Harvey Milk Film
Green-Lit for Production

The first of two long-planned biopics chronicling the life of San Francisco gay rights activist Harvey Milk has been given the go-ahead for production. Principal photography for Milk will begin in January, according to The Hollywood Reporter, and the release could be as early as summer 2008.

Sean Penn will star in the Gus Van Sant-directed film for Groundswell Productions. According to the Reporter, Milk now has the advantage over the film adaptation of Randy Shiltz's biography, The Mayor of Castro Street. That adaptation, by out producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, has been in development for more than 15 years. Attached to the project as a possible director is Bryan Singer.

The 1984 documentary The Times of Harvey Milk won an Oscar. This will be the first scripted film version of Milk's story. (The Advocate)