Quotes About Harvey Milk

I went to a very progressive elementary school where I was heavily educated in civil rights. I remember learning about Harvey Milk when I was in sixth or seventh grade and being so inspired.

I grew up a witness to gay politics in its early days. I remember seeing Harvey Milk and been moved by him.

Nancy Pelosi says the angry opposition to health care reform is like the angry opposition to gay rights that led to Harvey Milk being shot.

I think film can change lives. Doing 'Milk' changed mine, for sure. When I see that someone like Harvey Milk changed his life and the lives of many others in just eight years, I feel powerful. I go out of the cinema saying, 'Maybe there's something I can do, too.'

I always thought that the film would be successful if we captured Harvey Milk, like the way Harvey really was-the personality, the humor, the corny bad jokes, all of it.

In 2008, Van Sant finally made Milk, his award-winning Harvey Milk biopic. Sean Penn starred instead of Robin Williams, while the role of Cleve Jones, which Van Sant had earmarked for River, was taken by Emile Hirsch, who was just eight years old when River died.