Milk

About the Cast

SEAN PENN (Harvey Milk) – Sean Penn’s career as an actor spans nearly three decades. He has been nominated four times for the Best Actor Academy Award; for Tim Robbins’ Dead Man Walking (for which he was named Best Actor at the 1996 Berlin International Film Festival), Woody Allen’s Sweet and Lowdown, Jessie Nelson’s i am sam, and Clint Eastwood’s Mystic River. The latter performance brought him the Oscar and Golden Globe Award for Best Actor.

His over two dozen other films include Harold Becker’s Taps; Amy Heckerling’s Fast Times at Ridgemont High; Richard Benjamin’s Racing with the Moon; John Schlesinger’s The Falcon and the Snowman; James Foley’s At Close Range; Dennis Hopper’s Colors; Brian De Palma’s Casualties of War and Carlito’s Way; Neil Jordan’s We’re No Angels; Phil Joanou’s State of Grace; Nick Cassavetes’ She’s So Lovely (for which he was named Best Actor at the 1997 Cannes International Film Festival); Oliver Stone’s U-Turn; Anthony Drazan’s hurlyburly (for which he was named Best Actor at the 1998 Venice International Film Festival); Alejandro González Iñárritu’s 21 Grams (for which he was named Best Actor at the 2003 Venice International Film Festival); Sydney Pollack’s The Interpreter; Steven Zaillian’s All the King’s Men; and Terrence Malick’s The Thin Red Line and upcoming Tree of Life.

Mr. Penn’s feature film directorial debut came with The Indian Runner (1991), which he also wrote and produced. This was followed by The Crossing Guard (1995), which he also wrote and produced, and The Pledge (2001), which he also produced. The latter, starring Jack Nicholson, was cited as one of the year’s 10 Best by the National Board of Review. Representing the United States, he wrote and directed a short film for 11'09"01, the compilation feature which united directors from around the world to create short films in response to the horrific events of September 11, 2001.  In 2003 the feature was nominated for a César Award in the best European Union Film category, and received a Special Recognition award from the National Board of Review.

As writer, producer and director, his most recent work was Into the Wild (2007), adapted from Jon Krakauer’s best-selling nonfiction book. Mr. Penn was a Directors Guild of America and Critics Choice Award nominee for his helming of the picture, and was also cited as Director of the Year by the Palm Springs International Film Festival; his screenplay adaptation brought him a Writers Guild of America Award nomination. Into the Wild also earned four Screen Actors Guild Award nominations for its cast, including Emile Hirsch (who also stars in Milk); and two Academy Award nominations.

Mr. Penn has appeared on stage in productions including Alfred Hayes’ Girl on the Via Flaminia and Albert Innaurato’s Earthworms in Los Angeles. On Broadway, he performed in Kevin Heelan’s Heartland and John Byrne’s Slab Boys. He starred in David Rabe’s hurlyburly and Goose and Tom-Tom, at the Westwood Playhouse and Lincoln Center, respectively, with both productions directed by the author. His most recent stage work was opposite Nick Nolte and Woody Harrelson in The Late Henry Moss, written and directed by Pulitzer Prize winner Sam Shepard.

In 2002, he was presented with the Modern Master Award at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. In 2003, became the youngest-ever recipient of the Donostia Lifetime Achievement Award from the San Sebastian Film Festival. In 2004, he received the John Steinbeck Award, given to outspoken torch-bearers in the creative arts. Most recently, he served as president of the jury at the 2008 Cannes International Film Festival.

As a journalist, Mr. Penn has written for Time, Interview, and Rolling Stone. In 2004, he wrote a two-part feature for The San Francisco Chronicle after a second visit to war-torn Iraq. In 2005, he wrote a five-part feature for the same paper, reporting from Iran during the election which led to the Ahmadinejad regime there.

EMILE HIRSCH (Cleve Jones) – In 2007, Emile Hirsch garnered attention for his captivating performance in Into the Wild, directed by Sean Penn (Milk). Based on the best-selling book by Jon Krakauer and adapted for the screen by Mr. Penn, Into the Wild starred Mr. Hirsch as real-life adventurer Christopher McCandless. The portrayal earned him the National Board of Review award for Breakthrough Performance by an Actor; the Rising Star Award from the Palm Springs International Film Festival; Gotham and Critics’ Choice Award nominations for Best Actor; and two Screen Actors Guild Award nominations, in the lead actor category as well as (shared with his fellow cast members) the ensemble category.

The Los Angeles native’s additional film credits include two more true-life stories, Nick Cassavetes’ Alpha Dog and Catherine Hardwicke’s Lords of Dogtown (opposite Heath Ledger).

Mr. Hirsch’s other features include the Wachowski Brothers’ Speed Racer; Dan Harris’ Imaginary Heroes (with Sigourney Weaver and Jeff Daniels); Luke Greenfield’s The Girl Next Door; Michael Burke’s The Mudge Boy; Michael Hoffman’s The Emperor’s Club; and Peter Care’s The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys.

He has most recently filmed a role in Ang Lee’s Taking Woodstock, also for Focus Features, with Demetri Martin.

JOSH BROLIN (Dan White) – Josh Brolin will next be seen starring as George W. Bush in Oliver Stone’s biopic W. He most recently starred in Joel and Ethan Coen’s No Country for Old Men, which won four Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director; and in Ridley Scott’s blockbuster American Gangster. Mr. Brolin was a Screen Actors Guild Award nominee as part of the ensemble for the latter film, and was honored with a Screen Actors Guild Award as part of the winning ensemble for the former.

