• Meet your new action hero overlord: Chris Pine. Already fronting the rebooted Star Trek franchise, Pine has signed on to play the Jack Ryan role previously portrayed by Harrison Ford and Alec Baldwin in a new go-around adapting Tom Clancy's series of espionage novels. [Variety]

• For those CBS and Viacom employees who feel each day the burden of the Redstone yoke, you can take heart today; Sumner is now less your owner than he was last week. The octillionaire mogul has been selling off the debt of his holding company, National Amusements. For now, however, NA still retains the controlling interest. [Variety]

• As the world waits for the final outcome of Vivendi/GE/Comcast talks over the fate of NBC Universal, Nikki Finke reports that Comcast wants the deal "done and announced in November." So there. [DHD]

• Curse be damned! ABC has won the competition to be the next network to fail with a sitcom by a former Friends star, locking up rights to the Matthew Perry project. [THR]

• The Wrap reports that Alex Young, Co-President of Production at 20th Century Fox is being moved out of the job and into a producing deal. Young was a Tom Rothman protege who has been in the job since 2007. [The Wrap]

• Always on the lookout for a feel good project, director Gus Van Sant and novelist Bret Easton Ellis have picked up the rights to "The Golden Suicides," Nancy Jo Sales' Vanity Fair article about the deaths of downtown artists Theresa Duncan and Jeremy Blake. [Variety]

• The creator of the Gilmore Girls is coming to HBO. Exec-Producer Amy Sherman-Palladino has signed a deal to develop a dramedy for the cable network. She described the project as the "story of love, hate, family — and finding the perfect opening line," [THR]

• This is what it's come to in the strange, contorted career of Bill Murray; taking Joe Pesci's leftovers. For those who thought Murray's Zombieland cameo was just a little strange— that he was too big, or had been too big a star for the joke about Woody Harrelson being obsessed with him to completely click — you are right. In an interview with Hitfix, Murray revealed the walk on had been intended for Joe Pesci — with whom the joke would have made a lot more sense — but that Murray took the part after Pesci passed. [Hitfix]

Will someone please tell Gus Van Sant that he is not an angsty gay teen anymore? While we're not asking him to make G.I. Joe 2, he couldn't do something a little bit more than Restless, the story of a young, moody boy who goes to strangers' funerals to cope with his parents' deaths. He meets a young girl in a graveyard who only has six months to live. The film's budget is set at $15 million, $2.5 million of which is reserved for the eyeliner and Manic Panic.

Don't get us wrong, we loved Drugstore Cowboy, My Own Private Idaho, and Good Will Hunting. He even managed to change his formula up by introducing an sad teen (Joaquin Phoenix, before the beard) to an a deluded, ambitious older lady (Nicole Kidman, before the Botox) in To Die For.

But who out there suffered through Elephant, Paranoid Park, Gerry and Last Days? Yeah, we didn't think so. Probably because his experiments on getting depressed teens to improvise for the camera became staid and tedious. We were hoping that Milk, with its message of political empowerment and a movement coming into its own, would be the start of the dear director's second act. Guess we were wrong.

Isn't it time to make some more movies about grown ups? Even Woody Allen went from making movies about young neurotic New Yorkers sleeping with girls way out of their league to making movies about old neurotic New Yorkers sleeping with girls way out of their league. The rest of us are miserable too, Gus. Where's our movie?

Shot by Gus Van Sant for Vogue Hommes International (and dutifully scanned by MCN's David Poland), the pictorial plucks Black from Roland Emmerich's twink-filled compound and juxtaposes him with the photographs and memorabilia of the man whose life story he penned. We hope that the frequently shirtless screenwriter sees his gambit pay dividends; Jenny Lumet, now you know what you have to do next time.

• Gus van Sant Shoots Dustin Lance Black For Vogue Paris pour Hommes [Hot Blog]

