'Milk' screenwriter says timing's right for honest portrayal

Dustin Lance Black had just one goal while he was writing the biographical drama "Milk": To be honest, even if it meant he had to be brutally honest.

"To me, there's nothing worse than a movie biography that's too kind to its subject. People are people, faults and all. It's what makes us human and is what makes us interesting," the film's executive producer and screenwriter said.

Black, who is openly gay, has been fascinated by the slain gay-rights activist Harvey Milk for years. And as such, the self-described fan said he had to "do Harvey and his story justice, no matter how long that took me."

That included showing both "the good and bad aspects of his life, all the little human foibles," he said. "Harvey, as a character, was a real character. He was extremely influential as an activist and a politician, but as a businessman and in his personal life he was a spectacular failure."

Black was in town recently to promote "Milk" and to host a screening of the movie promoted by the Salt Lake Film Center. Actor Sean Penn plays Milk, who was the first openly gay person to win and hold public office in the United States, in 1977.

The story was already told in the 1984 nonfiction film "The Life and Times of Harvey Milk," which won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

But, as Black notes, "that was nearly 25 years ago, and there are people who avoid documentaries like they're the plague. So the timing was right for this sort of movie."

Of course, to get stories and accounts for his screenplay he had to seek out the surviving members of Milk's inner circle, including activist Cleve Jones (who is played by Emile Hirsch in the movie).

Black says he found Jones and the others to be "very guarded" about offering their stories and their opinions. "They'd all been promised a lot of things by other people over the years."

Eventually, he did gain their trust — and vice-versa. Of course, "arguments broke out a few times about whether someone really was there or whether someone really said something."

So, Black brought a few of them together during this process. "Memory sometimes fails, so having two people there at the same time was a necessity," he said.

Jones, in particular, proved to be invaluable. He helped introduce Black to Gus Van Sant ("Good Will Hunting"), the openly gay filmmaker who agreed to direct the film.

Black calls himself a "former member" of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, having grown up in a devoutly LDS household in Texas. (He also noted that he still has "some Mormon relatives in Utah.")