southern California, United States. Its county seat is Santa Ana. As of the 2000 census, its population was 2,846,293, though a July 2008 estimate placed the population at 3,010,759, making it the second most populous county in California, behind Los Angeles County and...
, Proposition 6 seeks to ban gays and
lesbianLesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
s (in addition to anyone who supports them) from working in California's
public schoolIn most of the world, excluding England and Wales and some Commonwealth countries, a public school is an educational institution that is funded with tax revenue and most commonly administered by a local government or government agency...
s. It is also part of a nationwide conservative movement that starts with the successful campaign headed by
Anita BryantAnita Jane Bryant is an American singer and gay rights opponent. She scored four Top 40 hits in the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including "Paper Roses", which reached #5...
and her organization
Save Our ChildrenSave Our Children, Inc. was a political coalition formed in 1977 in Miami, Florida to overturn a recently legislated county ordinance that banned discrimination in areas of housing, employment, and public accommodation based on sexual orientation...
in Dade County, Florida to repeal a local gay rights ordinance.
On November 7, 1978, after working tirelessly against Proposition 6, Milk and his supporters rejoice in the wake of its defeat. The increasingly unstable White favors a supervisor pay raise, but does not get much support, and shortly after supporting the proposition, resigns from the Board. He later changes his mind and asks to be reinstated. Mayor Moscone denies his request, after being
lobbiedLobbying is the practice of influencing decisions made by government . It includes all attempts to influence legislators and officials, whether by other legislators, constituents, or organized groups. A lobbyist is a person who tries to influence legislation on behalf of a special interest or a...
by Milk.
On the morning of November 27, 1978, White enters
City HallThe City Hall of San Francisco, California, opened in 1915, in its open space area in the city's Civic Center, is a Beaux-Arts monument to the brief "City Beautiful" movement that epitomized the high-minded American Renaissance of the period 1880–1917. The structure's dome is the fifth largest in...
through a basement window to conceal a gun from
metal detectorA metal detector is a device which uses electromagnetic induction to detect metal.The simplest form of a metal detector consists of an oscillator producing an alternating current that passes through a coil producing an alternating magnetic field...
s. He requests another meeting with Moscone, who rebuffs his request for re-appointment. Enraged, White shoots Moscone in his office and then goes to meet Milk, where he guns him down, with the fatal bullet delivered execution style. The film suggests that Milk believed that White might be a
closetedCloseted or "in the closet" are phrases generally referring to undisclosed sexual identity, sexual behavior, sexual orientation and gender identity. The most common of these concern lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex , but may include people who engage in kink sexual behaviors such...
gay man.
The last scene is an
aerial shotAerial shots are usually done with a crane or with a camera attached to a special helicopter to view large landscapes. This sort of shot would be restricted to exterior locations. A good area to do this shot would be a scene that takes place on a building. If the aerial shot is of a character it...
of the
candlelight vigilA candlelight vigil is an outdoor assembly of people carrying candles, held after sunset. Such events are typically held either to protest the suffering of some marginalized group of people, or in memory of lives lost to some disease, disaster, massacre or other tragedy. In the latter case, the...
held by thousands for Milk and Moscone throughout the streets of the city. Pictures of the actual people depicted in the film, and brief summaries of their lives follow. This includes a note that Dan White's lawyers used the infamous
Twinkie defenseTwinkie defense is a derisive label for an improbable legal defense. It is not an actual legal defense in jurisprudence, but a catchall term coined by reporters during their coverage of the trial of defendant Dan White for the murders of San Francisco City supervisor Harvey Milk and mayor George...
to get White's conviction reduced to voluntary manslaughter, a conviction which explains the
White Night RiotsThe White Night riots were a series of violent events sparked by an announcement of the lenient sentencing of Dan White, for the assassinations of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Harvey Milk, an openly gay San Francisco supervisor. The events took place on the night of May 21, 1979 in San...
in the post script.
Cast
- Sean Penn
Sean Justin Penn is an American film actor and director, also known for being a political activist. He is a two-time Academy Award winner for his roles in Mystic River and Milk, as well as the recipient of a Golden Globe Award for the former and a Screen Actors Guild Award for the latter.-Early...
as Harvey MilkHarvey Bernard Milk was an American politician and the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors...
- Emile Hirsch
Emile Davenport Hirsch is an American television and film actor. He began performing in the late 1990s, appearing in several television films and series, and became known as a film actor after roles in Lords of Dogtown, The Emperor's Club, The Girl Next Door, Alpha Dog, and Into the Wild...
as Cleve JonesCleve Jones is an American AIDS and LGBT rights activist. He conceived of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt which has become, at 54 tons, the world's largest piece of community folk art as of 2009...
- Josh Brolin
Josh James Brolin is an American actor. He has acted in theater, film and television roles since 1985, and won acting awards for his roles in the films No Country for Old Men and Milk.-Early life:...
as Dan WhiteDaniel James "Dan" White was a San Francisco supervisor who assassinated San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, on November 27, 1978, at City Hall. In a controversial verdict that led to the coining of the legal slang "Twinkie defense," White was convicted of the...
- Diego Luna
Diego Luna is a Mexican actor known for his childhood telenovela work, a starring role in the film Y tu mamá también, and supporting roles in American films...
as Jack Lira
- James Franco
James Edward Franco is an American actor, director, screenwriter, film producer, and artist. He began acting during the late 1990s, appearing on the short-lived television series Freaks and Geeks and starring in several teen films...
as Scott Smith----Joseph Scott Smith was a gay rights activist best known for his romantic relationship with Harvey Milk.In the 2008 feature film Milk, the role of Scott Smith was played by James Franco....
- Alison Pill
Alison Elizabeth Pill is a Canadian film, television and theatre actress.-Private Life:She was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and attended Vaughan Road Academy, a high school in Toronto.-Carrer:...
as Anne KronenbergAnne Kronenberg is an American political administrator and LGBT rights activist. She is best known for being Harvey Milk's campaign manager during his historic San Francisco Board of Supervisors campaign in 1977 and his aide as he held that office until the assassinations of Milk and mayor George...
- Victor Garber
Victor Joseph Garber is a Canadian film, stage and television actor and singer. Garber is perhaps best known for playing Jack Bristow in the television series Alias and Thomas Andrews in James Cameron's Titanic.-Personal life:...
as Mayor George MosconeGeorge Richard Moscone was an American attorney and Democratic politician. He was the mayor of San Francisco, California, US from January 1976 until his assassination in November 1978. Moscone served in the California State Senate from 1967 until becoming Mayor...