KB: So, Stu, you and I have both seen one of the year's most anticipated movies, Milk. I'm curious about our reactions, because we both came to from a different place. I saw it before the election, and you saw it after. Also, I'm a gay man, and you're not (aside from that one time at summer camp).
STV: True, true.
KB: So what did you think of it?
STV: I liked it! Well-made prestige Oscar bait.
KB: On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate its Van Santyness? Or perhaps, on a scale of Finding Forrester to Gerry?
STV: 1 being Finding Forrester, Milk is right around a 3.
KB: It's pretty straightforward, except for the occasional fun pop touch. I liked the film too, although I felt it ends better than it begins. The beginning is verrry biopic-y, every introduction is portentous and expositional.
STV: It's a problem throughout, though.
KB: People say things like, "Let me tell you something, CLEVE JONES..." I am pretty sure I never use people's last names when talking to them. Though maybe I would if I knew they'd be famous one day!
STV: Try it with me some time, let's see what happens.
KB: Do you think we'll see a single review of this film that won't mention Milk's parallel to Obama, or Prop 8?
STV: This one won't be it, I guess. I hope so, though.
KB: The Prop 8 stuff is pretty hard to ignore, considering Milk is trying to overturn the anti-gay Prop 6 in the movie. He even makes some remarks, like that the anti-Prop 6 ad campaign was "closeted," that I heard about the "No on 8" campaign.
STV: So we need 100 critics saying it's relevant?
KB: Well, this is a case where I think its relevance will help. Unlike Obama's election lifting The Dark Knight, lazy Academy voters may look at Milk and say, "I will check this box off for activism!" I can see the cocktail party chatter: "Isn't that Prop 8 terrible?" "It sure is. I voted for Sean Penn, by the way."
STV: That doesn't make it a better film, though, is what I'm saying. Which critics will confuse it with.
KB: Sean Penn is great, but what did we think of everyone else?
STV: Waitaminute. Sean Penn is the movie.
KB: I love that the Variety review basically boiled down to, "Sean Penn deserves credit for appearing likable on screen!"
STV: It's a role where so, so much could go wrong, and he hurdles over all of it. The period trappings, the physicality, the presence, the godawful hair...
KB: It's hard to imagine how Robin Williams or Steve Carell could have done it better. What did you think of Josh Brolin? That role could have been even trickier.
STV: I think he's great, but the part of Dan White is underwritten. The guy has no real inner life.
KB: I think all the supporting roles have a lot less to them than you would think going in. Emile Hirsch didn't have much to do besides a dorky dance in group party scenes.
STV: James Franco's character is bizarre. Now you see him, now you don't.
KB: Also, where were these stunt cocks Franco had promised us while doing talk shows? I felt gypped.
STV: Saving it for the DVD, I guess. Is Diego Luna annoying?
KB: Yes, but intentionally? My friend couldn't stand him. I thought that was kind of the point, he's like that guy your friend dates who you can't stand.
STV: It was like with Brolin's character, where he didn't earn the attention our hero devoted to him.
KB: I appreciate all the internecine politics we saw with Dan White and Milk, though. That was, I think, its most notable expansion over The Times of Harvey Milk.
STV: Gosh, now that you say it, I have all kinds of quibbles with this movie. I've already vented some of them, but the politics...I mean we KNOW they fought. So maybe part of my disappointment with Brolin's character is the surface-level whininess that never ever ends. He plays a great drunk, though. Imagine!
KB: He was high on twinkies, Stu. Clearly.
STV: It's true. Forgive me. Give readers one reason to see Milk unrelated to Sean Penn or the political relevance.
KB: [Director of photography] Harris Savides.
STV: DITTO!
KB: It's a very pretty, warm movie. It makes you want to be there, suffering prejudice and getting assassinated.
STV: He's a brilliant cinematographer. Will straights in the red states buy tickets to this? Gays! Sean Penn! San Francisco!
KB: The ones who want to meet their "one daring thing a year" quota might. With the Oscar help, I could see it hitting $40 million. I don't think it's a Brokeback, though. So have you soured on Milk since we began this discussion? "Sour milk." I didn't even intend that.
STV: Honk. I don't think so, I never thought it was extraordinary. But I guess the thing that really is most striking is that for the first time in 25 years, Sean Penn is a revelation.
KB: True, and he deserves everything he gets for it, STU VANAIRSDALE.
STV: I feel famous already.

Marc Malkin called up Bryant's ministry in Oklahoma to see what the 68-year-old firebrand thought of Gus Van Sant's new film. A man identifying himself as her second husband, Charlie Dry, commenced stonewalling against the gossip's inquiries, though we think we spot a glimmer of hope between the grumpy Bible-Belt lines:

"There are not going to be any interviews with her or us, because it's not a subject we care to cover," Dry said. "I don't care if they make a movie about anybody. We're not going to get back into that battle."

I asked about conflicting reports that suggested Bryant once expressed remorse for her antigay work. Dry replied, "She never apologized, because it's wrong." [...]

"It's in the past, man," Dry said. "That's not in our life anymore. She's not out there doing that crap anymore—hasn't done it in 25 years."

So wait: "It's wrong" that she was said to have apologized? Or her homophobia wasn't wrong enough to apologize in the first place? Such confusion! Still, 25 years is a long time to ride the low-profile wagon — and she didn't even fall off when Prop 8's endorsees passed the hat. Not that she could pull the reins from the Mormons' hands anyway.

• Sean Penn's 'Milk' Has Blast From the Antigay Past [E!]

