Having seen off a rival project biopicing (is that a word?) San Francisco's first openly gay city supervisor, Harvey Milk, Gus Van Sant is now deep into casting on Milk, his take on Harvey's life. And he's liked up a so-hot-right-now trio to join him.
Sean Penn is already cast as Harvey Milk, so it's just the supporting roles to come. Josh Brolin, smokin' hot after No Country For Old Men and small but perfectly formed roles in American Gangster and In The Valley Of Elah, will play Dan White, a rival politician and supervisor who shot Milk (along with San Fran mayor George Moscone) in 1978.
Emile Hirsch, jalapeno hot after **Into The Wild **(which Penn of course directed), will play gay rights activitst Cleve Jones (who, fact fans, went on to set up the AIDS quilt project). And James Franco, Bramley-apple-that's-been-in-the-microwave hot after a quick turn in Elah and a decent story arc in Spider-Man 3, is Scott Smith, Milk's lover and campaign manager.
Shooting starts in January in San Francisco on this take on Milk's life; it looks like the nails are firmly in the coffin on Bryan Singer's proposed version, The Mayor of Castro Street.