Showing posts with label Sean Penn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sean Penn. Show all posts

2-Time Oscar Winner Sean Penn Supports Harvey Milk Day

TowleRoad has posted pictures of the press conference to promote legislation to create a holiday remembering openly gay politician Harvey Milk held yesterday in San Francisco attended by 2-time Oscar winner Sean Penn and SB 572's sponsor, State Senator Mark Leno and Assemblymember Tom Ammiano, as well as several other local openly gay politicians.

Equality California is another co-sponsor of the legislation, which passed the state legislature last year, only to be vetoed by Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in the midst of last year's budget showdown with the Democrats. Yesterday, EQCA started airing a not very-well reviewed 30-second ad which includes images of Harvey Milk. Sean Penn won his second Best Actor Oscar for his stunning portrayal of the assassinated gay politician a less than two weeks ago. When MadProfessah was up in Sacramento the week before lobbying on legislative resolutions to declare Proposition 8 unconstitutional revisions (which both houses of the California Legislature passed on Tuesday), Senator Leno told me that he thinks his bill has a better chance this year, "Because one thing the Governor understands is box office!"

Fellow Southern California blogger and frequent MadProfessah commenter Wonder Man has an interesting post up about other openly gay or lesbian people who could be the subject of fascinating movies: Bayard Rustin, Sylvester, Audre Lorde and Radclyffe Hall are some of his suggestions.

2009 Oscars: The Winners

The winners of the 81st Annual Academy Awards are:

Best Picture: Slumdog Millionaire
Best Director: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
Best Actress: Kate Winslet, The Reader
Best Actor: Sean Penn, Milk
Best Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Best Original Screenplay: Dustin Lance Black, Milk
Best Adapted Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire
Best Animated Feature: WALL-E
Best Documentary Feature: Man on Wire
Best Foreign Language Film: Departures (Japan)
Best Cinematography: Anthony Dod Mantle, Slumdog Millionaire
Best Film Editing: Slumdog Millionaire
Best Art Direction: Benjamin Button
Best Costume Design: The Duchess
Best Makeup: Benjamin Button
Best Live Action Short: Toyland
Best Animated Short: La Maison en Petites Cubes
Best Documentary Short: Smile Pinki
Best Visual Effects: Benjamin Button
Best Sound Editing: The Dark Knight
Best Sound Mixing: Slumdog Millionaire
Best Music Score: A.R. Rahman, Slumdog Millionaire
Best Song: Jai Ho, Slumdog Millionaire

I predicted the top 8 categories completely correctly, with 20 out of 28 correct overall.

2009 Oscars: MadProfessah's Final Picks

BEST PICTURE
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“Frost/Nixon”
“Milk”
"The Reader”
“Slumdog Millionaire”
SHOULD WIN: “Slumdog Millionaire”
WILL WIN: “Slumdog Millionaire”

BEST DIRECTOR
David Fincher, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Ron Howard, “Frost/Nixon”
Gus Van Sant, “Milk”
“Stephen Daldry, “The Reader”
Danny Boyle, “Slumdog Millionaire”
SHOULD WIN: Danny Boyle, “Slumdog Millionaire”
WILL WIN: Danny Boyle, “Slumdog Millionaire”

BEST ACTOR
Richard Jenkins, “The Visitor”
Frank Langella, “Frost/Nixon”
Sean Penn, “Milk”
Brad Pitt, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Mickey Rourke, “The Wrestler”
SHOULD WIN: Sean Penn, “Milk”
WILL WIN: Sean Penn, “Milk”


BEST ACTRESS
Anne Hathaway, “Rachel Getting Married”
Angelina Jolie, “Changeling”
Melissa Leo, “Frozen River”
Meryl Streep, “Doubt”
Kate Winslet, “The Reader”
SHOULD WIN: Meryl Streep, “Doubt”
WILL WIN: Kate Winslet, “The Reader”


BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Josh Brolin, “Milk”
Robert Downey Jr., “Tropic Thunder”
Phillip Seymour Hoffman, “Doubt”
Heath Ledger, “The Dark Knight”
Michael Shannon, “Revolutionary Road”
SHOULD WIN: Heath Ledger, “The Dark Knight”
WILL WIN: Heath Ledger, “The Dark Knight”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams, “Doubt”
Penelope Cruz, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
Viola Davis, “Doubt”
Taraji P. Henson, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Marisa Tomei, “The Wrestler”
SHOULD WIN: Amy Adams, “Doubt”
WILL WIN: Penelope Cruz, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“Doubt”
“Frost/Nixon”
“The Reader”
“Slumdog Millionaire”
SHOULD WIN: “Slumdog Millionaire”
WILL WIN: “Slumdog Millionaire”

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
“Frozen River”
“Happy-Go-Lucky”
“In Bruges”
“Milk”
“WALL-E"
SHOULD WIN: “Milk”
WILL WIN: “Milk”

2009 Oscars: Nomination Predictions

Tomorrow morning at 5am PST (Thursday January 22) the 81st Academy Award nominations will be announced for films released in 2008. The Golden Globe awards were previously announced on Sunday January 11th. After seeing the actual nominations on Thursday I will post a more extensive post with my predictions for the Top 8 awards. In previous years, Mad Professah has done pretty well in predicting both nominations and wins. Last year I won an online Oscars predictions contest (by picking 18 out of 24 awards correct) that resulted in having free Netflix for 6 months!

