Tonight Dana and I stood in front of Eureka Federal Savings on the Castro Street and watched police brutality across the street. A dozen or so cops started pushing people around in front of the Toad Hall bar, and then things got out of control. Clubs came out, people burst out of bars and ran across the street to fight back. The air was filled with shouting and police whistles. Harvey Milk ran across the street and pulled someone out of the fray.
Right off, if you know this neighborhood, you'll realize that Eurkera Federal Savings and Toad Hall are long gone, and Harvey Milk's been dead for 29 years.
What gives?
Well, as the cops and queers slugged it out, there was a yell of "cut!" and four or five people ran into the fray, bringing it to a halt because the actors, extras and and stuntmen couldn't hear the "cut" over the din of yelling and police whistles.
There was applause, everyone pulled themselves together, and it happened again. And again.
The Gus Van Sant production of "Milk" has arrived in San Francisco. The film is a biopic about Harvey Milk, "the first openly gay man elected to any substantial political office in the history of the planet", according to Time magazine, and how he came to be a political figure, and how he was assassinated along with Mayor George Moscone in 1978.
What I witnessed was the filming of a scene set in 1973 when the cops decide to harrass the gays who've been taking over the neighborhood, and it gets out of control.
Speaking of the neighborhood, the reason I saw the filming was because I'd been wandering around the Castro with Dana, checking out all the modifications that the production had been making in preparations for filming. The aforementioned Eureka Savings and Toad Hall bar are long gone, as are Havey Milk's Castro Camera, Double Rainbow ice cream, Aquarius Records. China Court... but they're all back for a fleeting moment, even just as signs and facades. Even the Castro Theater got a face lift couresty of the production and its sign and marquee are now boldly painted and all the neon is reactivated. What with the period cars, period costumes, period trash cans and pay phones...if you stand and look in the right direction it's like a time warp has popped you back 30 years. Trippy!
Stuntman and actor confer. Note vintage cars and vintage cops across the street.
As someone who loves film, it's a treat to see how the location is dressed to transform it. In some cases, signs have been repainted, in others, covers have been made to disguise modern entrances. One business has its windows covered in what looks like green contact paper and yellow tape to simulate paint, which will look fine on camera but looks cheap as heck in person! Given how much graphic tape I've used in one of my short film projects, I get a laugh seeing it used in the same way in a Hollywood production.
During the filming we saw several members of the film's cast, including Sean Penn (who plays Milk) and Lucas Grabeel.
Lucas Grabeel in red, and that's Sean Penn with the ponytail and his back to the camera...really!
Dana and I have signed up to be extras on two different production days starting next week. I'm letting my beard and moustache come back in, and stopped shaving my head so that I won't look anachronistic. Now I just have to find some suitably 70s looking clothes...
chatty
happy
silly
