James Franco as Alan Ginsberg

[UPDATE: Thanks a million to Joao Mattos for sending us the original Ginsberg-Orlovsky photo on which the Franco-Tveit pose is modeled. Great catch!]

Did the dueling Truman Capote biopics 3 years ago open the floodgates on films bringing the significance of contemporary gay history out of the closet? Alex Billington at Firstshowing.net has this photo of James Franco as Beat Generation poet Alan Ginsberg and Aaron Tveit his longtime companion Peter Orlovsky. Check out this fabulous cast:

James Franco … Allen Ginsberg
Aaron Tveit … Peter Orlovsky
Mary-Louise Parker … Gail Potter
Jeff Daniels … Professor David Kirk
David Strathairn … Ralph McIntosh
Jon Hamm … Jake Ehrlich
Alessandro Nivola … Luther Nichols
Treat Williams … Mark Schorer
Bob Balaban … ?

The movie involves the obscenity charges faced by Ginsberg after the publication of his seminal poem. Howl is exec produced by Gus Van Sant, and directed by Rob Epstein (The Times of Harvey Milk) and Jeffrey Friedman (The Celluloid Closet). No distributor yet, so we might not see it until 2010.

Another photo of Alan Ginsberg and his lifelong partner Peter Orlovsy, after the cut.