All photos: Getty Images
Out's editor in chief, Aaron Hicklin, texted in the following on-the-scenes reports from last night's San Francisco premiere of the movie Milk. I've translated slightly from the original source for maximum coherency:
> Hundreds of No on 8 sign-wavers were chanting across the street from the Castro Theater, presumably for the benefit of the many photographers gathered for the red carpet.
> On the red carpet were Out cover boy James Franco (despite his two-timing class-load in NYC), Gus Van Sant, Sean Penn and Robin Wright Penn, Josh Brolin and Diane Lane, Emile Hirsch, Diego Luna, TR Knight and Mark Cornelsen and Casey Affleck.
> Before the screening, Mayor Gavin Newsom spoke about what Harvey Milk meant to San Francisco, a city that every day doesn't just tolerate its diversity but celebrates it. Newsom said that while so much has changed since the days of Milk, struggles still remain: "We will see that the rights that have been legally won by the LGBT community will not be taken away."
> In the long list of thank yous to all who worked on the film, director Gus Van Sant's shout-out to screenwriter Dustin Lance Black garnered at least as much, if not more, applause than that for star Sean Penn.
> Usual disclaimers apply, but we heard that Sean Penn was crying in his SUV after the screening. What no one seemed to know was why. At his own performance? At the emotional resonance of the film? At his regret for having spent his years with Madonna being something of a dick to her gay friends? At the striking and painful similarity of 1978's Briggs Initiative (Proposition 6, which tried to ban gays from teaching in public schools) and today's Proposition 8? None of the above? Anyway: we hear he was crying.
> The official after party was at San Francisco's beautiful City Hall, the site of so many pieces of local history -- from Harvey Milk's and then-Mayor George Moscone's assassinations to current Mayor Gavin Newson's civilly disobedient marriage of same-sex couples in 2004. The DJ's contributions, however, were firmly stuck in the '70s.
See more red carpet pics after the jump...
Robin Wright Penn and Sean Penn
James Franco and Diego Luna
Diego Luna and Emile Hirsch
Emile Hirsch's flowing Woodstock locks.
Producers Dan Jinks (left) and Bruce Cohen with James Franco.
Mayor Gavin Newsom and his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
Screenwriter Dustin Lance Black
No on 8 protesters across the street.
Previously > Full Franco cover shoot > James' own private Idaho
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