Deep Inside Hollywood
by Romeo San VicenteFranco and Brolin Got Milk
The long road to a film version of the life and death of Harvey Milk has been given another vote of confidence with the addition of three new cast members. Joining Sean Penn, who plays the title character in Gus Van Sant’s Milk, will be Josh Brolin (No Country for Old Men), James Franco (Spider-Man 3), and Emile Hirsh (Into the Wild).
Although Matt Damon once was in talks for the role of Dan White, Milk’s assassin, Brolin will play the role instead. Hirsh is on board to portray Cleve Jones, the man who eventually founded the Names Project AIDS Quilt. Meanwhile, Franco is in negotiations for the role of Milk’s partner, Scott Smith.
The competing Milk biopic from director Bryan Singer that was rumored to have interest from Steve Carell appears to have been shelved. But Van Sant’s version is still on track to shoot this year for a scheduled 2009 release.
The Evilution of an Indie Star
Romeo likes to keep tabs on the careers of mostly unsung queer character actors. Guillermo Diaz, for example, isn’t a household name, but the gay actor has a face that attentive audiences recognize by now. He has worked consistently for nearly 15 years in queer-related projects like Stonewall (and, most famously, as Parker Posey’s rowdy straight DJ pal in Party Girl), as well as on TV in series like Weeds and Chappelle’s Show.
Now, it appears Diaz will be going zombie for the film Evilution. Also starring James Duval (of Gregg Araki’s The Doom Generation), the sci-fi thriller concerns a microscopic alien life form that has the power to raise the dead. When the military gets hold of the alien, and uses it to resurrect dead soldiers, the alien turns the once-fallen recruits against each other in battle. In other words, it’s going to be a gore-fest, and Romeo can’t wait.
Bellucci Catches the 1:30 Train
There’s no typing Monica Bellucci. The beautiful Italian actress has lent her talents to everything from the Matrix sequels to the hugely successful Mel Gibson film The Passion of the Christ to punishing art-house fare like the French shocker Irreversible. After that, a straightforward American suspense film like gay director Joel Schumacher’s 1:30 Train should feel like a walk in the park. Or maybe not.
Bellucci will star as a woman in New York City attempting to catch the title train to Boston. When she’s robbed on her way there, however, it throws her world into chaos. In real life, of course, the police would be called, and that would be the end of it. But this is a Schumacher movie, and one thing you can count on is that the director of Phone Booth knows how to paint his characters into corners. Expect the thrills to arrive sometime in 2009.
Romeo San Vicente learned to sing and dance in utero. He can be reached care of this publication, or at DeepInsideHollywood@qsyndicate.com.