Douglas Smith, best known for his role as Ben Henrickson on HBO's polygamy-themed series Big Love, will be gracing the big screen as he appears in a biopic about the later life and assassination of San Francisco city supervisor and gay rights activist Harvey Milk.

The upcoming movie is simply called Milk, which finds the Big Love actor working with some of Hollywood's biggest names such as Sean Penn, who stars as the film's title character.

Directed by Gus Van Sant, Milk tells the story of how Harvey Milk became a Gay Rights activist and city politician after moving to San Francisco.  The film highlights his election to San Francisco's Board of Supervisors in 1977, on his third attempt, making him the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in the United States.  It also shows how Milk and the city's mayor, George Moscone, were shot to death by former city supervisor, Dan White, who blamed his former colleagues for denying White's attempt to rescind his resignation from the board.

Although Harvey Milk has been the subject of several books and the Academy Award-winning documentary feature, The Times of Harvey Milk, Milk is the first movie to explore the private aspects of the man's personal life and career.

Aside from Sean Penn and the Big Love actor, Milk also includes Emile Hirsch (Speed Racer), James Franco (the Spider-Man film series), Josh Brolin (American Gangster, No Country for Old Men), Diego Luna (In the Playground), Victor Garber (Eli Stone, Alias), Denis O'Hare (Brothers & Sisters, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men), and Lucas Grabeel (College Road Trip, the High School Musical film franchise), just to name a few.

Meanwhile, fans can also catch Douglas Smith on the small screen when Big Love returns for a third season on January 11, 2009 on HBO.


-Kris De Leon, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: IMDB
(Image courtesy of HBO)