Emile Hirsch proved to be one of Hollywood’s most promising young actors with his performance in Into the Wild, the movie based on Jon Krakauer’s bestselling book about the life and tragic death of Christopher McCandless in Alaska. He also had a small but powerful role in Milk, playing a supporter of slain San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk.

Hirsch, 23, says a trip to Congo with Oxfam last year — to witness the brutality against women and children — sparked his drive to raise awareness about that deadly conflict.

After returning, Hirsch said in a statement that he “will never forget the haunting images I saw.”

Hirsch will join several Hollywood activists, including Robin Wright Penn, Maria Bello, Mia Farrow, Emmanuelle Chriqui and Joel Madden, on Jan. 14 in Hollywood to speak out against the violence, in particular the sexual assaults committed against girls and women in Congo. The gathering is sponsored by TheCommunity.com, the social networking site owned and operated by Napa resident and human-rights activist Mary Wald.

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The NY Times just published the excerpts of a few scenes from Milk. They transcribed one between Cleve (Emile) & Harvey (Sean Penn). You can read it below.

In the early ’70s Harvey Milk ( Sean Penn), the openly gay owner of a camera shop in the Castro district of San Francisco, decided to run for a seat on the board of supervisors. Shunned by the local Democratic party and the gay political establishment, he adopts the soapbox style of a street-corner politician. In this scene, he stops a young man, Cleve Jones ( Emile Hirsch), who would go on to become his protégé and a prominent activist.

EXT. THE CASTRO/18TH 
AND CASTRO — DAY

Harvey hands out campaign 
literature to passersby.

HARVEY MILK: Public dental care for retired people. … Legalize pot, vote Milk.

Harvey is distracted. A young, longhaired CLEVE JONES passes. At 18, he looks 15. Harvey tries for his attention.

HARVEY MILK: Hey, I like the way your pants fit. … Where are you from, kid?

CLEVE JONES: (laughs) Sorry, old man, not interested.

HARVEY MILK: Where’s home?

CLEVE JONES: Phoenix.

HARVEY MILK: I’m Harvey Milk. I’m running for supervisor. What’s your name?

CLEVE JONES: Cleve … Jones.

HARVEY MILK: Well, Mr. Jones, we should walk up to my camera shop and register you.

CLEVE JONES: [Expletive] Elections of any kind are a bourgeois affectation.

HARVEY MILK: Is that right? Do you trick up on Polk Street?

CLEVE JONES: (only half joking) If I need the cash. . . . But I’m selective about my clients.

HARVEY MILK: Tell me one thing before you get back to work, then. What was it like to be a little queer in Phoenix?

CLEVE JONES: I faked a lung disease to get out of P.E. So what? What are you, some kind of street shrink?

HARVEY MILK: Sometimes. But what I’m saying is, Phoenix can change. But we have to start with our street: rent control, police abuse, pot, parks, seniors.

You can read more excepts here.
There is also an interesting article about the screenwriter of Milk, which you can find here.

Taking Woodstock

We also couldn’t wait for Taking Woodstock by director Ang Lee. With his favorite collaborator James Schamus as his writer, Ang tells a 1969-set true story about a man, Elliot Tiber ( Demetri Martin), who inadvertently played a pivotal role in making the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival into the famed happening it was. Based on the book by Elliot Tiber with Tom Monte, this will probably be the definite film about Woodstock.

Also in the cast: Imelda Staunton, Liev Schreiber, Henry Goodman, Jonathan Groff, Emile Hirsch, Eugene Levy, Paul Dano and Dan Fogler.

Source

This isn’t related to directly to Emile, but Cleve Jones is attending a special screening of “Milk” tomorrow, with a Q & A afterwards. I’m sure Emile will be mentioned at some point, so go if you can! Here’s the article:

With standout roles in such films as At Close Range, Dead Man Walking and Mystic River, Sean Penn has distinguished himself as one of the finest actors of his generation. His latest turn as assassinated gay activist Harvey Milk garnered a Golden Globe nomination while receiving significant Oscar buzz from critics. On Tuesday, he’ll scoop up the Desert Palm Achievement Award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards Gala.

But before all that, Camelot Theatres is hosting a special screening of Milk followed by a Q&A with valley resident Cleve Jones, played by Emile Hirsch in the film.

Special screening of Milk followed by Q&A with Cleve Jones, 5 p.m. Saturday, Camelot Theatres, 2300 E. Baristo Road, Palm Springs, 325-6565.

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Everyday I check for news about Emile and look for pictures, so I am still here and active, I just haven’t found anything… at all. But it’s okay, I’m taking this time to collect information about Emile’s films, so that this site is not depending on IMDB to be it’s source, haha.

Speaking of which, I made an announcement in my last post that if you have anything to contribute concerning his films (information, quotes, etc.) that you should e-mail me… well I posted the wrong e-mail. It is angela.marie.gee@gmail.com, not what I posted last time (which I have fixed!). So if you happened to send it to me and didn’t hear a reply, please resend it, I’m sorry!

