LOS ANGELES, California?Sean Penn and Tom Cruise in ?Milk?? That?s the dream casting that director Gus Van Sant had in mind when he was mulling the film project that would eventually metamorphose as ?Milk,? the Academy Award-nominated biopic that some say will give Sean Penn his second Best Actor Oscar award.

In our interview with Gus in San Francisco, he told us that as early as 10 years ago, he already envisioned Sean as Harvey Milk, the first elected openly gay official in the US, while Tom would play Dan White, Milk?s colleague and eventual murderer.

?I talked to Sean about playing the role in 1998 or 1999, but it was an ill-fated moment when I tried to put together a cast that would have had Tom playing Dan opposite Sean portraying Harvey. It was an entirely different project, screenplay and production,? recalled Gus, whose acclaimed films include ?Good Will Hunting,? ?Drugstore Cowboy,? ?My Own Private Idaho? and ?Elephant.?

Meetings

?The movie was offered to Sean and Tom. It was just me operating outside of the official project. Basically, there were two meetings?one with Tom and another with Sean, but it ended right there, because I was sort of inept as a producer. I didn?t know that I had to call every day and keep in touch.?

According to Gus, an earlier version of a Harvey Milk biopic was being planned at one point, with Oliver Stone as director and Robin Williams in the lead. But, for Gus, he had always wanted Sean to portray the member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors who became a staunch supporter of gay and human rights.

Gus was glad that, many years later, he would still be able to cast Sean. He shared: ?I had an opportunity to go back to Sean with the same idea. He had grown into the same age as the character.? Gus emphasized, ?If you?re looking for a very strong lead actor, Sean is one of the best choices, because, for me, he?s the greatest we have.?

The filmmaker discussed the casting process that resulted in a movie full of excellent performances. Also noteworthy are Josh Brolin, who is in the Oscar Best Supporting Actor race for his portrayal of Dan White (the role that Tom Cruise would have played); James Franco and Diego Luna, as Milk?s lovers; Emile Hirsch and Alison Pill as Milk?s friends and allies.

?We did the traditional Hollywood casting process,? Gus narrated. ?Francine Maisler was our casting director. We had a list of characters, brought people in to read the parts and pieced it together bit by bit. We built the cast around Sean. I happen to know James Franco from hanging out with him socially. I had seen some of his plays. He quickly said yes to us.?

?The part of Cleve Jones (the gay rights activist and one of the first people to find the slain body of Milk, his friend and mentor) was important,? Gus stressed. ?It went down to two choices. Our first choice decided to do another movie. Then, Emile Hirsch became available. I was aware that Emile knew Sean.? Cleve, one of Milk?s pals who served as consultants and did cameos in the film, became an important resource for Sean, Emile and Gus.

Gus also disclosed, ?Matt Damon was originally going to play Dan White, but because of scheduling difficulties, he also fell out. Josh Brolin was Sean?s idea.?

The director recalled how he and Sean fleshed out the actor?s well-received performance, which was recently recognized by the Screen Actors Guild for Best Actor. ?We started out by having meetings,? Gus enthused. ?We talked about how we were going to do it. Not having directed Sean before, I observed how he worked, which was strikingly similar to what I was accustomed to. He wasn?t super serious. There were choices made early on about how he would look. He had a lot of muscles that he wanted to tone down, so that he wouldn?t appear so big.?

Footage

Gus added, ?Sean had meetings with Tom Ammiano (a friend of Milk?s). He also locked himself up with stock footage of Harvey. He studied his speeches, debates, pictures, will, interviews and voice recordings. But, Sean isn?t the type of actor who arrives on the set in character.?

?We didn?t think that Sean looked like Harvey,? Gus clarified. ?But, by the time Sean played him, he already looked like Harvey! But, that wasn?t why we chose him. It was partly because when it came to political speeches, we thought that Sean would really be riveting.?

Asked why he thinks Penn accepted the role, Gus answered: ?Sean never really said this, but I always assumed it was because Harvey was a figure he was familiar with. He had read about Harvey when I had given him the script 10 years ago. Maybe it was also because of the climate of today?s politics, and for him, it was a challenge to play an openly gay politician. It was a great push for him! He really had to work on it.?

Gus, who?s openly gay, talked about how he directed his straight actors: ?I didn?t personally coach any of them,? he bared. ?A lot of them were drawing on people they knew. Sean thought it would be good to have Bill Groom, who had worked on two of Sean?s movies, as our production designer, because he could use him as a resource. Bill is 56, and he came out of the closet at 54.?

?Each actor had his own references,? Gus added. ?Emile had lived with a gay couple for a number of years in Arizona. James has gay friends in LA. I never really asked them. They presented me stuff, and I just approved or disapproved them.?

E-mail rvnepales_5585@yahoo.com, and read his blog, ?The Nepales Report,? on http://blogs.inquirer.net/nepalesreport.