Hollywood PrivacyWatch: No on 8 Edition! 11/8 — I was at the "No on 8" rally/march/protest on Saturday night in Silver Lake when a friend pointed out GUS VAN SANT to me. I was skeptical at first, but the hoodie with something Portland related on it confirmed suspicions. He was with a younger (20s) blonde guy. Later at the same event, I saw one of the stars of Van Sant's Milk, JAMES FRANCO. He looked happy to be among his people. [Hollywood PrivacyWatch is written by and for Defamer readers; send your sightings to tips@defamer.com.]

"NO MORE MR. NICE GAY," read one of the many signs last night in Los Angeles as Defamer attended a huge anti-Prop. 8 rally that drew several thousand — then set them marching all over the city. (Your Defamer was also partial to another sign, referencing the easily-passed, animal rights-granting Prop. 2: "I Want What the Chickens Got!") It was powerful, emotional stuff, and even more fireworks should erupt today at 2pm, when the crowd takes their fight to the Mormon temple on Santa Monica Blvd to protest the many millions the church sunk into passing the anti-gay Prop. 8. Until then, though, let's relive the night the best way Defamer knows how: with celebrity spottings and silly anecdotes! You can see the Robert Rodriguez-less Rose McGowan protesting up above — who else was there, and who wasn't?

Here's a warning to anyone who voted to strip gay Californians of their rights to wed, and 18,000 already-married same-sex couples of their licenses: You don't want to see a ticked-off Mr. Defamer. His eyebrow arches even higher than usual, and he's been known to accidentally fumble that intern-monitored mug of 140 degree chai latte into a nearby face. We, meanwhile, are busily polishing our pitchforks and stocking up on 99 Cents Only-brand torches for tonight's Prop 8 protest rally (7 p.m. on San Vicente Blvd between West Hollywood Park and the Pacific Design Center). After the jump: Could an earlier Milk release have made the difference?L.A. county has already suspended the issuance of marriage licenses and civil marriage ceremonies for gay couples, saying in a statement "based on the Secretary of State's Semi-Official canvass results from Election Night and the California State Constitutional provision that states '(a) proposed amendment or revision shall be submitted to the electors and if approved by a majority of votes thereon takes effect the day after the election.'" The war, however, has already begun. Multiple legal challenges have been filed to subvert the measure—including one from high-volume feminist firebrand Gloria Allred on behalf of Couple Zero, Robin Tyler and Diane Olsen—arguing that this vote amounts to nothing more than an illegal constitutional revision. In Contention, meanwhile, asks a very good—if difficult to hear—question regarding Milk. The movie itself is about the legendary SF board supervisor's crusade against 1978's Prop 6, which would have banned gays from teaching positions. The parallels are impossible to ignore. Couldn't an earlier release of Gus Van Sant's film have pushed public opinion in this incredibly narrow vote onto the No side?

For a movie that the religious right hasn't even gotten around to touching yet, Milk certainly has caused its fair share of controversy this week. First, a questionable THR column on the movie's marketing earned the ire of Focus Features, and now that the film had its first public screenings last night, the reactions range from rapturous to...fight-inducing? Let's take a look!The initial salvo came from David Poland, who said, "For the first time in my memory, we have a major Oscar movie that actually is a gay agenda movie. But on the making, it is so much more. It is 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." Jeffrey Wells chimed in with an "8.5" score and this statement, "I felt a genuine gayness from Sean Penn, who plays the title role of the late San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk, that I didn't think he had in him." Yes, acting — isn't it marvelous? Then, the wheels came off the Typepad bus, as dissenter Kris Tapley of In Contention spent less time going over the film's flaws and more time picking fights with every other Oscar blog, but most especially Milk partisan Scott Feinberg. Tapley posted a delightfully catty, personal attack on Feinberg ("We as bloggers have to be careful to understand the context of our work...That is a lesson I truly hope Feinberg learns sooner rather than later, for his sake and, certainly, for the sake of the LA Times, who rather hastily threw him an editorial voice after behind-the-scenes plans for the upstart fell through") that prompted a lengthy rebuttal from Feinberg and a "fight, fight" taunt across the blogosphere. Truly, it is a continuation of Harvey Milk's legacy that he could inspire so many self-publishing Oscar pundits to set aside their petty grievances with a film and turn those attacks on each other. You gotta give 'em hope, kids — and you have! Kudos! [Photo Credit: Getty Images]

An angry Focus Features is doing a bit of air-clearing this morning, the day after it premiered its Oscar-chasing biopic Milk to an adoring hometown crowd in San Francisco and offered its first screenings to press in L.A. and New York. But it's a few people who haven't seen the film who are of particular interest to Focus president James Schamus, who all but firebombed Hollywood Reporter headquarters Tuesday in a letter to the editor denouncing its coverage of his film — a screed conveniently CC'd to the rest of the Internet as well.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."

