Expect to see paparazzi creeping about town in pursuit of Sean Penn, currently here to film “Milk,” the Gus Van Sant biopic about Harvey Milk.

Will he be spotted with rumoured homewrecker Sienna Miller (ask her lawyer if you really want to know)? Maybe photogs will catch him shooting an on-screen kiss with Diego Luna, who plays his young boyfriend in the movie. How about a bar-time brawl with Phil Bronstein of the San Francisco Chronicle? And what about those two Russian ladies?

Good grief, it just hasn’t been Mr. Penn’s month, has it.

But as a friend of the actor’s told me recently, it looks like he’ll handle it all just fine. “He is a man of integrity and has consistently put his money where his mouth is,” she said, “whether it be Iraq, Iran, Katrina or any other fiascos.”