In the meantime, I hope everyone is enjoying this holiday season. If you’re off from school I hope you are taking this time off to relax from the stresses of homework and assignments. And if you live in the midwest, like myself, and had 70 degree weather today when it is normally ten below, I hope you got to enjoy the warmth (I know I did… I drove with the windows down and started reading New Moon on my back porch!). Anyways, I’m still here, and I hope you’re relaxing and enjoying this holiday season!!

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!

PS I am working on the Projects/Films section of the website. It is going to have TONS of information on all of the films Emile has worked on. If any one has anything to contribute or would like to help out, please send me an e-mail at angela.marie.gee@gmail.com. It would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

I found this positive recognition of Emile at Vancouver Sun:

Rising Star Of The Year
We first noticed Emile Hirsch a couple of years ago when he played the dangerous Johnny Truelove in the based-on-a-true-story film Alpha Dog. And we really noticed him in 2007 as Chris McCandless, the doomed adventurer in Sean Penn’s fine based-on-a-true story film Into the Wild. This year, after living through Speed Racer (second runner-up as Disappointment of the Year), he’s back again as Cleve Jones, the intern in the office of Harvey Milk ( Penn again) in the based-on-a-true story biopic Milk. Based on the true story of Emile Hirsch, he’s the year’s up-and-comer.

Collider: Your character [in Milk]was really funny.
Emile: I mean, that’s Cleve. And he let it be known to me early on because it was one of those things where I was, like, if I start to act really flamboyant, is Cleve going to be like, ‘What are you doing?’ Is everyone going to be like, ‘Why are you acting like that?’ I was kind of self-conscious about that. And then Cleve was like, ‘You know, I’m a queen. You can play that… that’s who I am. I’m a queen.’

C: Cleve felt he was pretty much in control of his life in the beginning and he did almost walk away when Milk made the offer to him.
EH: Yeah. By all accounts Cleve was perfectly content to just kind of party and live with this, kind of, gang of the street, kind of lost boys in San Francisco. They kind of had this wild existence and that sounded really kind of wild. He had like a gang of friends and they all lived together and had jobs together. They were kind of almost like a tribe. And then he finally got involved with Milk and started to educate himself more. And Harvey channeled him into having a purpose. I think one of the things that really was a big influence was he went to Germany…He went to Germany, but he went to Spain and he saw some riots in Spain. I think that he wrote a piece about it.

C: Are you looking for something in Feb/March?
EH: Yeah, I’m reading, I read, for the past couple weeks, I read like five or so scripts, trying to read a bunch right now. It’s interesting, there’s a period piece, there’s a western, there’s a thriller, there’s a small indie kinda drama. Just trying to figure out what would be the right fit, not just with you in the part but with you and the director, you and whoever.

C: Collider: When you’re reading a script, do you know a few pages in?
EH: Sometimes you have a feeling. Yeah, you kind of have that, “Oh, this is good feeling” or kind of a dread, but I always like to finish a script. Because, if anything, sometimes you realize maybe this isn’t the one for me, but you can always just finish it as a story and as a movie: as a fan of film. You want to see what happens in the story.

To read more about Emile discussing working with Sean Penn, his take on IMDB, and working with well known directors then click here.

Hirsch is at once a witty and engaging presence, qualities that he brings to his portrayal of Cleve Jones. Leaning back casually, right leg tucked underneath his left thigh, he drapes his arm across the chair next to him. His self-depreciating sense of humor is refreshing as he discusses his character and his feelings about the film.

h: What sort of research did you do for the role?
Emile Hirsch: It was more of hanging around Cleve and letting some sort of osmosis go on. He’s had such an interesting life. By all accounts, Cleve was perfectly content to party and live with this sort of gang of street ‘Lost Boys’ in San Francisco. They had this kind of wild existence. Then he finally got involved with Milk and started to educate himself more. Harvey channeled him into having a purpose.

h: I know Cleve made himself available as a resource during production. How did you feel knowing your character was on the set
during filming?
EH: It brought up a kind of anxiety, but at the same time, it was so helpful. It was like having a lot of answers to a quiz right in front of you. I felt spoiled. I think that Cleve, even though he was always there, he was cool enough where he didn’t put any weird pressure on me.

h: What did you know about the story before they gave you the script?
EH: Literally nothing. I thought the Castro was the whale in Pinocchio. I did! [laughing] What was it, Maestro? I was reading the script and I was like, Castro, the whale? I didn’t know that much about it, so it was a bit of an education. And I read the book “The Mayor of Castro Street”, and that’s a really helpful book if you want to know about that time period.

h: What was it like working with Gus?
EH: Each great director I’ve been able to work with is very uniquely different. Gus has this kind of relaxed grace. Sean [ Into the Wild] has this kind of poetic fury and passion. Ang [ Lee, the upcoming Taking Woodstock] has this nuance and creativity. I loved working with Catherine [ Hardwicke, Lords of Dogtown]. We had this really great kind of contentious relationship where we would make fun of each other and yell at each other. But it was all in a fun way.

Source

I just added some pictures of Emile leaving Bardot nightclub on Wednesday night. I think he’s running from there? Lol. I don’t know about you guys, but I absolutely love these pictures. You can check them out by clicking here or the images below.

x10 Emile Leaving Bardot Nightclub