Hollywood's trade papers today announced three cast additions to the Gius Van Sant-directed biopic, "Milk," a San Francisco city supervisor and the country's first openly gay elected official who was assasinated in 1978.

Josh Brolin (above) is in final negotiatons to play Dan White, the rival supervisor who killed Milk along with San Francisco Mayor George Moscone. Brolin is on the roll of his career with standout performances in "American Gangster" and "No Country for Old Men." I've been a big fan of his ever since he played a bisexual with an armpit fetish in the 1996 comedy gem "Flirting With Disaster."

Sean Penn had already been announced as being cast as Milk and James Franco ("Spider-Man") is in final negotiations to play Scott Smith, Milk's lover and campaign manager. Emile Hirsch, the young actor who made such a strong impression in the Penn-directed drama "Into the Wild," will play gay rights activist Cleve Jones, an intern and close ally of Milk's. Jones went on to found the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt.

Some of the film will be shot in San Francisco as well as in London.