Sean Penn's Acceptance Speech for 'MILK'

[romantico]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 12:24pm

I Just LOVE Sean Penn!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dnM8v9aaR0

[StockardFan]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 12:31pm

It was a fantastic speech.

Robin looked so so proud of him, didn't she?

[DAME]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 12:35pm

Loved the speech. Have the haters started attacking him and hollywood yet? Has Elizabitch said anything on the View? Is Fox having a field day? Please post clips and links. I want to see these fools shame themselves further.

Updated On: 2/23/09 at 12:35 PM

[StockardFan]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 12:37pm

I didn't see the View today, so I'm not sure what if anythingn was said......

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 12:40pm

His speech made me so proud.

[Pippin]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 12:45pm

I have to give him props; for once he wasn't a complete insufferable prick. His speech was great.

He must not have reached his tolerance level by that time of the night.

I dislike him as a person a little less now. a little.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 12:49pm

He can sleep at night, having two Oscars, and knowing Pippin doesn't hate him as much as before.

[romantico]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 12:49pm

Its not clear but I am assuming the crowds he was talking about were anti gay protesters. He sent a very clear and honest message to those who were for prop 8!

[clever name]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 12:53pm

He had the best line of the night when he said, "I know I make it difficult to appreciate me".

Im gonna have to use that on my family.

[Q]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 12:55pm

Sean Penn's Backstage Interview:

Q. Congratulations. I asked you a couple questions at the SAG Awards. You were talking about that, actually, you remember Harvey Milk, being old enough to remember him. Can you talk about, now that you've won the highest honor in Hollywood for this award, what it means to you to be able to bring his story and how important you feel his story is? What Harvey Milk was and what he represented.

A. You know, that means a lot to myself and to everybody involved, not only in the movie, but to anybody who believes in equal rights for human beings, it's pretty simple. And, certainly, what I mentioned from the stage earlier tonight, to see this culture of ignorance, and that breeds this kind of hateful expression, that these people have their signs outside essentially telling you that you're less than human. There's nothing more important than the themes of this movie as well as addressing things that are simply, you know, entertaining, I think. But there's nothing more important, and so being part of something like that is a privilege. And when you see something like what you saw outside today, it enhances that.

Q. Hi, Sean. Congratulations. You certainly deserve the award. I wanted to ask you, what did you say to those people who were holding those signs tonight, if you happen to go back past Sunset and Highland and see some of those signs and what they're saying?

A. I'd tell them to turn in their hate card and find their better self, you know. I think that these are largely taught limitations and ignorances, this kind of thing, and it's a really it's very sad in a way, because it's a demonstration of such emotional cowardice to be so afraid to be extending the same rights to a fellow man as you would want for yourself. I would ask them not to tempt those of us who see something more deeply than they are looking at it, as angry as they tend to be in a void.

Q. Tonight, in your acceptance speech, you mentioned President Barack Obama. I'm wondering what you would like to see the president do in relation to gay rights.

A. We know his public position as far as the specific issue of gay marriage has not been, let's say, officially supportive of that. I would like to believe that that's a political stand right now and not necessarily a future one or a felt one. I don't think that he or that any of us, and in particular our president, will long be able to take that position. It's inevitable that this is not because it's not a human luxury; these are human needs and they will be gotten. So he's going to have to he'll adapt. Right now I think it's more focused on, more interested in what we're going to do to tell him that we will support him in making those kinds of taking those kinds of initiatives. He's got people dying right now en masse, and people are desperately poor en masse, and I think those two emergencies need to be taken care of, without him taking too much time about the details of how he approached civil rights. But the day is going to come and it's going to come quickly.

Q. Could you speak a little bit you spoke very emotionally about your competition this evening with Mickey Rourke. Could you speak a little bit about your relationship and what you feel about him and sort of the sense of how you guys have grown together?

A. I've been making movies for over 25 years and I can't speak for his consistent sense of me. He's an excellent bridge burner at times, but we've had for the most part a very close friendship. And he's somebody that I alternatively looked up to and advised and directed, I've wanted to work with and admired and quite literally had me, almost throughout THE WRESTLER, weeping. He's one of our most talented actors, he always was. I don't really think of it as comebacks are funny, and we talk about it with him, but everyone in this room has to make a comeback every day. Life is tough. And I think what's sensational about him is always what's been sensational about him; he's one of the great poetic talents in acting that we have.

Q. Australia. One of the signs of the protesters out there said, "Heath is in hell." Can you speak to that?

A. I don't know what that means.

Q. I think it references that he's gone and that the Academy Heath's in hell.

A. I think if we get used to dismissing these kind of comments rather than commenting on them, we'll be better off. It's meaningless jibberish. We've got to focus on people who are clear enough about what they mean.

Q. Sean, congratulations.

A. Hello.

Q. The words "passionate" and "commitment" are words that your friends and everyone around you associate you with. Do you know where that came from, and do you wish it on your children? Is that something that you try to instill in them?

A. Well, I think we all try to we hope for that in our children, and by whatever means you attempt to instill it in them. I can't accuse myself of having those qualities, although I appreciate what they said, and I certainly strive for that.

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 1:08pm

I hated his speech. I hate when you agree with someone but hate how they get forth their opinions. I hated his smuggy attitude. Dustin Lance Black's speech was a much better expression and felt like it came more from the heart.

[nealb1]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 2:08pm

Sean's speech was brilliant.......and, very passionate. He had NO "smuggy attitude" that I saw. Dustin's speech was wonderful...absolutely wonderful!

[romantico]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 2:15pm

Some of the comments on the youtube link are really scary. People who are so against homosexuality sure do like to talk about it.

[Jane2]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 2:35pm

Sean's a pretty smug and unpleasant man personally. But I'm able to separate the personality from the actor and appreciate his enormous talent.

[nealb1]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 2:45pm

Jane2, have you worked with Sean before?

[Jane2]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 3:36pm

Not worked with, but known him personally.

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 4:30pm

My biggest problem with his speech was his focus on "the hatred" and how they must reflect on how wrong they were in voting. I agree with the statement but not the sentence. Dustin Lance Black said essentially the same thing but in a much more empowering "What can WE do" approach.

[tazber]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 4:38pm

It was a good speech, but I agree that he comes off smug most of the time.

Posted: 2/23/09 at 4:58pm

We have convened a meeting fo the Council of Queens and have ruled: WE find him smug but we love him.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 5:00pm

I like that in a man: Smart. Smug.

[Jon]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 5:29pm

The "Heath's in Hell" sign was obviously in reference to Brokeback Mountain. Apparantly, you don't actually have to BE gay to burn in hell, you merely have to play a gay person in a movie.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 6:03pm

I think he is a great actor . His politics, to me , are another story

Having said that, his speech was the best of the night. I was not aware of the protestors he referred to. The idiots with their signs are that - idiots.To go after someone who has died because of a role he played shows these whack jobs are a few cards short of a deck.

[romantico]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 7:12pm

Well said Roxy. I did not agree with Charleton Heston's politics but I loved him as an actor.

[DAME]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 7:19pm

And so the justification of the hating begins.

radar

Updated On: 2/23/09 at 07:19 PM

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 7:21pm

Way to go, Spicoli!