He is currently producing – with Chris Moore, Anthony Arnove, and Howard Zinn – a documentary entitled The People Speak, based on the latter’s influential 1980 book A People’s History of the United States. The feature looks at America’s struggles with war, class, race, and women’s rights; appearing in the documentary will be Matt Damon, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Penn of Milk, and David Strathairn, among others.

Mr. Brolin’s other film credits as actor include Paul Haggis’ In the Valley of Elah; Robert Rodriguez’ “Planet Terror” portion of Grindhouse; John Stockwell’s Into the Blue; Victor Nunez’ Coastlines; Paul Verhoeven’s Hollow Man; James D. Stern’s All the Rage; Guillermo del Toro’s Mimic; David O. Russell’s Flirting with Disaster; and Richard Donner’s The Goonies, which marked his film debut.

In early 2008, his film directing debut, a short entitled X, which he also wrote and produced, premiered at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival before screening at such festivals as South by Southwest and the AFI Dallas Film Festival. He also directed the behind-the-scenes documentary for the No Country for Old Men DVD.

Mr. Brolin made his mark in television starring in two Western dramas; the epic miniseries Into the West, and the popular series The Young Riders. He has also starred in the series Mister Sterling and Private Eye; in the telefilms Gang in Blue, with the late J.T. Walsh and directed by Mario and Melvin Van Peebles, and Prison for Children, directed by Larry Peerce; and in the telefilm remake of Picnic, directed by Ivan Passer.

He spent five years with actor/director Anthony Zerbe at the Reflections Festival at the GeVa Theatre in Rochester, New York. While there, Mr. Brolin directed and performed in several of the festival’s plays, including Pitz and Joe; Life in the Trees; Forgiving Typhoid Mary; Oh; The Innocents; Peep Hole; Ellen Universe Joins the Band; Lincoln Park Zoo; and Hard Hearts.

His additional stage work includes starring opposite Elias Koteas on Broadway in Sam Shepard's True West; appearing off-Broadway in The Exonerated; The Skin of Our Teeth, The Crucible, and A Streetcar

Named Desire, all at the Kennedy Memorial Theatre; A Midsummer Night’s Dream, at the Lebrero Theatre; and Dark of the Moon, at the Ann Capa Ensemble Theatre.


About the Director

GUS VAN SANT (Director) – Audiences and critics alike have taken note of Gus Van Sant’s movies since he made his feature film directorial debut in 1985 with Mala Noche, which won the Los Angeles Film Critics Association award for Best  Independent/Experimental Film.

His body of work also includes Drugstore Cowboy, starring Matt Dillon and Kelly Lynch; My Own Private Idaho, starring River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves; Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, starring Uma Thurman; and To Die For. The latter, screened at the Cannes and Toronto International Film Festivals, earned Nicole Kidman a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress.

Mr. Van Sant’s next feature, Good Will Hunting, brought him a Best Director Academy Award nomination. The film was nominated for eight other Oscars including Best Picture, winning for Best Supporting Actor (Robin Williams) and Best Original Screenplay (Ben Affleck and Matt Damon).

He followed that up with his controversial remake of Psycho, which was the first feature shot-for-shot recreation of a film, and Finding Forrester before returning to his independent film roots with Gerry. He scripted the latter film with its actors, Matt Damon and Casey Affleck. That filmmaking experience in turn inspired him to write and direct Elephant, shot on location in his hometown of Portland with a cast of novice actors. Elephant won both the top prize (the Palme d’Or) and the Best Director award at the 2003 Cannes International Film Festival.

At the 2005 Cannes International Film Festival, Last Days, starring Michael Pitt and Lukas Haas, was honored with the Technical Grand Prize (for Leslie Shatz’ sound design) at Cannes.  Mr. Van Sant once again cast novice actors to star in his next project, Paranoid Park, which he adapted from Blake Nelson’s novel of the same name. The film earned him the 60th Anniversary Prize at the 2007 Cannes International Film Festival.

Throughout his career, he has continued to make short films. These works include an adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ short story “The Discipline of D.E.,” which screened at the New York Film Festival. In 1996, he directed Allen Ginsberg reading his own poem, “Ballad of the Skeletons,” to the music of Paul McCartney and Philip Glass; this short premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. His other shorts include Five Ways to Kill Yourself, Thanksgiving Prayer (a re-teaming with William S. Burroughs), “Le Marais” (a segment of the feature Paris, je t’aime), and “Mansion on the Hill.” The latter is part of this year’s U.N.-funded project 8, which was created to raise awareness about essential issues that our world is facing today.

Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Mr. Van Sant earned a B.A. at the Rhode Island School of Design before moving to Hollywood. Early in his career, he spent two years in New York creating commercials for Madison Avenue. Eventually he settled in Portland, Oregon, where in addition to directing and producing, he pursued his other talents – painting, photography, and writing.

In 1995 he released a collection of photos entitled 108 Portraits (Twelvetrees Press) and in 1997 he published his first novel, Pink (Doubleday), a satire on filmmaking.

A longtime musician himself, Mr. Van Sant has directed music videos for many top recording artists including David Bowie, Elton John, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Hanson.