On Set With The Men Behind Milk   By Michael Joseph Gross  'So
tell me, what's your nigga?'' Cleve Jones, a veteran gay
activist working as historical consultant on Milk, recalls Sean
Penn asking as the actor prepped for his role as the late San
Francisco city supervisor Harvey Milk. A little horrified by
Penn's question, Jones answered, 'What?'  Penn repeated the
question: 'What's your nigga?'  'I said, 'Sean I have no idea
what you're asking me.' '  'He said, 'Come on, young black men
on the street ask 'Hey, nigga what's going on?' What is the
equivalent word in your community?' And I thought for just a
moment and said, 'Well, that would be girl.' In a bleating
falsetto, Jones demonstrated: 'GI-I-IRL!!!'  Often called the
greatest actor of his generation, Penn may also be the butchest.
No movie star since Marlon Brando (or, some would argue, Mel
Gibson) has possessed so pure a combination of the qualities --
rogue politics, wild personal life, brooding face, and meat-slab
body -- that add up to the American