The contretemps started yesterday morning when THR reporter Steven Zeitchik — who mostly sounded ticked off he wasn't invited to the first press screening — wrote about "the Milk marketing conundrum," suggesting that Focus had "eschewed publicity" while pushing director Gus Van Sant and star Sean Penn's biopic about Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official in the country, who was assassinated in 1978. The main point of comparison was Focus's Brokeback Mountain, which THR noted was a lightning rod for conservatives months before it was released in 2005.

Citing no festival appearances, limited press exposure and, bafflingly, a Las Vegas test screening in which two senior citizens reportedly sought to leave during a love scene between Penn and co-star James Franco, THR's big picture showcased a movie that Focus depoliticized on purpose, lest the early backlash hinder its box-office and awards chances. "With all the politicking going on (not just the election but, here in California, with Proposition 8, a subject that mirrors eerily one of Harvey Milk's battles)," Zeitchik wrote in a blog follow-up, "the company was eager to avoid talk-radio defining the movie for it."

Not a terrible theory, we guess — except it was wrong, Schamus (right) wrote in a letter sent THR's way last night:

That's a pretty serious charge, especially made by a reporter who did not call us to get his facts, so to speak, straight.

First of all, to the charge of "hiding" the film (for which, given its post-production schedule, we have only had finished prints at hand for a couple of weeks - a fact conveniently missed by your reporter), I can only say that I happen to be writing this while on my way to the airport for a flight to San Francisco, where we shall world-premiere the film tonight at the Castro Theatre, across the street from the storefront where Harvey began his political career. [...] The after-screening gathering will be held at San Francisco's City Hall, and today has been proclaimed "Focus Features Day" by the Mayor – who clearly didn't get The Hollywood Reporter in time to understand our underhanded, apolitical approach to marketing the film. [...]

Following the debut of that trailer way back on September 12, our marketing campaign mobilized an early online media push timed to all four presidential race debates –- the mornings after, we had specially commissioned Milk ad buys on the political pages of the websites of The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, National Public Radio, The Huffington Post, and many more. [...] I expect that more thorough journalism on our Milk campaign will be published in THR soon.

By the time Schamus had dashed off his signature, though, the damage was done. The new-and-improved Radar had distilled the story (without attribution) to "Milk will seem a bit too politcal and preachy," while our cousins at Gawker surmised that "Milk just isn't very good. [...] [W]hen a studio declares it must be very, very quiet in promoting a film, it pushes us toward another conclusion: Milk is going to be so bad Sean Penn won't have a chance at Oscar time no matter how many full page ads Focus runs."

Classy, guys. Of course, Focus didn't declare that, and the author hadn't viewed Milk either. David Poland did last night, however, filing afterward that it's "a brilliant, powerfully humane piece of work that reaches well beyond the issue of gay rights or any idea that this is a gay-only film." We don't necessarily think all of America might see it that way, but we'd expect professionals with access to have the good sense not to make it worse. Alas. Next time, THR!

• Schamus defends 'Milk' plan [eugonline]

• The 'Milk' Marketing Conundrum [THR]

Variety announced today that the extremely photogenic and openly gay recovering Mormon would be writing Van Sant's next feature—an adaptation of The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. Pack it up, Diablo. There's a new It Scribe in town.

We now run down for you Everything You Always Wanted to Know About DLB but Weren't Yet Aware of His Existence Enough To Ask:

I. HE LOOKS GREAT WITH HIS SHIRT OFF

This should probably have gone further down the list, but let's face it: If Dustin was a chubby, balding, 53-year-old founding member of ACT-UP, no one would care as much. So let's just get it out of the way. Dustin is categorically hot in a cornfed Mormon-ish kind of way, and makes an attractive addition to any pool terrace, TigerHeat dance floor, or gayish men's magazine pictorial.

II. MILK ISN'T HIS FIRST JOB, IT'S JUST HIS BIGGEST

Black has been a writer on Big Love since it debuted, adding Mormonthenticity to dialogue for characters like the polygamist-chic Chloe Sevigny (she's always so ahead of the curve) and the rest of the Henrickson wives. He also directed On the Bus—a 2001 documentary about a trip to Burning Man that features Black himself on the DVD cover. (Yes, shirtless.)

III. HAS HE EVER TRIED TO GET INSIDE THE MIND OF A SEXUALLY USED POOL BOY?

Yes! His first feature, The Journey of Jared Price, is about a hot poolboy who arrives from the Midwest and is employed by an intermittently blind dowager. The poolboy is used for his body, but emerges from his journey a stronger person.