- Denis O'Hare
Denis O'Hare is an American Tony Award-winning actor.-Biography:O'Hare was born in Kansas City, Missouri. He is a graduate of Northwestern University's theatre school. O'Hare is Irish American and has an Irish passport...
as State Senator John BriggsJohn V. Briggs is a retired California state politician who served in the California State Assembly and the California State Senate. He is perhaps best known for sponsoring Proposition 6 in 1978, also known as the Briggs Initiative, which attempted to remove all gay or lesbian school employees or...
- Joseph Cross as Dick Pabich
- Stephen Spinella
Stephen Nicholas Spinella is an American stage, television, and actor. He is openly gay.Spinella was born in Naples, Italy to a father who was an American naval airplane mechanic...
as Rick Stokes
- Lucas Grabeel
Lucas Stephen Grabeel is an American actor, singer, songwriter, director and producer. He is perhaps best known for his role as Ryan Evans in Disney Channel Original Movie's 2006 High School Musical and its sequels, High School Musical 2 and High School Musical 3: Senior Year , and as Ethan...
as Danny NicolettaDaniel Nicoletta is an American photographer, photo journalist and gay rights activist.-Biography:Born in New York City, Daniel Nicoletta was raised in Utica, NY. In his late teens he left New York to attend San Francisco State University, later graduating from the Bachelor of Arts program...
- Jeff Koons
Jeff Koons is an American artist known for his giant reproductions of banal objects such as balloon animals produced in stainless steel with mirror finish surfaces, often brightly colored. Koons' work has sold for substantial sums including at least one world record auction price for a work by a...
as Art Agnos
- Ashlee Temple as Dianne Feinstein
Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein is the senior U.S. Senator from California and a member of the Democratic Party. Feinstein was first elected to the U.S...
- Wendy Tremont King as Carol Ruth Silver
Carol Ruth Silver is an American lawyer and former politician. She was a Freedom Rider arrested and incarcerated for 40 days in Jackson, Mississippi,...
- Kelvin Han Yee as Gordon Lau
Gordon J. Lau was the first Chinese American elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in San Francisco, California. He was elected to the city board of supervisors under Mayor George Moscone in 1977. Other notable supervisors at the time included Dianne Feinstein, Carol Ruth Silver,...
A number of Milk's associates, including speechwriter
Frank M. RobinsonFrank M. Robinson is an American science fiction and techno-thriller writer.-Biography:Robinson was born in Chicago, Illinois. The son of a check forger, Frank started out working as a copy boy for International Service in his teens and then became an office boy for Ziff-Davis...
, Teamster Allan Baird and school teacher-turned-politician
Tom AmmianoTom Ammiano is an American politician, and LGBT rights activist from San Francisco, California. Ammiano is a Democrat and a member of the California State Assembly, representing the 13th district.-Early life:...
portrayed themselves. Additionally,
Carol Ruth SilverCarol Ruth Silver is an American lawyer and former politician. She was a Freedom Rider arrested and incarcerated for 40 days in Jackson, Mississippi,...
, who served with Milk on the Board of Supervisors, plays a small role as Thelma.
Production
In early ,
Oliver StoneWilliam Oliver Stone is an American film director and screenwriter. Stone came to prominence as a director with a series of films about the Vietnam War, in which he had participated as an American infantry soldier, and his work continues to focus frequently on contemporary political and cultural...
was planning to produce, but not direct, a movie on Milk's life; he wrote a script for the movie, called
The Mayor of Castro Street. In July 1992, director Gus Van Sant was signed with
Warner Bros.Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. (also known as Warner Bros. Pictures, or simply Warner Bros.—the shortened form of the former official, sometimes still used, formal corporate name: Warner Brothers
to direct the biopic with actor Robin WilliamsRobin McLaurin Williams is an American actor and comedian.Rising to fame with his role as the alien Mork in the TV series Mork and Mindy, and later stand up comedy work, Williams has performed in many feature films since 1980. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance...
in the lead role. By April 1993, Van Sant parted ways with the studio, citing creative differences. Other actors considered for Harvey Milk at the time were Richard GereRichard Tiffany Gere is an American actor. He began acting in the 1970s, and came to prominence in 1980 for his role in the film American Gigolo, which established him as a leading man and a sex symbol...
, Daniel Day-LewisDaniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis is an English actor with British and Irish citizenship. He is known as one of the most selective actors in the film industry, having starred in only four films since 1997, with as many as five years between roles. He is a method actor, known for his constant...
and James WoodsJames Howard Woods is an American film, stage and television actor and comedian. Woods is best known for starring in films such as Once Upon a Time in America, Ghosts of Mississippi, Salvador, Casino and as the Disney villain Hades in Hercules.-Early life:Woods was born in Vernal, Utah...
. In April 2007, the director sought to direct the biopic based on a script by Dustin Lance BlackDustin "Lance" Black is an American screenwriter, director, film and television producer, and LGBT rights activist. He has won two Writers Guild of America Awards for his work on the television series Big Love and an Academy Award for the 2008 film Milk.-Early life:Black grew up in a Mormon...
, while at the same time, director Bryan SingerBryan Singer is an American film director and film producer. Singer won critical acclaim for his work on The Usual Suspects, and is especially popular among fans of the sci-fi and comic book genres, for his work on the first two X-Men films and Superman Returns.-Early life:Singer was born in New...
was developing The Mayor of Castro Street, which had been in development hell"Development hell" is media-industry jargon for a film, television screenplay, computer program, concept, or idea becoming and remaining stuck in development and taking an especially long time to start production, if ever...
. By the following September, Sean PennSean Justin Penn is an American film actor and director, also known for being a political activist. He is a two-time Academy Award winner for his roles in Mystic River and Milk, as well as the recipient of a Golden Globe Award for the former and a Screen Actors Guild Award for the latter.-Early...
was attached to play Harvey Milk and Matt DamonMatthew Paige Damon is an American actor, writer and philanthropist whose career was launched following the success of the film Good Will Hunting, from a screenplay he co-wrote with friend Ben Affleck...
was attached to play Milk's assassin, Dan WhiteDaniel James "Dan" White was a San Francisco supervisor who assassinated San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, on November 27, 1978, at City Hall. In a controversial verdict that led to the coining of the legal slang "Twinkie defense," White was convicted of the...
. Damon pulled out later in September due to scheduling conflicts. By November, Focus FeaturesFocus Features is the art house films division of NBC Universal's Universal Pictures, and acts as both a producer and distributor for its own films and a distributor for foreign films....
moved forward with Van Sant's production, Milk, while Singer's project ran into trouble with the writers' strikeThe 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, more commonly known as the Writers' Strike, was a strike by the Writers Guild of America, East and the Writers Guild of America, West ....
. In December 2007, actors Josh BrolinJosh James Brolin is an American actor. He has acted in theater, film and television roles since 1985, and won acting awards for his roles in the films No Country for Old Men and Milk.-Early life:...
