Milk's Timing Perfect for Prop. 8 Says Gus Van Sant

Milk’s director Gus Van Sant said he hopes his biopic of slain gay rights activist and politician Harvey Milk, will change public opinion about gay equality and that he’s happy the film didn’t come out pre-Prop. 8’s passing.

At a screening of the film at New York City’s Museum of Modern Art Wednesday, Van Sant said he hopes that now that Prop. 8 passed in California, banning gay marriage, that people will see the film and “wise up” about gay rights, ultimately changing hearts and minds for more than passing “just one proposition,” Queerty.com reported.

During a Q & A following the screening, Van Sant called his film, which stars Sean Penn, James Franco and Josh Brolin, “a new step” in gay cinema.

Audience members were moved by the film to thank Van Sant for his work and delivering anecdotes about their personal experiences as gay people 30 years after Milk’s assassination at the hands of fellow, former San Francisco City Supervisor Dan White.

An audience member asked Van Sant how Milk might have impacted Prop. 8 had it been released before the election, Queerty reported. And Van Sant replied that he and Focus Features could have pushed for an earlier release date but that they hadn’t heard of the measure prior to July when Prop. 8 hadn’t garnered as much support. He said that it seemed the film wouldn’t have needed to impact Prop. 8 at the time they made the decision to keep it on track for its current release date.

The director of films including Good Will Hunting, My Own Private Idaho and To Die For made a joke at his own expense, saying that they also didn’t want to release the film prior to the election in case it was horrible and would have facilitated Prop. 8’s passing.