Linkin' Blogs
(Go ahead to the next paragraph if you don't want to hear a little horn-tooting...)
So I'm pleased to say that my last entry about the changed storefronts for the Milk movie received a bit of attention around the intertubes. I received linked coverage from a number of blogs, including:
- Towleroad: Milk: The Transformation of Castro Street
- Boing Boing: Castro Street transformed for Harvey Milk movie
- Curbed SF: MilkWatch: Time Warp in the Castro
- SFist: More, More, More: Milk's Castro in the 70's
- SF Weekly's The Snitch: Milk Production: Back In Time On Castro
- Valleywag
If you found me via one of these links, welcome!
And just so this post isn't completely content-free, here are some more links to articles covering the Castro transformation:
- Bay Area Reporter: Castro merchants bank on movie magic
- I'm just saying' ...: Retro-fitting
- Gaycities.com: MILK: Sean Penn & Emile Hirsch (with photos of the actors in costume!)
- Flick'r groups: Milk: Castro vintage makeover
- San Francisco Chronicle: Picturing Harvey Milk: Filming of movie evokes memories, emotions in the Castro
This last article in particular has lots of interesting details about the filming. From the point of view of the businesses in particular, the article underscores how the movie is set at the moment when the Castro reaches its tipping point from a working-class background to its rebirth as a gay Mecca. The article quotes a production assistant coaching an extra by saying, "It's a good old Irish neighborhood, and now it's changing." The friction between old and new businesses mirrors the friction between old and new residents, and eventually the business conflicts give birth to the Castro Street Fair and Harvey's political life.
As much as I roll my eyes at the porn stores and bar culture, I'm still amazed to think about the history that these overtly gay establishments represent. And for not-a-small-number of our yearly visitors, seeing these gay-themed businesses out and open and happy and tacky is a wonderful revelation, and a reaffirmation of Harvey Milk's triumph and his legacy.
Comments
It'll be interesting to see what Van Sant does with Milk's life. I was thinking Daniel Day Lewis would have been a better choice for Milk, but Penn might be able to pull it off.
It is odd how much trouble they're going to be geographically accurate - I guess it's easier than building some fancy Hollywood set. But does it really matter if Milk's camera shop is really where his camera shop used to be? Maybe it does, but I've been to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and, let me tell you, nobody has any real idea where anything happened to Christ in his final days, but that doesn't stop them from making it up and nobody seems to mind.
So, we'll see how important the location is in Van Sant's film. He's very visually intentional in his other films, so the dressings probably aren't an accident.
Another interesting observation is that many walls were re-painted in period-correct colors. Any idea how many of the painted walls will go back to their original colors?