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Penn and Franco: Roommates?

Fri., Jan. 25, 2008 2:27 PM PST by Marc Malkin

Barry King/WireImage.com, Jean-Paul Aussenard/WireImage.com

Sean Penn and James Franco, who will play gay lovers in a new film, gave some thought to moving in together, I'm told.

Whaaa?

Relax, it's just for a movie. The two are currently filming Milk, Gus Van Sant’s biopic about Harvey Milk (Penn), the trailblazing, openly gay San Francisco city supervisor who was assassinated not long after being elected to office in 1977. Franco plays Scott Smith, one of Milk’s lovers and his campaign manager.

I’m told Penn and Franco wanted to live together for a time before filming began in the Bay Area. My sources reported they were looking to shack up in an apartment similar to one the real-life partners lived in after moving to San Fran from New York City.

“They talked a lot about doing that, but schedules prevented it,” a source told me.

AP photo

Milk (left), known as the Mayor of Castro Street and the first openly gay elected official in California, and Mayor George Moscone were gunned down by fellow city supervisor Dan White Nov. 27, 1978. White's lawyers claimed he was incapable of premeditating the shooting because recent changes in his diet had biologically altered his thinking. Though the tactic was dubbed the "Twinkie defense" by the press, White was convicted of the lesser charge of manslaughter, not murder. He later committed suicide.

Van Sant’s flick for Focus Features recently started shooting in San Francisco, and includes location scenes in Milk's camera store.

Other cast includes Josh Brolin as White and Emile Hirsch and Diego Luna as two of Milk’s other lovers. It’s set for release sometime next year.