Sean Penn Is Melting Down His 65 Guns

"Being provoked by this aforementioned strong woman and considering how liberating of bullshit and ugliness it would be not only get rid of the guns I have in the continental United States but also to destroy them, Jeff Koons and I had a chat the other day. The highest bidder gets every single one of my guns put in the hands of this iconic artist and sculptor. Koons will decommission [and] render inactive all of my cowardly killing machines." - Sean Penn, speaking about his 65 guns on Monday at his relief benefit for Haiti. The winning bidder for not-yet created piece by Koons was Anderson Cooper, who finally topped Piers Morgan with a $1.4M bid. The "strong woman" Penn referred to is his current girlfriend Charlize Theron, whose mother shot her father to death when Theron was 17 years old.

Sean Penn Campaigns For Milk Holiday

Fresh off his Oscar win, Sean Penn has joined the reinvigorated campaign to have Harvey Milk Day declared a state holiday in California. Today Penn will appear at a press conference to lobby for Senate Bill 572.

The bill would designate May 22 as "a day of special significance in California," in which public schools would be encouraged "to conduct suitable commemorative exercises on Harvey Milk's life and his contributions to the state," according to the press release. But with the huge hole in the state budget and increased calls to cut back current paid state holidays, supporters also note the legislation doesn't call for either state workers or school employees to get a day off from work.

Last year the Governator vetoed a similar bill.

Gays References Edited Out Of Oscar Broadcasts For 300 Million Worldwide

Dustin Lance Black and Sean Penn's heartfelt Oscar speeches in support of gay rights were cut out of the broadcast by a satellite TV station which beams its signal to 300 million viewers in numerous Asian countries.

The STAR satellite channel, which broadcasts to more than 300 million viewers in 53 countries, also cut the sound when Dustin Lane Black, who wrote the screenplay for Penn's film, Milk, addressed "all the gay and lesbian kids". Milk is the story of Californian gay rights activist Harvey Milk. Both Penn and Black backed gay marriage in their speeches and called for equal rights for homosexuals. Penn opened by calling the audience "commie, homo-loving sons of guns".

Gay Asians voiced their anger at the broadcaster, which censored its evening telecasts of the awards ceremony. "As a gay man, I am truly offended," Pang Khee Teik, a prominent Malaysian arts commentator, wrote in a letter sent out to several media organisations. "Stop censoring the words that describe who I am." Pang said the move "sent a message ... that gays and lesbians are still shameful things to be censored from the public's ears."

Users of Internet forums in Singapore and India also complained about the censored speeches. Jannie Poon, STAR's Hong Kong-based spokeswoman, stressed that the company had no intention of upsetting any viewers, but said it has "a responsibility to take the sensitivities and guidelines of all our markets into consideration."

Disgusting.

Freepers React To The Oscars

Here's a lovely sampling of Freeper reactions to Sean Penn's win at last night's Academy Awards.

- "Seems that the Oscars have gone the way of the Nobel ... Commies Queers Globull warming idiots and terrorist lovers need only apply."
- "Hollywood awards have nothing to do with movies and everything to do with the homosexual agenda. It's nothing but a bunch of liberal queers giving each other a congratulatory slap on the ass for using movies to promote homosexuality."
- "I am sick of the “equal rights” argument... The law is clear - ALL men are free to marry a woman. And all women have the right to marry a man. No-one is being denied that right. We all have that same right."
- "Penn, milking the man-milk dispenser, yet again."
- "He just made a plea for Gay's to be able to marry...Then he thanks the country for electing Obama. He's scum."
- "Whew, at least MILK didn’t get best picture!"
- "Here it comes again. When “Brokeback Mountain” didn't win best picture the fruits were screaming like we put shards of glass in the nation's KY Jelly supply. We'll probably get the same with “Milk.”"
- "Sean Penn = POS!"
- "At least Milk has a happy ending!"

Eight Oscar Nominations For Milk Including Best Picture, Director, Actor, Screenplay

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button lead the list of 2009 Oscar contenders with 13 nominations, but the big news for us here is Milk's eight nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director - Gus Van Sant, Best Actor - Sean Pean, Best Supporting Actor - Josh Brolin, and Best Original Screenplay - Dustin Lance Black.

BEST PICTURE: Frost/Nixon, Milk, The Reader, Slumdog Millionaire, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button.

BEST ACTOR: Richard Jenkins -The Visitor, Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon, Sean Penn, Milk, Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler, Brad Pitt -The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button.

BEST DIRECTOR: David Fincher - The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, Gus Van Sant - Milk, Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire, Ron Howard - Frost/Nixon, Stephen Daldry - The Reader.

BEST ACTRESS: Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married, Melissa Leo - Frozen River, Meryl Streep -Doubt, Kate Winslet - The Reader, Angelina Jolie - The Changeling.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Heath Ledger - Dark Knight, Josh Brolin - Milk, Phillip Seymour Hoffman - Doubt, Robert Downey Jr. - Tropic Thunder, Michael Shannon - Revolutionary Road.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Penelope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Viola Davis - Doubt, Taraji P. Henson - The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, Marisa Tomei - The Wrestler, Amy Adams - Doubt.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: In Bruges, WALL-E, Frozen River, Milk, Happy-Go-Lucky.

Milk was also nominated for Best Costume, Best Film Editing and Best Score.