IV. WHAT LED HIM TO WRITE HARVEY MILK'S LIFE STORY WILL BRING TEARS TO YOUR EYES

"The writer vividly recalls the day he visited the Gay and Lesbian Archives and discovered the blood-stained suit Milk was assassinated in: 'For me, it was like putting flesh on a father figure.' Born a closeted Mormon in San Antonio, Texas, Black – who grew up without a father – envisioned Milk as the encouraging paternal figure he never had. 'I was listening to one of his speeches right after he was elected to public office, and he says something like, ‘There’s a kid out there, maybe in San Antonio, who’s going to hear my story and hear that an openly gay man was elected to public office — and it’s going to give him hope.’ And I just lost it, because that’s exactly what it did for me.'" (From an Advocate magazine-only feature penned by our own Kyle Buchanan.)

V. SORRY LADIES. HE WON'T SWITCH TEAMS

"I had my first crushes on a boy neighbor when I was like six, seven. I knew what was going on. I knew I liked him."

VI. HE CITES PET SEMATARY AS A MAJOR INFLUENCE

Fom his MySpace profile: "Movies: MILK, Pet Cemetary, Boyz N tha Hood, Akeelah and the Bee, Saved by the Bell: Hawaiian Style, Original Gangstas, RoboCop 2, From Dusk Til Dawn, Sin City, Waiting to Exhale, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Seven Samurai, The Queen, Big Momma's House and of course the Nutty Professor 2: The Klumphs... not exactly."

• Milk [Apple Trailers]

While we have yet to receive any confirmation on this, we have every reason to believe it will be the actual Sean Penn who appears on the emerging-talent Gobi Tent stage, and not just some Brooklyn-based, post-klezmer-dance-punk outfit with an ironic name. Hollywood Elsewhere even goes so far as to wonder if they might be shooting an outdoor rally scene for Gus Van Sant's Milk. It's certainly possible, what with the seamless confluence of that film's end-of-a-disco-era costume requirements and the obnoxiously self-aware hipsterwear already on display at the Empire Polo Fields. But if that is the case, the filmmakers will have to pray that the hot, drunk crowd cooperates, and doesn't spoil the solemnity of a great moment in gay rights by holding aloft their iPhones and screaming, "Spicoooooooooollllliiiiiiiii. WHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"

• Coachella Set Times
• Sunday Afternoon [Hollywood-Elsewhere.com]

In the scene, Penn cheerfully offers flyers to passersby, saying, "We'll have smiles around the city. A healthy mouth is a happy mouth!" (a milk-related campaign slogan?), in a Professor Frink-ish voice at least one observer thinks is true to Milk's own. Not long after, Emile Hirsch saunters by in a math club getup, throws his arms around dramatically (we hear the camera takes ten pounds off wild gesticulation), then delivers a line in which he calls Penn's character an "old man." We realize this may be a hastily drawn conclusion, but we smell 2009 Oscar.

• Making Milk [YouTube via GoodAsYou]

[Josh] Brolin will play Dan White, the rival politician and supervisor who shot Milk and San Francisco Mayor George Moscone to death at City Hall.

[Emile] Hirsch has been cast as gay rights activist Cleve Jones, an intern and close ally of Milk's, who went on to found the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt. [James] Franco will play Scott Smith, Milk's lover and campaign manager.

To clarify, it appears Brolin will be taking over from Matt Damon in the Twinkie-defense-pleading pivotal role of assassin White, Sean Penn remains intact as Milk, while Bryan Singer's take on the story, The Mayor of Castro Street, remains in "active development," according to The Studio System, with assassinated gay municipal politicians currently taking a back seat to Nazi resistance fighters and Kryptonian samaritans who accidentally get their girlfriends pregnant before disappearing from the planet for about 5 years.

• Hirsch, Franco, Brolin got 'Milk' [THR]

With precious few hours until we kick off for our Christmas vacation, we never expected that the Celebrity DUI Gods would send down yet another drunk-driving mugshot for our amusement, but they've just delivered the gift of this Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting, Gerry, the Kurt Cobain one) photo through their chosen vessels at The Smoking Gun. The Portland Mercury's Blogtown PDX fleshes out the arrest story with a police official's description of Van Sant, who was driving his Porsche SUV without his headlights on and burned some rubber at a red light: "He had glassy, watery, red eyes, slurred speech, and smelled strongly of alcohol." Unfortunately for the director, recent Drunken Famous Person Mugshot Hall of Fame inductee Rip Torn's playful jailhouse modeling session set the bar impossibly high for his peers, making Van Sant's effort seem all the more uninspired and dour. If there's one lesson Torn has taught us, it's to reclaim one's boozy dignity by having some fun with a potentially embarrassing situation.

• Gus Van Sant Arrested [TSG]
• Van Sant drives nice Porsche, drinks. [Portland Mercury Blogtown, PDX]