September 10, 2007
Inspired Casting for Harvey Milk Biopic
Sean Penn as openly gay ’70s politician Harvey Milk and Matt Damon as his assassin? Yes, if Gus Van Sant has his way.
Penn is attached to play Milk and Damon is attached to play Milk’s killer, Dan White, in the director’s long-gestating Milk biopic.
. . .
It’s the latest chapter in a long-running race to film the biopic of the first openly gay prominent elected official, which has pitted Van Sant’s project against another from fellow openly gay director Bryan Singer.
Producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron (”Hairspray”) have attempted to produce a big-screen version of Randy Shilts’ 1982 bio “The Mayor of Castro Street” for more than 15 years. Warner Bros. Pictures attached Singer to the project two years ago under exec Polly Cohen.
. . .
In an ironic twist, Van Sant once wrote a draft of the “Castro” project and was set to direct his adaptation for Warners.
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Filed under: Celebrities, Harvey Milk, Movies
