Get the latest gossip

Sean Penn Says He Couldn’t Play Harvey Milk Today. Is He Right About That?

The actor says casting has gotten too restrictive. But Emma Stone, Paul Mescal, and Josh O'Connor prove that it's complicated

(The recent Showtime series “Fellow Travelers,” like “Milk” a historical drama about the LGBTQ civil-rights struggle, featured as its two leads two out gay actors, Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey.) None of these projects was met with significant controversy; while I had some notes on Brown’s depiction of a gay awakening, the Academy (and a more broad and inclusive one than in the days of “Milk,” at that) saw fit to honor him, just as it had Stone and both of her female costars in “The Favourite.” The final over-the-net embrace in “Challengers” had all of the moviegoing public screaming “Come on!” along with Zendaya. An eagerness to find fault that settled over the cultural-writer class sometime during Obama’s second term eventually dissipated; “Milk” would likely have been pilloried had it come out in, say, 2014, but so might have “All of Us Strangers” and “Challengers.” Today, the answer to questions of who can play what role seems in many cases to be who can dazzle us best.

Get the Android app