SEARCH

NOTE

iChatGay.com claims no credit for any images featured on this site unless otherwise noted. All visual content is copyright to it's respectful owners. iChatGay.com is in no way responsible for or has control of the content of any external web site links. Information on this site may contain errors or inaccuracies; the site's proprietors do not make warranty as to the correctness or reliability of the site's content. If you own rights to any of the contents, and do not wish them to appear on this site, please contact us via e-mail and they will be promptly removed.

Politics | Events

Harvey Milk back at San Francisco City Hall

Almost 30 years after his assassination by a fellow city lawmaker, Harvey Milk returned to San Francisco City Hall. A bronze bust of the first openly gay politician to win an elected office of any prominence was unveiled Thursday evening on what would have been Milk's 78th birthday. Milk, long considered a martyred hero of the gay rights movement, is the first non-mayor to have his likeness permanently installed in the civic building. He was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977 and shot to death a year later along with Mayor George Moscone by Dan White, a former police officer who had just resigned his supervisor's seat. The bust, sculpted by the Berkeley-based Daub, Firmin, Hendrickson Sculpture Group and based on a photograph taken by a friend, shows Milk with a wide grin and his tie fluttering in the breeze. It sits atop a solid granite base inscribed with a prophetic statement he recorded before his death. "I ask for the movement to continue because my election gave young people out there hope. You gotta give 'em hope," it reads. A biographical film directed by Gus Van Sant and starring Sean Penn as the slain supervisor, Emile Hirsch, James Franco and Josh Brolin is scheduled to be released later this year. In the meantime, California lawmakers have been asked to establish a state holiday in Milk's honor. (See previous posts)

Source Mercury News

See all posts about :
Homophobia | Harvey Milk | Gus Van Sant | Politics | Events

Politics | Movies

Gus Van Sant's Milk wrapped

"Milk" by Gus Van Sant had been filming all over San Francisco for eight weeks and wrapped Monday with a scene shot on a set on Treasure Island of Milk watching "Tosca." The movie is due in the fall, positioning it for Oscar consideration. Appearing on the City Hall steps to deafening applause, Sean Penn looked shockingly like Harvey Milk. He had his almost Grecian nose and dark wavy hair parted to one side and wore a tight T-shirt that showed off his muscles. "Brothers and sisters, you must come out to your parents," Penn/Harvey shouted, pronouncing his vowels distinctly to sound like a New Yorker. "It may hurt them. But think how they could hurt you in the voting booth." Penn would do eight takes of this speech all to loud applause from an indefatigable crowd, including people who had stood in the same spot 30 years ago listening to Milk urge gays to protect their rights from those trying to get gay-friendly legislation repealed. A dozen rows back from Penn, John Hershey, 63, started crying. Milk had influenced him to come out to his family, Hershey recalled. "This is an important thing for me because I want all the kids to know what Harvey did," he said. All age groups were represented. Peter Weitl came with his wife, Jenni. They're both 28. "We came to be part of history, even if it's re-created history. We couldn't have been there the first time," he said.

Source The San Francisco Chronicle

See all posts about :
Gus Van Sant | Politics | Movies | Harvey Milk

Movies

Franco, Brolin & Hirsch cast in Milk

Franco, Brolin & Hirsch cast in Gus Van Sant's Milk

James Franco, Josh Brolin and Emile Hirsch are in final negotiations to join Sean Penn in Gus Van Sant's movie about Harvey Milk, the United State's first openly gay elected official. Milk stars Penn in the title role as a San Francisco city supervisor who was assassinated in 1978 by a political rival (see previous posts here and here). Brolin will play the rival, Dan White, who shot both Milk and San Francisco Mayor George Moscone to death at City Hall. Hirsch has been cast as Milk's political ally Cleve Jones, a gay-rights activist who went on to found the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt. Franco will play Scott Smith, Milk's lover and campaign manager. Principal photography is set to begin in January in San Francisco. Focus Features will distribute worldwide.

Source Reuters

See all posts about :
Gus Van Sant | Movies | Harvey Milk

Politics | Movies

Van Sant's Milk to start in January

More than 100 people an hour showed up Saturday at a daylong casting call in San Francisco's Castro district hoping to land a part in a feature film on Harvey Milk (see previous post), who owned a camera shop on Castro Street and who was one of the first openly gay elected officials in the country. He was gunned down by one of his former colleagues on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in November 1978, just 11 months after winning election. Gus Van Sant, director of the film - titled Milk and starring Sean Penn in the lead role - said the focus will be "on Harvey, his camera shop, his politics at City Hall." Principal photography is scheduled to begin in January. San Francisco, and particularly the Castro, will serve as backdrop.
The Castro was America's gay Main Street in the 1970s, and Milk was the neighborhood's de facto mayor. Van Sant said he will "not be able to get the full reality" of the Castro of 30 years ago - a pre-AIDS era bursting with sex, drugs and political awakening - but certainly will allude to it in the film.

Source San Francisco Chronicle

See all posts about :
Harvey Milk | Gus Van Sant | Politics | Movies | Homophobia

Movies

Sean Penn to play Gay Politician Milk

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Sean Penn (left picture) is to play Harvey Milk (right picture), the first openly gay prominent elected official, while Matt Damon would play Dan White, who shot San Francisco city supervisor Milk and Mayor George Moscone in 1978 (see older post). It's the latest chapter in a long-running race to film the biopic of Harvey Milk, which has pitted Van Sant's project against another from fellow openly gay director Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects, X-men, King Kong, Superman Returns). Producer Michael London and his Groundswell Prods. are financing the film, set to be produced by Bruce Cohen and Dan Jinks (American Beauty, Down With Love, Big Fish, The Nines, The Visitor), from a script by Dustin Lance Black (Big Love). The filmmakers are now in talks with a leading specialty division to launch the project. Once a deal is finalized, the team behind the as-yet-untitled feature hopes to begin production in San Francisco as early as December. The uncertain start date may affect Damon's participation.

Source The Hollywood Reporter

See all posts about :
Harvey Milk | Gus Van Sant | Movies | Homophobia

Movies

Gaspard Ulliel stars in Hannibal Rising

Based on Thomas Harris' upcoming new book, this prequel shows a young Hannibal Lecter in three different phases of his life from childhood in Lithuania to England and Russia. The story begins in Eastern Europe at the desperate end of World War II. A young Hannibal watches from only steps away as his parents violently die, leaving his cherished young sister in his care.This horrific moment will soon pale in comparison to the atrocities he is forced to witness, changing him forever. Watch a trailer...

Hannibal Rising, starring Gaspard Ulliel, Gong Li, Rhys Ifans, Dominic West. Directed by Peter Webber. Hannibal Rising will be released on February 7th in France, Feb 8th in Australia, Feb 9th in U.S.A. and U.K.

French actor Gaspard Ulliel (pictures) takes over for Anthony Hopkins in this prequel. His acting career began in television and short films before landing a small role in Brotherhood Of The Wolf starring Monica Bellucci and Vincent Cassel. He was the lead opposite Audrey Tautou in Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s A Very Long Engagement for which he received a French Cesar for Best Newcomer. He recently completed Laurent Boutonnat’s Jacquou Le Croquant. Ulliel has been seen in Paris, Je t'Aime, a love stories collection by 20 filmmakers. Maybe you missed Gaspard Ulliel interpreting a gay guy attracted by Elias McConnell (seen in Elephant) in Le Marais, Gus Van Sant's segment of Paris, Je t'Aime. Watch it...