, Emile HirschEmile Davenport Hirsch is an American television and film actor. He began performing in the late 1990s, appearing in several television films and series, and became known as a film actor after roles in Lords of Dogtown, The Emperor's Club, The Girl Next Door, Alpha Dog, and Into the Wild...
, Alison PillAlison Elizabeth Pill is a Canadian film, television and theatre actress.-Private Life:She was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and attended Vaughan Road Academy, a high school in Toronto.-Carrer:...
, and James FrancoJames Edward Franco is an American actor, director, screenwriter, film producer, and artist. He began acting during the late 1990s, appearing on the short-lived television series Freaks and Geeks and starring in several teen films...
joined Milk, with Brolin replacing Damon as Dan White. Milk began filming on location in San Francisco in January 2008.
Filmmakers researched San Francisco's history in the city's Gay and Lesbian Archives and talked to people who knew Milk to shape their approach to the era. They also revisited the location of Milk's camera shop on Castro Street and dressed the street to match the film's 1970s setting. The camera shop, which had become a gift shop, was bought out by filmmakers for a couple of months to use in production. Production on Castro Street also revitalized the Castro TheatreThe Castro Theatre is a popular San Francisco movie palace which became San Francisco Historic Landmark #100 in September 1976. Located at 429 Castro Street, in the Castro district, it was built in 1922 with a Spanish Colonial Baroque façade that pays homage — in its great arched central...
, whose facade was repainted and whose neon marquee was redone. Filming also took place at the San Francisco City HallThe City Hall of San Francisco, California, opened in 1915, in its open space area in the city's Civic Center, is a Beaux-Arts monument to the brief "City Beautiful" movement that epitomized the high-minded American Renaissance of the period 1880–1917. The structure's dome is the fifth largest in...
, while White's office, where Milk was assassinated, was recreated elsewhere due to the city hall's offices having become more modern. Filmmakers also intended to show a view of the San Francisco Opera HouseThe War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco, California is located on the western side of Van Ness Avenue across from the rear facade of City Hall...
from the redesign of White's office. Filming finished March 2008.
Release
In the month leading up to Milk's release, Focus FeaturesFocus Features is the art house films division of NBC Universal's Universal Pictures, and acts as both a producer and distributor for its own films and a distributor for foreign films....
kept the film out of fall film festivalA film festival is an organised, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theaters or screening venues, usually in a single locality. The films may be of recent date and, depending upon the focus of the individual festival, can include international releases as well as films produced by...
s and restricted media screenings, seeking to briefly avoid word-of-mouth and the partisanship it could generate. Milk premiered in San Francisco on October 28, 2008, initiating a marketing dilemma that Focus Features struggled to face due to the film's subject matter. The studio hoped to stay above the politics of the ongoing general electionsOn November 4, 2008, the United States held a general election. The result was a significant victory for the Democratic Party on the national level, as they increased majorities in both houses of Congress and won the Presidency.-President:...
, especially California's anti-gay-marriage Proposition 8Proposition 8 was a California ballot proposition passed in the November 2008, general election. The measure added a new section to Article I of the California Constitution...
, which parallels the anti-gay rights Proposition 6 that is explored in the film.
Regardless, many reviewers and pundits have noted that the highly acclaimed film has taken on a new significance after the successful passage of Proposition 8 as a galvanizing point of honoring a major gay political and historical figure who would have strongly opposed the measure. Activists called on Focus Features to pull the film from the Cinemark TheatresCinemark Theatres is a chain of movie theatres in North America and Latin America.As of 1 July 2009, The Cinemark circuit is the third largest in the world with 293 theatres and 3,769 screens....
chain as part of a series of boycotts because Cinemark's chief executive, Alan Stock, donated $9,999 to the Yes on 8 campaign.
Box office
In the United States, Milk was given a limited release on November 26, 2008, and expanded to additional theaters each of the following weekends to a maximum of 882 screens. The film made the top 10 box officeA box office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to a venue. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through an unblocked hole through a wall, or at a wicket...
list on its opening weekend with earnings of $1.4 million in 36 theaters.
DVD release
Milk was released on DVDDVD, also known as Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc,is an optical disc storage media format, and was founded in 1995. Its main uses are video and data storage...
and Blu-rayBlu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the standard DVD format. Its main uses are for storing high-definition video, PlayStation 3 games, and other data, with up to 25 GB per single layered, and 50 GB per dual layered disc...
on March 10, 2009. The DVD comes with deleted sceneDeleted scene is a commonly-used term in the entertainment industry, especially the film and television industry, which usually refers specifically to scenes removed from or replaced by another scene in the final "cut", or version, of a film...
s and three featurettes: Remembering Harvey, Hollywood Comes to San Francisco, and Marching for Equality.
As of August 16, 2009, the DVD release of the film has sold an estimated 600,413 units, resulting in an estimated $10,618,012 in revenue. Estimates for the Blu-ray release are not available.
Critical reception
Milk received widespread acclaim from film critics. Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films. The name derives from the historical cliché of throwing tomatoes and other produce at stage performers if a performance was particularly bad.- History :...
reported that 94% of critics gave the film a positive review, based on a sample of 209, with an averageThe weighted mean is similar to an arithmetic mean , where instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others...
score of 8.0/10. At MetacriticMetacritic is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a normalizedIn statistics, a standard score indicates how many standard deviations an observation is above or below the mean. It is a dimensionless quantity derived by subtracting the population mean from an individual raw score and then dividing the difference by the population standard deviation...
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received an average score of 84, based on 39 reviews.
Todd McCarthy of VarietyVariety is a weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the Daily...
called the film "adroitly and tenderly observed," "smartly handled," and "most notable for the surprising and entirely winning performance by Sean Penn." He added, "[W]hile Milk is unquestionably marked by many mandatory scenes . . . the quality of the writing, acting and directing generally invests them with the feel of real life and credible personal interchange, rather than of scripted stops along the way from aspiration to triumph to tragedy. And on a project whose greatest danger lay in its potential to come across as agenda-driven agitpropAgitprop is a portmanteau of agitation and propaganda. The term originated in Bolshevist Russia , where the term was a shortened form of отдел агитации и пропаганды , i.e., Department for Agitation and Propaganda, which was part of the Central and regional committees of the Communist Party of the...
, the filmmakers have crucially infused the story with qualities in very short supply today — gentleness and a humane embrace of all its characters."
Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood ReporterThe Hollywood Reporter is an American trade publication of the entertainment industry. During the last century it was one of the two major publications — the other being Variety. Today both newspapers cover what is now more broadly called the entertainment industry.- History :The Hollywood Reporter...
said the film "transcends any single genre as a very human document that touches first and foremost on the need to give people hope" and added it "is superbly crafted, covering huge amounts of time, people and the zeitgeist without a moment of lapsed energy or inattention to detail . . . Black's screenplay is based solely on his own original research and interviews, and it shows: The film is richly flavored with anecdotal incidents and details. Milk surfaces in a season filled with movies based on real lives, but this is the first one that inspires a sense of intimacy with its subjects."
