A diffident, and at times, defiant, hour-long press conference took place with cast members of Milk--Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, James Franco, Allison Pill and Emile Hirsch plus director Gus Van Sant and writer Dustin Lance Black--but it didn't yield much of a sustained discussion on the film's talking points. Yet that was okay, since Milk is a movie that's not only driven by that defiance but also a lot of hope.

Recalling the life and murder...