He played Sean Penn’s lover in Milk. He stars as Beat poet Alan Ginsberg in the upcoming Howl. And he was recently the subject of minor controversy at an odd New York film panel Q&A session where his publicist decided to make questions about his sexuality specifically off-limits. Meanwhile, James Franco seems to have no problem with people speculating about who he loves and, at least in his film work, is unafraid to go where he wants. And now the actor has added director and writer of a short film to his gay-themed resume with The Clerk’s Tale. The story of an anxiety-ridden gay man working in a high-end menswear store, the dramatic short recently screened at the Cannes Film Festival and stars newcomer John Kelly as well as British character actor Charles Dance (Gosford Park). The theatrical life for short films is never one audiences can count on, but look for this one to air on cable and probably online eventually, too. That is, after the gay film festivals finish adoring it first.

John Cameron Mitchell’s career isn’t what anyone would call conventional. When you’ve got a rock ‘n’ roll drag musical, an extremely sexually explicit comedy and a drama starring Nicole Kidman (the upcoming Rabbit Hole) under your belt, it’s not like they’re going to approach you to direct the next Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants movie. So it’s appropriate, then, that JCM’s latest project involves producing an animated indie feature due in 2012 about body-switching technology called The Ruined Cast. To be directed by graphic novelist Dash Shaw (The Bottomless Belly Button, Body World) and co-produced with Howard Gertler (Shortbus), it’s the story of a technology that allows people to wear each other’s bodies. And just to weird it up even more, this all takes place in a city that’s encased in a trophy, the ultimate gated community. Even better? It’s not jumping on the 3D bandwagon. Think cool art-house animation like Persepolis rather than Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.

When you learn that the new film called Dirty Movie stars Sex and the City’s Mario Cantone, Law & Order: SVU’s Christopher Meloni and Cyndi Lauper it wouldn’t be a huge surprise if your first thought was, “OK, great. Chris Meloni is hot. He should be in something called Dirty Movie.” And after that it kind of falls apart. Because Mario Cantone isn’t exactly known as a sex symbol and Cyndi Lauper’s last film role was in Vibes. Worse still, then you start worrying that it all might have something to do with those horrible Date Movie-style embarrassments. But here are the facts: Dirty Movie is a sketch comedy film co-written and directed by Meloni and it’s not necessarily all that dirty. Does that help clarify anything? And if not, don’t we all at least agree that Cyndi Lauper is probably capable of being really funny in a film and deserves at least as many chances as Madonna’s had to prove it? We thought so. Look for it in a theater or on cable or DVD somewhere at least soon. We think.

It’s bi girls and lesbians all over TV this summer, starting right now. Here’s a mini roundup of what to put in your DVR: On the fluffier end of the entertainment spectrum is Losing It With Jillian, starring Biggest Loser trainer Jillian Michaels (already airing and helping you say no to that post-dinner snack), and Pretty Little Liars, debuting June 8 on ABC Family, will feature a teenage lesbian character (newcomer Shay Mitchell) among its gaggle of fresh young things. On the more serious end is TLC’s Police Women of Memphis, which features lesbian officer Virginia Awkard, and the eight-part mini series Boston Med (June 24) that focuses in part on a lesbian OB-GYN. And then there’s The Real L Word, the show that if we’re all very, very lucky will exist in that magical space between real and fake, awful and incredible, hilarious and horrifying sort of like the show it’s based on when it debuts on Showtime June 20. Play your watching cards right and it will be unnecessary to leave your air-conditioned home for any reason besides heading out to the multiplex to see Annette Bening and Julianne Moore play cool lesbians in The Kids Are All Right.