A.O. Scott of The New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded in 1851 and published in New York City. The largest metropolitan newspaper in the United States, "The Gray Lady"—named for its staid appearance and style—is regarded as a national newspaper of record...
called Milk, "A Marvel", and wrote the film "is a fascinating, multi-layered history lesson. In its scale and visual variety it feels almost like a calmed-down Oliver StoneWilliam Oliver Stone is an American film director and screenwriter. Stone came to prominence as a director with a series of films about the Vietnam War, in which he had participated as an American infantry soldier, and his work continues to focus frequently on contemporary political and cultural...
movie, stripped of hyperbole and OedipalOedipus was a mythical Greek king of Thebes. He fulfilled a prophecy that said he would kill his father and marry his mother, and thus brought disaster on his city and family...
melodrama. But it is also a film that like Mr. Van Sant’s other recent work — and also, curiously, like David FincherDavid Andrew Leo Fincher is an American filmmaker and music video director known for his dark and stylish movies such as Seven, Fight Club, Zodiac and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.- Early life and career :...
’s Zodiac, another San Francisco-based tale of the 1970s — respects the limits of psychologicalPsychology is an academic and applied discipline involving the systematic, and sometimes scientific, study of human or animal mental functions and behavior...
and sociologicalSociology is the scientific or systematic study of human societies. It is a branch of social science that uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop and refine a body of knowledge about human social structure and activity, often with the goal of applying such...
explanation."
Christianity TodayChristianity Today is an Evangelical Christian periodical based in Carol Stream, Illinois. It is the flagship publication of its parent company Christianity Today International, claiming circulation figures of 145,000 and readership of 304,500...
, a major Evangelical Christian periodical, gave the film a positive response. It stated that "Milk achieves what it sets out to do, telling an inspiring tale of one man's quest to legitimize his identity, to give hope to his community. I'm not sure how well it'll play outside of big cities, or if it will sway any opinions on hot-button political issues, but it gives a valiant, empathetic go of it." It also stated that the portrayal of Dan White was very fair and humanized and portrayed as more of a flawed and tragically opinionated character, rather than a "typical 'crazy Christian villain' stereotype".
In contrast, John PodhoretzJohn Podhoretz is an American conservative commentator for a variety of media sources, the author of several books on politics, and a former presidential speechwriter.-Life and career:...
of the conservative magazine Weekly Standard blasted the portrayal of Harvey Milk, saying that it treated the "smart, aggressive, purposefully offensive, press-savvy" activist like a "teddy bear". Podhoretz also argued that the film glosses over Milk's polyamorous relationships; he opined that this contrasts Milk from present day gay rights activists fighting over monogamous same-sex marriageSame-sex marriage is a term used to describe a legally or socially recognized marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Other terms used to describe this type of recognition include gay marriage or gender-neutral marriage.Same-sex marriage is a civil rights,...
.
Screenwriter and journalist Richard David Boyle, who described himself as a former political ally of Milk's, stated that the film made a creditable effort of recreating the era. He also wrote that Penn captured Milk's "smile and humanity", and his sense of humor about his homosexuality. Boyle reserved criticism for what he felt was the film's inability to tell the whole story of Milk's election and demise.
The MonthlyThe Monthly is an Australian national magazine of politics, society and the arts, which is published eleven times per year on a monthly basis excepting the December/January issue. Founded in 2005, it is published by Morry Schwartz, a successful Melbourne property developer...
's Luke DaviesLuke Davies was an Australian writer of novels, poetry and screenplays.Davies' first poetry collection, Four Plots for Magnets, was published in 1982, when he was twenty.His novel Candy, was made into a film starring Heath Ledger in 2006...
applauded the film's ability to bring alive "the atmosphere, the sense of hope and battle; even the sound design, bustling with street noise, adds much vibrancy to the tale," but voiced criticisms in regard to the message of the film, stating "while the film is a political narrative in a grand historical sense, the murder of Milk is neither a political assassination nor an act of homophobic rage. Rather, it is an act of revenge for perceived wrongs and public humiliation," Davies continues to postulate that "It seems as likely that Milk would have been murdered were he heterosexual. So the film can't be the heroic tale of a political martyr it needs to be in order to hold us and take our breath away. It's a simpler story, about a man who fought an extraordinary political fight and who was killed, arbitrarily and unnecessarily." Although Davies found Penn's portrayal of Milk moving, he adds that "on a minor but troubling note, there are times when Penn's version of ‘gay' acting veers dangerously close to a twee version of his childlike (read: ‘mentally retarded') acting in I Am Sam." All his criticisms aside, Davies concludes that "the heart of the film — and while it is not perfect, it is uplifting — lies in Penn's portrayal of Milk's generosity of spirit.
The AdvocateThe Advocate is an American lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender monthly newsmagazine. Established in 1967, it is the oldest continuing LGBT publication in the United States....
, while supporting the film in general, criticized the choice of Penn given the actor's support for the Cuban government despite the country's anti-gay rights recordSexual relations between same-sex consenting adults 16 and over have been legal in Cuba since 1979, although same-sex relationships are not presently recognised by the state. Despite elements of homophobia in Cuba's history, Havana now has a lively and vibrant gay scene.Public antipathy towards...
. Human Rights FoundationThe Human Rights Foundation is a non-profit organization that, according to its mission statement, works on “defending human rights and promoting liberal democracy in the Americas.” The Human Rights Foundation was founded in 2005 by film producer Thor Halvorssen...
president Thor Halvorssen said in the article "that Sean Penn would be honored by anyone, let alone the gay community, for having stood by a dictatorA dictator is a ruler who assumes sole and absolute power with military control but, without hereditary ascension such as an absolute monarch. When other states call the head of state of a particular state a dictator, that state is called a dictatorship...
that put gays into concentration camps is mind-boggling." Los Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California since 1881. It is distributed throughout the Western United States. It is the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in the United States and the fourth-most widely distributed newspaper in the United States...
film critic Patrick Goldstein commented in response to the controversy, "I'm not holding my breath that anyone will be holding Penn's feet to the fire."
Top ten lists
The film appeared on many critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2008. Movie City News shows that the film appeared in 131 different top ten lists, out of 286 different critics lists surveyed, the 4th most mentions on a top ten list of the films released in 2008.
- 1st — Michael Rechtshaffen, The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter is an American trade publication of the entertainment industry. During the last century it was one of the two major publications — the other being Variety. Today both newspapers cover what is now more broadly called the entertainment industry.- History :The Hollywood Reporter...
- 1st - Peter Travers
Peter Travers is an American film critic, who has written for, in turn, People and Rolling Stone. Travers also hosts a celebrity interview show called Popcorn on ABC News Now and ABCNews.com.-Career:...
