In a pivotal Milk sequence, James Franco strips naked and dives into a rich gay man's pool, his creamy buttocks thereby setting in motion the ripples that would lead to a sweeping social revolution.

The keen, homoerotically-attuned eye of Towleroad noticed unmistakable similarities between Gus Van Sant's shot, and an important work by artist David Hockney:

[I]t struck me that Van Sant must have been inspired by David Hockney's "Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)" and, lo and behold, Franco got the stroke, and Van Sant the angle, just right.

Lo and behold, indeed!

• A Big Gay Hockney - Van Sant Milk Mash-Up [Towleroad]

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