I got Milk

On Saturday night, I got a call from a casting company inviting me to be an extra on the set of Milk, the Harvey Milk Story, starring Sean Penn. I jumped at the chance to be a part of what will be an enormously important movie for the gay community.

I was told I'd be in the role of an usher, but the casting person had no further information. He verified my clothing size, made me promise to not complain if I'm around people who are smoking, and told me to bring my passport to verify my ID.

I fretted that I had just had my hair cut on Saturday. Maybe I'd get all the way up to San Francisco, and they'd turn me away because my hair was too short. I'd been reading casting notices about the movie over the last few weeks, but they've always required a weekday commitment, so I had given up on getting to be an extra. In those notices, they encouraged men to keep growing their hair and sideburns. I certainly had not been heeding that call.

My call time was 2 p.m. when I was to report to the extras holding area at San Francisco City Hall. I timed my BART ride to give me plenty of time to find the place, so when I approached City Hall, I had a moment to observe the scene outside. Clearly, they were already filming a rally scene. A crowd of several hundred people were gathered on the steps of City Hall. I could see some shirtless men in jeans and a few guys in leather. Then, I saw Sean Penn at the podium, shouting to the crowd. Periodically, they'd erupt in wild cheers.

The street was lined with 70's vintage cars. Since I was quite alive during the late 70's, I was surprised how dated cars from that era looked.

Then it was time for me to check in. The extras holding area was in a large room in City Hall, just off the rotunda. Though the room was nearly empty, rows and rows of tables were filled with backpacks, books, magazines, newspapers, and Scrabble games. Later, the owners of all of these time killers came in from the rally scene I had witnessed earlier. Suddenly, it really felt like the 70's--lots of mustaches, side burns, long hair, Farrah hair, short shorts, tight t-shirts and tank tops, knee socks, Converse sneakers, tie dye, drag queens, and black leather chaps. I would have felt like I'd entered a time warp except that all the cell phones, Blackberries, iPods and Gameboys didn't quite seal the deal.

So far, no one seemed to grimace at my short hair, so I was not too anxious about being sent to the hair and makeup area. When they saw me, they debated for a bit, and decided to slap some fake sideburns on me. I was playing an usher, after all, so the short hair wasn't going to be a problem, apparently.

While they were gluing my sideburns on, I noticed a poster board of old photos to guide the hairstylists. A bunch of quintessential 70's celebs were there--Farrah, David Cassidy, Leif Garrett. Suddenly, I realized that I could end up looking like my dad did in 1978. And then I realized that I'm actually older than my dad was in 1978. Eek! I can't get my head around my dad ever being younger than I am right now.

Then, it was off to wardrobe, which was a trailer parked outside in the back of City Hall. I was fitted with a polyester brown suit, yellow shirt and brown tie. It was then that I finally heard about the scene I was going to be in. It's apparently one of the last scenes in the movie. Hmm. I'm right now wondering if I signed anything that says I'm not supposed to talk about the movie. Well, I don't remember signing anything like that, so what the hell. I think everyone knows how the movie ends, right?

So, this is a scene of Harvey Milk's memorial service in the rotunda of City Hall. It's sparcely attended--only a few politicos have shown up. Harvey's ex-lover, Scott Smith, played by James Franco, and Anne Kronenberg, played by Alison Pill, show up and are disgusted that so few people have shown up for the service. I'll be one of two ushers at the service.

As I expected, the next couple of hours were spent waiting around. As they were preparing to serve dinner, I saw Tom Ammiano, who is quite a legend of gay history himself. I couldn't recall what his role was back in those days, but it wasn't surprising to see him on the set. I thought about going up to him and telling him that make-up has done a terrific job, you look just like Tom Ammiano. Now that I'm at home, I see that Tom is playing himself in the movie. That explains why we was all over the set like he owned the place. I thought he was up at his office working and just decided to check things out.

But playing yourself 30 years ago? That's quite a stretch, and I'm not implying he's had a face lift.

During dinner, Sean Penn came in. I had figured he had someone bring him his food, but for some reason, he was at the buffet table. That's all I saw of him. He obviously wasn't going to be in my scene. For the record, he's short.

Shortly after dinner, the politicos, the other usher and I were called to the set. The crew doesn't do a very good job introducing themselves, so I had to just guess who was who. Initially, someone who acted like a director told all the politicos where to sit at the memorial service and placed me and the other usher in the back behind all of the chairs. When he was done placing everyone, he said it was good, but he knows it'll all get changed anyway. Later, another guy came in who really acted like a director and changed up all of the politicos in the audience again and took two of them out completely. He ended up directing the scene, but he definitely wasn't Gus Van Sant.

Before the scene was shot, we waited around--we think it was to wait for the sun to go down since it's supposed to be an evening scene. As we waited, Tom Ammiano again walked through the set, clearly enjoying this whole experience.

The actual scene, if it makes it in the movie, is probably only about 20 seconds long. They filmed three takes. I don't know if I'll actually be seen. If I am, it'll certainly be a split-second shot. But no matter. I'm just glad I got to be a part of this experience.

As I left, they were again filming outside. The scene is what Scott and Anne encounter after they leave the "lame" memorial service. Outside of City Hall, they see that dozens of lesbians, gay men and hippie types are arriving at City Hall and placing candles at the steps. This is the scene they were filming tonight. The rest of the scene was filmed a few weeks ago, when Scott and Anne see that not just a few dozen people had brought candles, but thousands were lighting up Market Street with a spontaneous march towards City Hall. That image already gives me goosebumps.