, Rolling StoneRolling Stone is a United States-based magazine devoted to music, politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J. Gleason.The magazine was named after the 1948 Muddy Waters song of the same...
- 2nd - Ella Taylor
Ella Taylor was a film critic for the LA Weekly, an alternative newspaper based in Los Angeles. She was laid off in early 2009. Before being hired by the Weekly, she was a longtime television critic...
, LA WeeklyLA Weekly is a free weekly tabloid-sized newspaper in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Editor/Publisher Jay Levin and a board of directors that included actor-producer Michael Douglas...
- 2nd — Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter is an American trade publication of the entertainment industry. During the last century it was one of the two major publications — the other being Variety. Today both newspapers cover what is now more broadly called the entertainment industry.- History :The Hollywood Reporter...
- 2nd — Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books and popular culture. Unlike celebrity-focused publications US Weekly, People, and In Touch Weekly, EWs primary concentration is on entertainment...
- 2nd - Mick LaSalle
Mick LaSalle is an American film critic currently writing for the San Francisco Chronicle and the author of two books on pre-code Hollywood. As of March 2008, he has written in excess of 1550 reviews , and he has been podcasting them since September 2005...
, San Francisco Chroniclethumb|right|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireSan Francisco Chronicle is Northern California's largest newspaper, and one of the largest in the United States, serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area, but distributed throughout...
- 3rd — Ann Hornaday, The Washington Post
The Washington Post is the newspaper with the largest circulation in Washington, D.C. and is the city's oldest paper, founded in 1877. Being located in the nation's capital, it has a particular emphasis on national politics and international affairs...
- 3rd - Lou Lumenick
Louis J. Lumenick is an American film critic. He is the chief film critic for the New York Post and has reviewed films there since 1999.-Life and career:Lumenick was born and raised in Astoria, Queens...
, New York PostThe New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
- 3rd — Marjorie Baumgarten, The Austin Chronicle
- 3rd — Robert Mondello, NPR
National Public Radio is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to 797 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, signed into law...
- 3rd - Ben Lyons
Ben Lyons is an American film critic and entertainment journalist, best known for his stint co-hosting the popular television program At the Movies with Ben Mankiewicz from September 2008 to August 2009...
, At the MoviesAt the Movies is an ABC1 television program hosted by film critics Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton, in which they discuss the films opening in theatres that week....
- 4th — Andrea Gronvall, Chicago Reader
- 4th — Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireSan Francisco Chronicle is Northern California's largest newspaper, and one of the largest in the United States, serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area, but distributed throughout...
- 4th - Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden is an American writer, music critic, film critic, and poet.Holden earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1963...
, The New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded in 1851 and published in New York City. The largest metropolitan newspaper in the United States, "The Gray Lady"—named for its staid appearance and style—is regarded as a national newspaper of record...
- 4th - Ty Burr
Ty Burr has been a film critic for the Boston Globe since 2002. At the Boston Globe he reviews films alongside Wesley Morris.Born in 1957, Burr studied film at Dartmouth College and New York University. Currently, he lives in Newton, Massachusetts...
, The Boston GlobeThe Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993. Its chief print rival is the Boston Herald....
- 4th - Ben Mankiewicz
Ben Mankiewicz is an American radio and television personality.-Career:Mankiewicz began his professional career years as a reporter and an anchor for WCSC-TV in Charleston, SC...
, At the MoviesAt the Movies is an ABC1 television program hosted by film critics Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton, in which they discuss the films opening in theatres that week....
- 5th — Marc Doyle, Metacritic.com
- 5th - Richard Corliss
Richard Nelson Corliss is a writer for Time magazine who focuses on movies, with the occasional article on music or sports. Corliss is the former editor-in-chief of Film Comment...
, TIME magazineTime is an American newsmagazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong. As of 2009, Time no longer publishes a Canadian advertiser edition...
- 5th — Stephen Farber, The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter is an American trade publication of the entertainment industry. During the last century it was one of the two major publications — the other being Variety. Today both newspapers cover what is now more broadly called the entertainment industry.- History :The Hollywood Reporter...
- 6th — Carrie Rickey, The Philadelphia Inquirer
The Philadelphia Inquirer is a morning daily newspaper that serves the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, metropolitan area of the United States. The newspaper was founded by John R. Walker and John Norvell in June 1829 as The Pennsylvania Inquirer and is the third-oldest surviving daily newspaper in the...
- 6th — Keith Phipps, The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. It comes included with the print editions of The Onion, and maintains its own separate website. Unlike its parent publication, The A.V. Club is non-satirical, though it strives for a humorous, snarky tone...
- 6th — Kirk Honeycutt, The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter is an American trade publication of the entertainment industry. During the last century it was one of the two major publications — the other being Variety. Today both newspapers cover what is now more broadly called the entertainment industry.- History :The Hollywood Reporter...
- 7th — Dana Stevens, Slate
Slate is an English-language online current affairs and culture magazine created in 1996 by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft, as part of MSN. On December 21, 2004, it was purchased by the Washington Post Company...
- 7th - David Denby
David Denby is an American journalist, best-known as film critic for The New Yorker magazine.-Background and education:Denby grew up in New York City. He received a B.A...
, The New YorkerThe New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry published by Condé Nast Publications...
- 7th - Wesley Morris
Wesley Morris is a film critic at Boston Globe. Before that he wrote for the San Francisco Examiner, and later at the San Francisco Chronicle. He also wrote for and edited the Culture section for Student.Com....
, The Boston GlobeThe Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993. Its chief print rival is the Boston Herald....
- 8th - A. O. Scott
Anthony O. "Tony" Scott is an American journalist and critic. He is best known as a film critic for The New York Times.-Background and education:...
, The New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded in 1851 and published in New York City. The largest metropolitan newspaper in the United States, "The Gray Lady"—named for its staid appearance and style—is regarded as a national newspaper of record...
- 9th — Lawrence Toppman, The Charlotte Observer
The Charlotte Observer, serving Charlotte, North Carolina and its metro area, is the largest newspaper, in terms of circulation, in North and South Carolina. It is owned by The McClatchy Company.-Overview:...
- 9th — Liam Lacey, The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail is a Canadian English language nationally distributed newspaper, based in Toronto and printed in six cities across the country. With a weekly readership of 935 000, it is Canada's largest-circulation national newspaper and second-largest daily newspaper after the Toronto Star and...
- 9th — Noel Murray, The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. It comes included with the print editions of The Onion, and maintains its own separate website. Unlike its parent publication, The A.V. Club is non-satirical, though it strives for a humorous, snarky tone...
- 9th - Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman is an American film critic for Entertainment Weekly, a position he has held since the magazine's launch in 1990. From 1981–89, he worked at the Boston Phoenix....
, Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books and popular culture. Unlike celebrity-focused publications US Weekly, People, and In Touch Weekly, EWs primary concentration is on entertainment...
- 9th — Sean Axmaker, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is an online newspaper and former print newspaper covering Seattle, Washington and the surrounding area...
- 10th - Nathan Rabin
Nathan Rabin is an American film critic. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Rabin was the first head writer for The A.V. Club, a position he continues to hold today. He is also noted for coining the phrase manic pixie dream girl as a cinematic type...
, The A.V. ClubThe A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. It comes included with the print editions of The Onion, and maintains its own separate website. Unlike its parent publication, The A.V. Club is non-satirical, though it strives for a humorous, snarky tone...
- Listed - Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter.He is known for his film review column and for two television programs Sneak Previews and Siskel & Ebert at the Movies, which he co-hosted for a combined 23 years with Gene Siskel...
, Chicago Sun-TimesThe Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is owned by the Sun-Times Media Group, which filed for bankruptcy protection on March 31, 2009.-History:...
(Ebert gave a top 20 list in alphabetical order without ranking and announced on his website that he considered it the most deserving 2008 'Best Picture' nominee at the Oscars.)
Samoa ban
In late March 2009, SamoaSamoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa , is a country governing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and Savai'i...
's Censorship Board banned the film from being distributed in the country. Principal Censor Leiataua Niuapu Faaui, asked by the New Zealand Herald about the reason for the ban, said he could not comment. Samoan human rights activist Ken Moala commented:
- "I do not think it should be banned. It is basically a documentary about the human endeavour to conquer something that people tend to discriminate against. It's really harmless, I don't know how it would affect Samoan lifestyle. It is totally different and not applicable to here, it is pretty tame really."
On April 17, the Pacific Freedom Forum issued a press release stating:
- "Samoa is the only nation worldwide where censors have specifically banned the multi-academy award winning film, which means those in Samoa will only see the pirated version or overseas-purchased copies smuggled into the country."
Papua New GuineaPapua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
n Susuve Laumaea, the Forum's chair, added: "The Pacific Freedom Forum calls on the Samoan film censors to fully and transparently explain themselves to the Samoan people, and re-consider its decision on banning 'Milk'." American SamoaAmerican Samoa is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the sovereign state of Samoa . The main island is Tutuila, with the Manua Islands, Rose Atoll, and Swains Island also included in the territory...
n Monica Miller, the Forum's co-chair, stated: "Given the acclaim this film has received worldwide, and given the silence on exactly why it has been banned in Samoa, observers are left to wonder at the censorship standards being applied in a country where fa’afafine have a well established and respected role." Fa'afafine are biologically men raised to assume female gender roleA gender role is defined as a set of perceived behavioral norms associated particularly with males or females, in a given social group or system. It can be a form of division of labour by gender. It is a focus of analysis in the social sciences and humanities...
s, making them a third genderThe terms third gender and third sex describe individuals who are considered to be neither women nor men, as well as the social category present in those societies who recognize three or more genders....
well accepted in Samoan society. The Fa'afafine Association also criticised the ban, describing it as a "rejecti[on of] the idea of homosexuality".
On April 30, Principal Censor Leiataua Niuapu released the reason for the ban, saying the film had been deemed "inappropriate and contradictory to Christian beliefs and Samoan culture": "In the movie itself it is trying to promote the human rights of gays. Some of the scenes are very inappropriate in regard to some of the sex in the film itself, it's very contrary to the way of life here in Samoa."
In 2006, Samoa's Censorship Board had banned The Da Vinci CodeThe Da Vinci Code is a 2006 film directed by Ron Howard, which is based on the bestselling 2003 novel The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. It was one of the most anticipated films of 2006, and was previewed at the opening night of the Cannes Film Festival on May 17, 2006...
, reportedly because of its portrayal of ChristianityChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented by the revelations in the New Testament....
. It later banned Angels & Demons, for being "critical of the Catholic Church". Samoan society is, in the words of the British Broadcasting Corporation, "deeply conservative and devoutly Christian".
Awards and nominations
Milk had received accolades from several film critics organizations. On December 9, the film received eight Critic's Choice Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director. Two days later, Sean Penn received one Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor, the film's only nomination. On December 18, the Screen Actors GuildThe Screen Actors Guild is an American labor union representing over 200,000 film and television principal performers and background performers worldwide...
nominated Milk on three categories: Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor and Best Cast in a Motion Picture for the 15th Screen Actors Guild Awards; Sean Penn was chosen as Best Actor. On January 5, the film's producers received a nomination for Producer of the Year for the 20th Producers Guild of AmericaProducers Guild of America is a trade organization representing television producers, film producers and New Media producers in the United States. The PGA's membership includes over 3,500 members of the producing establishment worldwide...
Awards; and on January 8 Gus Van Sant received a nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement for the 61st Directors Guild of AmericaDirectors Guild of America is the labor union which represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry...
Awards. The film won Best Original Screenplay at the 62nd Writers Guild of AmericaThe Writers Guild of America is a generic term referring to the joint efforts of two different US labor unions:* The Writers Guild of America, East , representing TV and film writers around New York City....
Awards and received four BAFTA award nominations, including Best Film, for the 62nd British Academy Film AwardsThe 62nd British Academy Film Awards, hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, took place on 8 February, 2009, and honoured the best films of 2008.-Best Actor:Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler...
. On January 22, 2009; Milk received 8 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, for the 81st Academy AwardsThe 81st Academy Awards ceremony was held by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to honor its selection of the best films of 2008 on February 22, 2009, at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, California. The ceremony was televised in the United States on ABC. Australian performer Hugh...
, winning two for Best Original Screenplay and Best Actor in a Leading Role (Sean PennSean Justin Penn is an American film actor and director, also known for being a political activist. He is a two-time Academy Award winner for his roles in Mystic River and Milk, as well as the recipient of a Golden Globe Award for the former and a Screen Actors Guild Award for the latter.-Early...
