The Cinema Society and Details presented a celebrity-studded screening of Milk, the biopic about America's first openly gay public official, Harvey Milk. Cindy Adams gossips that the arrival of the film's star went a little something like this:
"Aides, heralds, courtiers, gofers preceded Sean Penn's coming. He lacked only the Magi, the trumpets and a nimbus. Whispers came back like, "Sean may not stop . . . Sean mightn't talk to anyone . . . you know how Sean is . . . we never know how Sean is . . . well, that's how Sean is . . . "
Also seen- homophobic epithet slinger Mickey Rourke, Jeff Goldblum, Ed Koch, Steve Buscemi, Valentino, Willem Dafoe, Jon Voight, Ang Lee, Emile Hirsch, Natalie Portman, Adrian Grenier, Chace Crawford, Naomi Watts, Liev Schreiber, Patricia Clarkson, Jon Voight, Stanley Tucci, James Gandolfini and James Franco, who is just fine with playing gay again as Allen Ginsberg in an upcoming film version of Howl.
Saw Milk at the free screening in Cobble Hill last week. Amazing movie.. the acting was great
Wow. Not one gay celeb in attendance; how apropos. I wonder how many straight people will get Oscars for this film and how many more will tell us how they feel our pain.
Paul, why should there be any gay celebs in attendance? There were none in the movie . . . (and I'm still pissed that they chose Sean Pean, he of short man, aggressive, method acting to play Harvey Milk. But, I is not the director.)
Thank your stars you can actually see the movie. I live in the South, near Charlotte NC and the closest theatre showing the movie is in Atlanta, almost 200 miles away.
AAGHH!! HARVEY MILK WAS NOT THE FIRST OPENLY GAY ELECTED OFFICIAL!!!
I don't know why this meme irks me so much. Maybe because I knew and respected Allan Spear, a wonderful man first elected to the Minnesota legislature in 1974, several years before Milk ran for office in San Francisco. Allan eventually served almost 30 years in office, ending his career as President of the Minnesota Senate. Two open lesbians, one in Ann Arbor and the other in Boston, also held office before San Francisco voted Harvey Milk into City Hall.
Continuing to repeat this incorrect "fact" detracts from the bravery and accomplishments of other gay and lesbian heroes who helped pave the way for Milk. I don't mean to take anything away from Milk's achievements. He was a pioneer and an icon who continues to inspire others to come out and serve publicly. He just wasn't the first to get elected and he wasn't even the first gay man to run for office in San Francisco — that honor belongs to Jose Serria, the founder of the Imperial Court System who was nearly elected in 1962!
**stepping down off soapbox**
Sean Penn came out to Reno Nevada the weekend before the 2004 election to rally the MoveOn.org canvassers that had come from the bay area to try and get people in Reno out to vote. He was a really nice guy, gave a great speech, and did not appear to have any entourage. In fact, after he and Cyndi Shehan spoke they waited around afterwords to talk to people if they wanted to.
Both were very friendly.
Saw the ridiculously cute and charming James Franco on Letterman last night. Letterman, in typical form, made a slew of homophobia-laced jokes, and when Jame Franco talked about kissing Sean Penn, Letterman saikd (and I paraphrase) "Wouldn't you want to be BAD at kissing a guy?"..
Interestingly, some of Letterman's homophobic jokes fell flat with the audience.
James Franco went ahead and kissed letterman on the cheek. Franco really is a cool guy. He also said that he voted absentee against Prop 8, which the studio audience applauded.
I'm not very crushy when it comes to celebs, but with Jame Franco, I gotta make an exception.