No Use Crying Over Spilt ‘Milk’
The Times of Harvey Milk
This November, 16 years after producers Craig Zadan and Neil Maron (Chicago, Hairspray) began trying to get The Mayor of Castro Street made, the story of Harvey Milk is finally coming to the big screen. Unfortunately for Zadan and Maron, Milk, the Gus Van Sant directed film starring Sean Penn as the gay activist who was assassinated less than a year after being elected to San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors, has been produced by someone else. Zadan and Maron’s passion project is still sitting on the shelf, unlikely to ever get made.
In Sunday’s LA Times, Patrick Goldstein traces the history of how The Mayor of Castro Street went through several directors (Oliver Stone, Gus Van Sant and Bryan Singer) and several stars (Robin Williams, Kevin Spacey and Steve Carrell) only to get beaten to theaters by Milk, directed by one of the people who had been lined up for Mayor.
Filed under: Miscellaneous
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This was quite a story in the Bay Area this winter, when cameras were rolling in the actual Castro District. Sort of a sad, interesting story.
Hollywood is a bitch. Great that the story is coming to the screen with some talent behind it, but yeah, it’s gotta suck for Zadan and Maron.
It’s not like Hollywood is lining up to crank out movies about iconic figures in the gay community or anything.
Steve Carell? Uhh…his most dramatic turn to date was Little Miss Sunshine, right? I feel it would be a little hard to see him as Harvey Milk, but that’s just me.
According to the Goldstein article, it was in fact his performance in Sunshine that convinced the producer’s he was right for the part.
Shrug. I’m no casting director.
I could see Carrell as Milk. He looks roughly more like him than Penn. I saw a few minutes of the 2006 All the King’s Men the other night on a Starz channel and, boy, I sure hope Penn has become kosher again after his stint as a ham.
Was he hammy in King’s? I didn’t see it.
Quite. Such a lifeless movie, though, maybe he sensed it and decided to go for broke? Or more likely considering the surprisingly weak, diminishing returns of such a stellar ensemble cast on paper, Zaillian forgot how to direct actors after A Civil Action.
Broderick Crawford starts out “small” and becomes “big” in the original (despite being a large guy physically). Penn’s always big, from beginning to end, in what should be quiet scenes and the more bombastic alike.
I’m sure that was it, Craig. That scene on the pier must have done it. Whatever. It’s not that he doesn’t look like him (he totally does), but as little as I know about Milk, Carell just doesn’t strike me as someone who could carry that much emotion.
That’s a fair description of Penn’s performance, Alexander, but it wasn’t any more disappointing to me than the equally forgettable performances of (this is just unbelievable): Jude Law, Anthony Hopkins, Kate Winslet, Mark Ruffalo, Patricia Clarkson, James Gandolfini (maybe the most memorable), and Jackie Earle Haley. What a WASTE of a dream cast.
It all depends on whether Carell could make the transition to drama in general and the character in particular. There’s just such a rich history of comedic actors stunning people in dramatic roles, but then again, I’m sure there have been plenty of failures, too.
Yeah, I thought about listing the whole main cast of All the King’s Men, Daniel, but honestly, I didn’t feel up to it because I was sure I would leave at least somebody out and it was just such a… complete and utter waste.
I think Carrell would’ve been great. There’s a buttload of pathos and sadness in Michael Scott, but Carrell makes it look so natural, it’s easy to overlook.
In terms of emotion, “Milk” will have to work hard to beat the wonderful documentary on the same subject, “The Times of Harvey Milk,” which grabs you by the chesthairs with its very first scene and just gets more and more engaging as it goes.
I am sorry, all I heard was GUS VAN SANT, and one of my most anticipated films of the year being mentioned {MILK}, then I shut off.
If it is GUS VAN SANT, it is going to be amazing.
Time will tell how well Penn does in this role. Yes, he can get carried away sometimes, but for the moment, at least, I’m glad that neither Spacey nor Carrell was cast as Milk. Carrell has dramatic ability, but he’s so closely associated with a certain brand of humor that it would be difficult to shake that image. Although I’m a bit skeptical about Williams, he might have been able to pull it off.
This is the fist 10 minutes of that Milk documentary I mentioned a few posts back.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=7Rgam0H9_A4
Like I said, the first scene is pretty gripping stuff.