In the upcoming drama Milk (out in December), James Franco kisses Sean Penn.

Penn plays Harvey Milk, the country’s first openly gay elected official, a San Francisco city supervisor who was assassinated in 1978. Franco plays Scott Smith, one of his boyfriends.

“It wasn’t twelve hours, but it certainly felt like it,” Franco tells September’s GQ of the lip-lock. “The first kiss of the movie was out on Haight Street, with, like, 200 people watching, outside.

“It was a crane shot — I’m sure in the end it will be a really cool shot, but it starts close and then it takes maybe a minute,” he says. “That’s a long time on film with everybody watching and, like, a fake mustache getting in your mouth.”

Referring to Penn’s character in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Franco jokes the kiss “was long enough that you couldn’t help thinking, ‘Oh, my God, I’m kissing Spicoli.’”

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Sean Penn has urged actors not to vote for a deal proposed by the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA).

The deal on working conditions and pay is aimed at avoiding a potential strike this summer.

But Penn believes the terms are unfair and has sent an email to his fellow 44,000 Screen Actors Guild (SAG) members.

SAG has its own proposal, which it argues is stronger than that negotiated by smaller union AFTRA.

In the email, the 21 Grams actor said: “AFTRA’s deal not only falls short of fair compensation and protection for actors but just as significantly reflects corporate appeasement that will have an irreversible negative effect on the integrity of the show and the films we perform in.

“They’re trying to buy us out, bully us down and, in so doing, they will destroy the very purpose of our work.”

AFTRA’s proposal is similar to the deal that ended the writer’s strike earlier in the year.

Bosses of both unions have made competing appeals to their members to seek better conditions from studios.

SAG leaders say that defeating the AFTRA deal could help them get a better settlement for all actors under the larger SAG contract.

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WENN

Sean Penn and Robin Wright Penn fueled speculation their marriage has been saved by dining out together in Los Angeles on Friday night.

The couple was spotted enjoying a romantic meal at restaurant Madeo.

The actors, who split in December after 11 years of marriage, previously reunited at an Eddie Vedder concert in San Francisco, California in April.

Penn even took to the stage at the gig to dedicate a song to his wife, who was celebrating her 42nd birthday.

Wright Penn dismissed her divorce case against the actor days before the Vedder concert.

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WENN

Sean Penn has refuted reports he will be biased towards friend Clint Eastwood’s film entry for the Palme D’Or award at this year’s Cannes International Film Festival.

The Hollywood star is the 2008 jury president, and has come under fire from internet bloggers who believe he will use his powerful position to ensure Eastwood’s film Changeling will come out on top.

Actor-turned-director Eastwood is competing for the prestigious Palme D’Or award at this month’s festival for the 1920s thriller - which stars Angelina Jolie, Amy Ryan and John Malkovich.

Rumors of Penn’s alleged favoritism towards Eastwood stem from their time spent filming 2003’s Mystic River - which won Penn an Academy Award for Best Actor in 2004. But Penn has angrily refuted the accusations, insisting the winning film will stand triumphant on its own merits - and not because the director has pals on the judging panel.

He says, “It is an emotional impossibility for people on this jury to favor films by friends of ours. But we will not be biased against, either. If Clint Eastwood has done a film worth awarding, we’re going to f**k-well award it. It is not going to serve anyone to be a friend, or not to be a friend, or any member of the jury.”

Penn adds, “This won’t be a competition. Between us we will come to a consensus that some films that deserve it will get a leg-up and be shared with a wider audience.”

The Palme D’Or judging panel will be headed up by Sean Penn, Natalie Portman and former Harry Potter director Alfonso Cuaron.

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WENN

Jurors Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Richid Bouchareb, Natalie Portman, Marjane Satrapi, Jeanne Balibar, Sean Penn, Alexandra Maria Lara, Sergio Castellitto and Alfonso Cuaron  at a photocall today.

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Sean Penn played the Pied Piper of activism at the Coachella Festival on Monday when he set off on a protest trip to New Orleans, Louisiana with buses loaded with event revellers.

The actor/director took the stage at the festival on Sunday to recruit activists for his Dirty Hands Caravan venture.

He called on Coachella festival-goers to “take action” and join him on a cross-country bio-diesel bus caravan. The trip began on Monday morning.

Speaking just before My Morning Jacket’s set on the main stage at Coachella, Penn told music fans, “This is about volunteerism. Revolution is a young man’s job and you can be the revolution.”

He revealed that singer/songwriter Ben Harper and rockers Everlast would be joining him for the trip to the New Orleans Jazz + Heritage Festival.

The volunteers will help build houses for the homeless, while protesting the Iraq war with Penn.

Penn was hoping to recruit 300 Coachella revellers to join him on the bus tour to New Orleans and back to Los Angeles.

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WENN

Sean Penn’s divorce to Robin Wright Penn has been called off.

Court officials confirm to Extra that a dismissal was filed and granted on Tuesday.

The same day, Extra reported the pair hit an Eddie Vedder concert in San Francisco, where Penn, 47 — who flirted with Petra Nemcova at the Oscars — dedicated a song to his wife, 42, on stage for her birthday.

He originally filed divorce papers in Marin County December 7, his attorney Mindy Ross told Usmagazine.com, but the petition was dismissed December 18.

On December 21, she filed her own request for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences. Penn’s divorce papers listed November 30 as the date of their separation; she listed the split date as December 1.

The couple, who have been married for over 11 years, have two kids: Dylan Francis, 16, and Hopper Jack, 14.

“It was bound to happen,” a source told Us at the time of their split. “He always seemed like a bachelor at heart and the kind of guy who just couldn’t be married for long.”

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