With Gus Van Sant's Milk set to world premiere tonight at San Francisco's famous Castro Theater—an event that has the locals so excited, the biopic is practically bubbling up and dribbling down their nostrils—we thought we'd take a moment to introduce you to its breakout star. No, not him—you know him already. And not him, or him, or him, or even him. We speak, of course, of screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, whose name you might have noticed standing approximately 30-feet tall at the last moments of the Milk trailer.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

[That's supermodel and 'Project Runway' host Heidi Klum's Got Milk ad; image via Splash]

Here it is: The trailer for Milk, Gus Van Sant's retelling of the swift rise and violent and untimely fall of America's first openly gay elected official, set against a backdrop of the swinging San Francisco of the late '70s. Everything here seems note-perfect, from Sean Penn's Horshackian (with base notes of I Am Sam) vocal inflections, to the meticulously executed period gayfros, to the Anita Bryant file footage (here's some more of Bryant getting a banana cream pie in the face; ah—that never gets old), to the portentous-but-not-too-portentous tagline: "His life changed history. His courage changed lives." You thought a pair of lovelorn cowboys shot in silhouette were enough to nudge the Oscar envelope? Just wait until Sean Penn's Best Actor clip—featuring the actor entwined in James Franco's naked folds and delivering a stirring monologue on answering one's higher calling—shows the Academy how one really gays their way to the gold.

We apologize for being a little behind the gun on this clip from Friday's Jimmy Kimmel Live!, but we'd hate for the week to go by without acquainting you with It-Boy Ascendant James Franco, and his lovely stories from the set of Gus Van Sant's Milk. With a rough-sex outline Scotch-taped between the third and fourth pages of the shooting script, Franco quickly realized he was in for the Crisco-assisted ride of a lifetime—but it's this born raconteur's rubber-member reminiscences that really won us over. Enjoy, with someone you love.

As you attend to last-minute arrangements and packing for this weekend's Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival (Off! brand Andy Dick Repellent? Check...Sarah Jessica Parker inflatable love doll? Check...), we guide you to these handy timetables of set times, paying particular attention to an artist scheduled to appear shortly after 2 p.m. Sunday.

Sometimes subtle innuendo is called for in advertising; and if they can't master the "subtle" part, it just gets too weird to watch. Like this (Spanish, subtitled) ad for milk. There's a witch, see, that comes to town once a month, if you get our drift. The witch is like, a woman acting pissy once a month, see what we're saying? Okay. But then she drinks milk and her witchery is cured, because milk cures PMS. Could have used quite a bit more subtlety. Also, milk cures PMS, really? Click the clip to watch the crazy calcium claims. [via AdScam]

Thanks to some intrepid, DV-equipped pedestrians in San Francisco's Castro district, the YouTubes now provide some tantalizing glimpses of what Sean Penn looks and sounds like as Harvey Milk in Gus Van Sant's biopic. (His face is obstructed in the clip above, but you can get a better look at him here.)

A reader from San Francisco sent us the link to their Flickr gallery documenting the Castro's transformation back to its 1970s heyday for the filming of Milk, including this first known shot of Sean Penn as the openly gay city supervisor, pictured on a prop election poster. For comparison, here's a shot of the real Harvey Milk outside the camera shop that acted as his campaign headquarters. The facial hair discrepancy suggests to us Penn decided to go Method-bear with his performance. [Flickr]

There's more A-list casting goodness for Gus Van Sant's Milk, the late-70s biographical drama about San Francisco's beloved openly gay city supervisor Harvey Milk, an American civics story that probably wouldn't have two major, competing productions in the pipeline had Milk and then-S.F. Mayor George Moscone not been shot to death at City Hall by political rival Dan White. Reports THR:

Now that Amazon.com is selling groceries in addition to container ships full of Harry Potter books, sib site Consumerist points out one of their best-reviewed selections: milk. The fine moo juice has accumulated 300+ reviews so far; you can also examine multiple views of the milk, as if examining the jug of milk from a foot away, perhaps 14 inches away, and perhaps 10 inches away. Really gives you perspective on the milk's many different visual facets. Some customers complain that the milk does not repel manta rays, does not make servers run faster, nor cures cancer. For more sincere and also much more idiotic reviews, check out the Amazon grocery's top-selling item: cinnamon toothpicks.