).
| List of awards and nominations |
| Award |
Category |
Name |
Outcome |
81st Academy AwardsThe 81st Academy Awards ceremony was held by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to honor its selection of the best films of 2008 on February 22, 2009, at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, California. The ceremony was televised in the United States on ABC. Australian performer Hugh...
|
Best Motion Picture of the Year The Academy Award for Best Motion Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible...
|
Dan Jinks, Bruce Cohen |
Nominated |
| Achievement in Directing |
Gus Van Sant |
Nominated |
| Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
|
Sean Penn |
Won |
| Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
|
Josh Brolin |
Nominated |
| Best Original Screenplay |
Dustin Lance Black |
Won |
| Achievement in Film Editing |
Elliot Graham |
Nominated |
| Achievement in Costume Design |
Danny Glicker |
Nominated |
| Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score |
Danny Elfman |
Nominated |
| 59th American Cinema Editors Eddie Awards Founded in 1950, American Cinema Editors is an honorary society of film editors that are voted in based on the qualities of professional achievements, their education of others, and their dedication to editing itself. The society is not to be confused with an industry union, such as the I.A.T.S.E...
|
Best Edited Feature Film, Dramatic |
Elliot Graham |
Nominated |
| American Film Institute The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
|
Top 10 Outstanding Movies of the Year |
|
Won |
13th Art Directors Guild AwardsThe The Art Directors Guild is a local union of the International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees representing approximately 2,000 motion picture and television professions based in the Western United States...
|
Excellence in Production Design in a Period Film |
Bill Groom |
Nominated |
| 4th Austin Film Critics Association Awards The Austin Film Critics Association is an organization of film critics from the Austin, Texas area.Each year, the AFCA votes on their Austin Film Critics Association Awards for films released in the same calendar year...
|
Top 10 Films |
|
|
| Best Actor |
Sean Penn |
Won |
| 28th Boston Society of Film Critics Awards The Boston Society of Film Critics is an organization of film reviewers from Boston, Massachusetts, United States, based publications.The BSFC was formed in 1981 to make "Boston's unique critical perspective heard on a national and international level by awarding commendations to the best of the...
|
Best Director |
Gus Van Sant |
Won |
| Best Actor |
Sean Penn |
Won |
| Best Screenplay |
Dustin Lance Black |
Won |
| 14th BFCA Critic's Choice Awards The Broadcast Film Critics Association is the largest film critics organization in the U.S. and Canada, representing 199 television, radio and online critics....
|
Best Picture |
Dan Jinks, Bruce Cohen |
Nominated |
| Best Director |
Gus Van Sant |
Nominated |
| Best Actor |
Sean Penn |
Won |
| Best Supporting Actor |
Josh Brolin |
Nominated |
| Best Supporting Actor |
James Franco |
Nominated |
| Best Writer |
Dustin Lance Black |
Nominated |
| Best Composer |
Danny Elfman |
Nominated |
| Best Acting Ensemble |
|
Won |
| 62nd British Academy Film Awards The 62nd British Academy Film Awards, hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, took place on 8 February, 2009, and honoured the best films of 2008.-Best Actor:Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler...
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Best Film This page lists the Milo and nominees for the BAFTA Award for Best Film, BAFTA Award for Best Film not in the English Language and Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film for each year, in addition to the retired earlier versions of those awards...
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Dan Jinks, Bruce Cohen |
Nominated |
| Best Actor in a Leading Role Best Actor in a Leading Role is a British Academy Film award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding leading performance in a film.- Winners and nominees :...
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Sean Penn |
Nominated |
| Best Original Screenplay The BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay is the British Academy Film Award for the best script not based upon previously published material. It has been awarded since 1984, when the original category was split into two awards, the other being the BAFTA Award for Best Adapted...
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Dustin Lance Black |
Nominated |
| Best Makeup and Hair -Winners and nominees:*1999 - Topsy-Turvy - Christine Blundell**American Beauty – Tania McComas Carol A. O'Connell**The End of the Affair – Christine Beveridge**An Ideal Husband – Peter King...
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Steven E. Anderson, Michael White |
Nominated |
| 21st Chicago Film Critics Association Awards The Chicago Film Critics Association is an American film critic association.-Members:Current members include:* Lisa Alspector* Chris Barsanti* Mark Caro* Erik Childress* Roger Ebert* * David Kaplan* Jeanne Kaplan* Josh Larsen* Jonathan Lewis* J...
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Best Picture |
Dan Jinks, Bruce Cohen |
Nominated |
| Best Director |
Gus Van Sant |
Nominated |
| Best Actor |
Sean Penn |
Nominated |
| Best Original Screenplay |
Dustin Lance Black |
Nominated |
| Best Original Score |
Danny Elfman |
Nominated |
| 11th Costume Designers Guild Awards The Costume Designers Guild , IATSE LOCAL 892 was founded in 1953 by a group of 30 motion picture costume designers. In 1986, the CDG joined the International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees and added Local 892 to its name...
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Excellence in Period Costume Design for Film |
Danny Glicker |
Nominated |
| 15th Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards The Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association is an organization of 35 print, radio/TV and internet journalists from Dallas-Fort Worth-based publications....
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Top 10 Films |
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| Best Film |
Dan Jinks, Bruce Cohen |
Runner-Up |
| Best Director |
Gus Van Sant |
Nominated |
| Best Actor |
Sean Penn |
Won |
| Best Supporting Actor |
Josh Brolin |
Runner-Up |
| Best Screenplay |
Dustin Lance Black |
Won |
| 2nd Detroit Film Critics Society Awards The nominees for the Detroit Film Critics Society Awards 2008 were announced on December 11, 2008. The winners were announced on December 19, 2008.-Best Actor:Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler*Josh Brolin – W....
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Best Actor |
Sean Penn |
Nominated |
61st Directors Guild of America AwardsDirectors Guild of America is the labor union which represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry...
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Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film |
Gus Van Sant |
Nominated |
| 20th GLAAD Media Awards The GLAAD Media Awards were created in 1990 by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation to "recognize and honor media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and the issues that affect their lives."-Davidson/Valentini...
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Outstanding Film, Wide Release |
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Won |
| 66th Golden Globe Awards The 66th Golden Globe Awards Ceremony was broadcast on January 11, 2009, from the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, United States on the NBC TV network...
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Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role, Motion Picture Drama |
Sean Penn |
Nominated |
| 2nd Houston Film Critics Society Awards |
Best Actor |
Sean Penn |
Won |
| 23rd Independent Spirit Awards |
Best Male Lead |
Sean Penn |
Nominated |
| Best Supporting Male |
James Franco |
Won |
| Best First Screenplay |
Dustin Lance Black |
Won |
| Best Cinematography |
Harris Savides |
Nominated |
| 5th International Film Music Critics Association Awards The International Film Music Critics Association, also known by the acronym IFMCA, is an association of editors, journalists, radio hosts and reviewers from online and print publications who specialize in writing about original film and television music....
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Best Original Score for a Drama Film |
Danny Elfman |
Nominated |
| 29th London Film Critics Circle The London Film Critics' Circle is the name by which the Film Section of the The Critics' Circle is known internationally.The word London was added because it was thought the term Critics' Circle Film Awards lacked meaning — for people in LA for example — and the Film Section wished its annual...
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Best Film of the Year |
Dan Jinks, Bruce Cohen |
Nominated |
| Best Director of the Year |
Gus Van Sant |
Nominated |
| Best Actor of the Year |
Sean Penn |
Nominated |
| 34th Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards The Los Angeles Film Critics Association was founded in 1975. Its main purpose is to present yearly awards to members of the film industry who have excelled in their fields. These awards are presented each January...