Golden Globes: Penn - Yes, Milk - No

The Golden Globes nominees were announced this morning. Sean Penn is the lone representative from Milk. Here are the film categories:

The nominees for best drama are "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "Frost/Nixon," "The Reader," "Revolutionary Road" and "Slumdog Millionaire."

The nominees for best comedy or musical are "Burn After Reading," "Happy-Go-Lucky," "In Bruges," "Mamma Mia!" and "Vicky Christina Barcelona."

The nominees for best director are Danny Boyle ("Slumdog Millionaire"), Stephen Daldry ("The Reader"), David Fincher ("The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"), Ron Howard ("Frost/Nixon") and Sam Mendes ("Revolutionary Road").

The nominees for best actor in a drama are Leonardo DiCaprio ("Revolutionary Road"), Frank Langella ("Frost/Nixon"), Sean Penn ("Milk"), Brad Pitt ("The Curious Case of Benjamin Button") and Mickey Rourke ("The Wrestler").

The nominees for best actress in a drama are Anne Hathaway ("Rachel Getting Married"), Angelina Jolie ("Changeling"), Meryl Streep ("Doubt"), Kristin Scott Thomas ("I've Loved You Too Long") and Kate Winslet ("Revolutionary Road").

The nominees for best actor in a comedy or musical are Javier Bardem ("Vicky Christina Barcelona"), Colin Farrell ("In Bruges"), James Franco ("Pineapple Express"), Brendan Gleeson ("In Bruges") and Dustin Hoffman ("Last Chance Harvey").

The nominees for best actress in a comedy or musical are Rebecca Hall ("Vicky Christina Barcelona"), Sally Hawkins ("Happy-Go-Lucky"), Frances McDormand ("Burn After Reading"), Meryl Streep ("Mamma Mia!") and Emma Thompson ("Last Chance Harvey").

The nominees for best supporting actor are Tom Cruise ("Tropic Thunder"), Robert Downey Jr. ("Tropic Thunder"), Ralph Fiennes ("The Duchess"), Philip Seymour Hoffman ("Doubt") and Heath Ledger ("The Dark Knight").

The nominees for best supporting actress are Amy Adams ("Doubt"), Penelope Cruz ("Vicky Christina Barcelona"), Viola Davis ("Doubt"), Marisa Tomei ("The Wrestler") and Kate Winslet ("The Reader").

The nominees for best animated film are "Bolt," "Kung Fu Panda" and "Wall-E."

The awards take place January 11th.

Top Honors From New York Film Critics Circle: Milk, Sean Penn, Josh Brolin

This is the second major prize for Milk this week and first of what I predict will be many for Sean Penn.

"Milk," Gus Van Sant's movie about gay rights leader Harvey Milk starring Sean Penn, has been named best film by the New York Film Critics Circle. Penn was also chosen as best actor by the critics, who announced their picks Wednesday. "Happy-Go-Lucky" also fared well, winning best director for Mike Leigh and best actress for Sally Hawkins. The critics circle, which last year chose "No Country for Old Men" as best film, is a group of 33 New York-based critics. Its awards will be handed out Jan. 5 in New York.

It's not mentioned in the story above, but Josh Brolin won Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Dan White. The rest of the awards are here.

NYTimes: Milk Is A Marvel

Milk gets a fantastic review from A.O. Scott in today's NYTimes. An excerpt:

That power lies in its uncanny balancing of nuance and scale, its ability to be about nearly everything — love, death, politics, sex, modernity — without losing sight of the intimate particulars of its story. Harvey Milk was an intriguing, inspiring figure. “Milk” is a marvel.

Last Wednesday I attended a press conference with most of the cast, director Gus Van Zant, and screenwriter Dustin Lance Black. A lot of the questions were the usual "What was your motivation?" sort of stuff you hear at these things, but several of us asked about Proposition 8 and the timeliness of the film.

Photos weren't allowed and I didn't have a voice recorder with me, so here are a few quotes that I scribbled down. Some of them I've confirmed as verbatim from published accounts of the press conference.

Sean Penn: "It's only an issue [Prop 8] because of ignorance in the first place. We don't have any excuse for being ignorant of the law...or ignorant of human history... In fact any support of Prop 8 would be minimally manslaughter. Because human history tells us that teenage boys are going to hang themselves out of a reach for an identity that they can't get.... And if this movie is a part of an engine to help reveal that, that's going to make us all happy and proud."

Gus Van Zant: "Prop 8 has mobilized and brought everybody together. The young gay community has responded. This is a new energy that's kind of inspiring."

Sean Penn: (On the parallels between Harvey Milk and Barack Obama.) "Well, they both used the word 'hope'."

Dustin Lance Black: (On first learning about Harvey Milk.) "It was a personal story that I heard as a teenager at a time when I needed to hear it."

Josh Brolin: (On playing Dan White.) "During the filming, I stayed at my ex-wife's brother's place just above the Castro and I was afraid that I was going to be shot if I went down there." (He was joking.)

I got one question: "We've seen some escalating confrontations between the gay and faith communities since the Prop 8 vote and there's a lot of anger at gay people over their reaction to the vote. How do you think the faith community will respond to this film about what most would see as an entirely sympathetic character?"

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence and I started to regret the question. Gus Van Zant looked at Sean Penn and seemed to toss the question over to him.

Sean Penn: "I don't think they deserve the term 'faith community'. They're a pseudo-faith community. Hypocritical hatred doesn't deserve the name 'faith community'."

Not really an answer to my question, but I'll take it. Milk opens nationwide today. I suggest taking your family after that nice Thanksgiving dinner.