"Harvey will be coming out soon," an extra assured the crowd in front of City Hall on a recent Sunday. They had gathered to be in a scene in "Milk"- the movie about the life and death of Harvey Milk - in which the San Francisco supervisor delivers an impassioned speech. It was really Sean Penn, of course, who plays the martyred supervisor, who would be appearing.
A couple thousand people waited for a re-enactment of Milk's fiery speech, which capped the parade. This was the last day calling for such a large cast.
Appearing on the City Hall steps to deafening applause, Penn looked shockingly like 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spot 30 years ago listening to Milk urge gays to protect their rights from those trying to get gay-friendly legislation repealed.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.
What was fun about having "Milk" shot here is how "in" it made locals feel. They could go home that Sunday and tell friends that Penn gave a speech just for them. Keen observers might have caught a glimpse of Robin Williams, who at one point was to play Milk, and Oliver Stone, who was to direct one version of the biopic. Both stopped by to watch Penn and director Gus Van Sant, whom Williams worked with on "Good Will Hunting."
Thousands of San Franciscans marched in a simulation of the Gay Freedom Parade that was held on June 25, 1978, and of the vigil in November that year to commemorate the deaths of Milk and Mayor George Moscone, both murdered by Supervisor Dan White.
Those who weren't around to see the Castro district in the 1970s got a sense of it after scenic designers went to work changing storefronts. Overnight a store called Aquarius Records popped up with a purple, yellow, orange and periwinkle front. The shop used to be in the Castro but moved to Noe Valley. Designers also brought back China Court, a popular restaurant in the '70s. Milk's election headquarters was decorated with posters of him under a colorful canopy.
The interior of Milk's camera shop also was re-created and became a place where his pals from the old days like author Armistead Maupin, one-time Milk aide Anne Kronenberg and Cleve Jones, founder of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt who is an adviser on the film, would stop in. "They were moved to tears to see everything exactly the way it had been," said Dan Jinks, co-producer with Bruce Cohen. The two previously produced "American Beauty" and "Big Fish."
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