Cruise Turned Down Milk Role

Josh Brolin can thank Tom Cruise for his role in Gus Van Sant's new biopic Milk - because the Top Gun star turned it down.

Brolin plays city supervisor Dan White, who assassinated San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone, in the film.

But director Van Sant admits he at first had Cruise in mind for role - as he and Sean Penn would have got the controversial project off the ground.

He explains, "I thought if I connected those two guys [Cruise and Penn] at the time I could go into the studio and say, 'Look, I have these two guys' and they would do it.

"There was always the problem with the gay community aspect of the film so they needed a reason to overcome that fear that they had of making a film that wasn't going to have a very big return money wise, so that was my plan."