Best Picture
The Dark KnightMilkSlumdog Millionaire

Best Director

Best Actress

Best Actor

Best Supporting Actress

Best Supporting Actor

Best Original Screenplay

  • Woody Allen, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
  • Dustin Lance Black, Milk
  • Jenny Lumet, Rachel Getting Married
  • Tom McCarthy, The Visitor
  • Robert Siegel, The Wrestler

Best Adapted Screenplay

Total Nominations

  1. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, 9
  2. Slumdog Millionaire, 8
  3. Frost/Nixon, Milk 6
  4. Doubt, The Dark Knight, 5

'Milk' Starts To Pick Up Steam in Awards Season

Milk is starting to appear on several year-end Best Of lists, with Sean Penn's performance receiving universal accolades. Kris Tapley over at In Contention has compiled the Best Picture winners of the various critics associations:
African American Film Critics Association — “The Dark Knight”
Alliance of Women Film Journalists — “Slumdog Millionaire”
Austin Film Critics Association — “The Dark Knight”
Boston Society of Film Critics (IC coverage) — “Slumdog Millionaire,” “WALL-E”
Broadcast Film Critics Association (IC coverage) — winners announced Jan. 8
Chicago Film Critics Association (nominees, winners) — “WALL-E”
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association — “Slumdog Millionaire”
Detroit Film Critics Society (IC coverage: nominees, winners) — “Slumdog Millionaire”
Florida Film Critics Circle — “Slumdog Millionaire”
Houston Film Critics Society — “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Hollywood Foreign Press Association (IC coverage) — winners announced Jan. 11
International Press Academy (IC coverage: nominees, winners) — “Slumdog Millionaire,” “Happy-Go-Lucky”
Las Vegas Film Critics Society — “Frost/Nixon”
London Film Critics Circle (IC coverage) — winners announced Feb. 4
Los Angeles Film Critics Association (IC coverage) — “WALL-E”
New York Film Critics Circle (IC coverage) — “Milk”
New York Film Critics Online — “Slumdog Millionaire”
Phoenix Film Critics Society — “Slumdog Millionaire”
San Diego Film Critics Society (IC coverage) — “Slumdog Millionaire”
San Francisco Film Critics Circle (IC coverage) — “Milk”
Southeastern Film Critics Association“Milk”
St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association — “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Toronto Film Critics Association (IC coverage) — “Wendy and Lucy”
Utah Film Critics Association — “The Dark Knight”
Washington, D.C. Area Film Critics Association — “Slumdog Millionaire”
Clearly, Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire is the front runner but most Oscar watches expect Milk to be on the Best Picture list announced on January 22, along with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Frost/Nixon.

VIDEO: Excerpt from "Milk"





I saw "Milk" in Atlanta yesterday on its opening day. It is very very good. I'll try and write-up a review soon, but I encourage everyone to see it this weekend if you can. Above is a short excerpt from the film about Harvey Milk.

VIDEO: Trailer for "Milk"

The trailer for the Gus Van Sant-directed film Milk on the life of gay icon Harvey Milk (played by Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn) is now available online. (hat/tip Towleroad.)

Mark Leno Proposes Harvey Milk State Holiday May 22

Joe.My.God alerted me to the news that openly gay Assemblyman Mark Leno is proposing legislation to make May 22 a non-fiscal state holiday in honor of slain San Francisco Supervisor and gay rights hero Harvey Milk. The bill would declare May 22 "Harvey Milk Day" in California. There are currently not one but two Hollywood bio-pics planned on the life story of Harvey Milk, the first starring Sean Penn and Matt Damon and directed by openly gay director Gus Van Sant, and the second based on the best-selling book The Mayor of Castro Street and directed by openly gay director Bryan Singer (Superman Returns, The Usual Suspects) and produced by openly gay producing team of Meron&Zadan (Chicago, Hairspray).

Mark Leno is currently locked in a tight primary race with openly lesbian State Senator Carole Migden, to be decided on Tuesday February 5th.

The Race For Harvey Milk's Life

Sean Penn
Sean PennMatt Damon


The race in Hollywood to complete a film adaptation of the Harvey Milk story, the first widely known openly gay elected official in the United States, is heating up. Oscar winner Sean Penn has agreed to play Harvey Milk, with Matt Damon playing fellow San Francisco Supervisor Dan White. White assassinated Milk and San Francisco Mayor George Moscone, and after employing the infamous "twinkie defense" received a lenient sentence which led to riots in the Castro district and other areas of the City. In 1982 openly gay reporter Randy Shilts published an amazing book recounting the details of the Harvey Milk story called The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk which Mad Professah can not recommend highly enough.

However, the film adaptation of the Randy Shilts book is not the movie that Matt Damon and Sean Penn are attached to. That film is to be directed by openly gay Bryan Singer (Superman, The Usual Suspects), produced by openly gay producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron (Hairspray, Chicago) from a script still to be re-written by Chris McQuarrie. It is currently set for a 2009 release, acccording to IMDb. The Penn-Damon film is set to be directed by openly gay Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting, My Own Private Idaho, Elephant) and produced by the openly gay team of Bruce Cohen and Dan Jinks (American Beauty, Big Fish, The Nines) with a script by Dustin Lance Black.

So, the question is will there be two films of this amazing story, and will the better film reach the screen first? Recall that there were at least two films about Truman Capote in recent years. Capote was released before Infamous and won and Oscar for Philip Seymour Hoffman while the latter basiclly disappeared without a trace, despite receiving encouraging reviews.

The Harvey Milk story is incredibly important to the gay community so I hope that the competition in Holywood to get the film to the screen succeeds in getting the best film to the screen first.