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Best Actor |
Sean Penn |
Won |
| 56th Motion Picture Sound Editors Golden Reel Awards Founded in 1953, Motion Picture Sound Editors is an honorary society of motion picture sound editors. The society's goals are to educate others about and increase the recognition of the sound editors, show the artistic merit of the soundtracks, and improve the professional relationship of its...
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Best Sound Editing, Dialogue and ADR in a Feature Film |
Robert Jackson |
Nominated |
| 80th National Board of Review Awards |
Top 10 Films |
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| Best Supporting Actor |
Josh Brolin |
Won |
| 43rd National Society of Film Critics Awards The National Society of Film Critics or NSFC is an American film critic organization. The NSFC currently consists of approximately 60 members who write for a variety of weekly and daily newspapers as of December 2007.-History:...
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Best Actor |
Sean Penn |
Won |
| Best Director |
Gus Van Sant |
Runner-Up |
| 74th New York Film Critics Circle Awards |
Best Picture |
Dan Jinks, Bruce Cohen |
Won |
| Best Actor |
Sean Penn |
Won |
| Best Supporting Actor |
Josh Brolin |
Won |
| 8th New York Film Critics Online Awards The New York Film Critics Online is an organization composed of Internet film critics based in New York City. The group meets once a year, in December, for voting on its annual NYFCO Awards.-Members 2008:*Ethan Alter...
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Top 10 Films |
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| Best Actor |
Sean Penn |
Won |
| Best Ensemble |
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Won |
| 3rd Oklahoma Film Critics Circle Awards The Oklahoma Film Critics Circle is a group of film critics from Oklahoma who annually vote on the top films of that year.-Best Animated Feature:*2006: Cars – John Lasseter and Joe Ranft*2007: Ratatouille – Brad Bird...
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Top 10 Films |
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| Best Original Screenplay |
Dustin Lance Black |
Won |
| 9th Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards The Phoenix Film Critics Society is an organization of film reviewers from Phoenix-based publications.In December of each year, the PFCS meets to vote on their Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards for films released in the same calendar year.Categories of awards include:* Best Actor The Phoenix...
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Top 10 Films |
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| Best Performance by an Actor in a Lead Role |
Sean Penn |
Won |
| Best Acting Ensemble |
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Won |
| 20th Producers Guild of America Awards Producers Guild of America is a trade organization representing television producers, film producers and New Media producers in the United States. The PGA's membership includes over 3,500 members of the producing establishment worldwide...
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Producer of the Year Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures |
Dan Jinks, Bruce Cohen |
Nominated |
| Stanley Kramer Award |
Dan Jinks, Bruce Cohen |
Won |
| 5th St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Awards |
Best Picture |
Dan Jinks, Bruce Cohen |
Nominated |
| Best Director |
Gus Van Sant |
Nominated |
| Best Actor |
Sean Penn |
Won |
| Best Supporting Actor |
Josh Brolin |
Nominated |
| Best Cinematography |
Harris Savides |
Nominated |
| Best Screenplay |
Dustin Lance Black |
Nominated |
| 7th San Francisco Film Critics Awards San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards are given annually to honor fine achievements in filmmaking by an organisation of film reviewers from San Francisco-based publications....
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Best Picture |
Dan Jinks, Bruce Cohen |
Won |
| Best Director |
Gus Van Sant |
Won |
| Best Actor |
Sean Penn |
Won |
| Best Original Screenplay |
Dustin Lance Black |
Won |
| 13th Satellite Awards The Satellite Awards are an annual award given by the International Press Academy. The awards were originally known as the Golden Satellite Awards.- Film :*Best Actor – Drama*Best Actor – Musical or Comedy*Best Actress – Drama...
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Best Motion Picture, Drama |
Dan Jinks, Bruce Cohen |
Nominated |
| Best Director |
Gus Van Sant |
Nominated |
| Best Actor in a Leading Role |
Sean Penn |
Nominated |
| Best Actor in a Supporting Role |
James Franco |
Nominated |
| Best Original Screenplay |
Dustin Lance Black |
Nominated |
| Best Original Score |
Danny Elfman |
Nominated |
| 15th Screen Actors Guild Awards The Screen Actors Guild Awards are an annual award given by the Screen Actors Guild to recognize outstanding performances by members.SAG Awards have been one of the major awards events in Hollywood since 1995. Nominations for the awards come from 4200 randomly selected members of the union, with...
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Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture |
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Nominated |
| Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role, Motion Picture |
Sean Penn |
Won |
| Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role, Motion Picture |
Josh Brolin |
Nominated |
| 23rd Society of Camera Operators Awards |
Camera Operator of the Year |
Will Arnot |
Nominated |
| 17th Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards The Southeastern Film Critics Association is an organization of film reviewers from publications based in the Southeastern United States....
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Best Picture |
Dan Jinks, Bruce Cohen |
Won |
| Best Director |
Gus Van Sant |
Runner-Up |
| Best Actor |
Sean Penn |
Won |
| Best Original Screenplay |
Dustin Lance Black |
Won |
| 12th Toronto Film Critics Association Awards The Toronto Film Critics Association is an organization of film reviewers from Toronto-based publications. As of 1999, the TFCA is member of FIPRESCI....
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Best Actor |
Sean Penn |
Runner-Up |
| Best Supporting Actor |
Josh Brolin |
Runner-Up |
| 9th Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards The Vancouver Film Critics Circle was founded to represent Vancouver's print, on-line and broadcast media and honours the best in Canadian and international filmmaking.-Award categories:International*Best Film*Best Director*Best Actor...
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Best Film |
Dan Jinks, Bruce Cohen |
Won |
| Best Director |
Gus Van Sant |
Nominated |
| Best Actor |
Sean Penn |
Won |
| Best Supporting Actor |
Josh Brolin |
Nominated |
| 7th Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards The Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association is a group of film critics based out of Washington, D.C. that was founded in 2003. The WDCAFCA is composed of 34 DC-based film critics from television, radio, print and the internet...
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Best Film |
Dan Jinks, Bruce Cohen |
Nominated |
| Best Director |
Gus Van Sant |
Nominated |
| Best Actor |
Sean Penn |
Nominated |
| Best Supporting Actor |
Josh Brolin |
Nominated |
| Best Original Screenplay |
Dustin Lance Black |
Nominated |
| Best Ensemble |
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Nominated |
| 61st Writers Guild of America Awards The Writers Guild of America is a generic term referring to the joint efforts of two different US labor unions:* The Writers Guild of America, East , representing TV and film writers around New York City....
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Best Original Screenplay |
Dustin Lance Black |
Won |
| Paul Selvin Award |
Dustin Lance Black |
Won |
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External links