March 11, 2008

I Was An Extra On the Harvey Milk Movie

Last Sunday I got a chance to be an extra in the new upcoming movie about Harvey Milk. It's directed by Gus Van Sant, and the production has been a buzz around town for months. This was probably the last big call for crowd scenes, and since I missed the other opportunities, I figured I better take advantage of it. I am so glad I did! This will be a day I will remember forever.

I moved to San Francisco in 1981 when San Francisco was still stinging from the events of the Milk / Moscone murders. By then, though, the police had been significantly tamed and the confrontations following the riots had all been put to rest. It was still a party town, though, and the fashions were still flamboyant, but moving toward the conservative Reagan style 1980s.

Last month I got a call from my old friend Danny Nicholetta (who was one of Harvey Milk's boy toys, btw) that the production would need some "leather daddies" for group scenes. I didn't get a callback for the scenes involving candle light marches, but I did get a call to be in the scene recreating the 1978 Gay Pride Parade.

Sean Penn is playing Harvey Milk and the first scene involved him coming out on stage giving his rousing speech that started with, "My name is Harvey Milk and I am here to recruit you!", a phrase aimed right at his anti-gay opponents John Briggs and Anita Bryant. The crowd scene was there to react with cheers and love, which didn't need any coaxing at all. We did it over and over, with 100-150 paid extras in front, but a thousand or more unpaid people from the community showing up just to support the movie. Each time the enthusiasm did not wane. In fact, for a few takes they were shooting with audio, they actually asked us to tone it down.

I arrived at 8:30 am and when they sent me to hair and makeup, the first thing they did was give me a comb-over! Then the make up artist said, "You need sideburns!" Ironically, I had only shaved off my sideburns recently after wearing them for about 18 years. The irony is, I shaved them off because they were all white, but when the assistant brought her a pair, the makeup artist said, "No, get the whiter ones!"

The extras (or "background") was divided into groups of leather daddies, lesbians, drag queens, Castro boys, media, politicians, and cops. Some were there for fun or supporting the community, but most of them were serious "actors" that show up for every audition. To make conversation, one of the cops (who might have been a real cop) asked me if I was "playing gay" today. I told him, "I play gay EVERY day. And one of these days I'll get it right, too."

After the scene in front of the stage, we also shot Harvey riding in the parade. They recreated the famous shot of him riding on the sunroof of a Volvo with a lesbian driver, with the gay marching band following. (Most of the members of the band looked like original members, too!)

We were sent indoors about 2:30 pm and waited another hour for lunch to be served. Lunch came and went, and I hung out with some faeries, drag queens and another leather daddy playing Scrabble and Rummy. Three hours went by and we still didn't know if we could leave yet or not. Finally, the leather daddies and the drag queens got released at 6:00 pm, but the rest had to change costumes and get ready for another scene.

It was an exhausting day, but I was thrilled to have been there! In the photos, you'll see shots of Sean Penn, Gus Van Sant (in black tshirt), and Cleve Jones (creator of the AIDS quilt) in the pink triangle shirt. I could have shot more, but I had to follow orders.

You will also see a shot of a nun on roller skates. I pointed him out to Danny Nicholetta that the Sisters hadn't started until 1979. He acknowledged they had discussed that issue in pre-production, but he said they chose to stretch reality a bit because the iconography of The Sisters is so strongly associated with the gay rights movement, it should be included. Plus, he said there actually was one rogue nun who used to run around the Castro in habit and he has photos of him going back as far as 1974.

I'm going to convince the rest of the nuns that this minor mix up of dates is not worth debating. In the scene, the nun rolls right up to Harvey's car and hands him flowers. You can't BUY that kind of exposure!

Posted by lavenderlounge at 5:45 PM

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