I saw the greatest minds of my generation furrow their brows over the sexuality of a handsome Hollywood actor...

Oh, James Franco, you big flirt. We knew something was up back when you portrayed James Dean in that 2002 TV biopic. Then came your passionate turn as Harvey Milk's lover and campaign manager in Milk. You tickled Seth Rogen's balls through his not-so-tighty-whities at the top of the gag reel for Pineapple Express, and snuggled him on the couch during that sketch on the 81st Academy Awards. The public's understandable curiosity about your same-sex smooch with Will Forte in your new documentary Saturday Night sent some poor publicist into conniptions during a Q&A at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Well here's hoping that flummoxed PR flack has landed a new gig. Because Franco's latest role will only stoke the "is he or isn't he?" debate. In Howl, Franco portrays Allen Ginsberg, one of the seminal figures of the Beat Generation. The film focuses on the events leading up to the creation of Ginsberg's literary breakthrough, "Howl," and the 1957 obscenity trial that followed its publication by City Lights Books. And unlike other Beat icons such as Neal Cassady and Jack Kerouac, who fancied themselves womanizers but played both sides of the fence, Ginsberg was decidedly queer (not that it stopped him from letting his female "soul mate," Elise Cowan, type up the epic "Howl" for him before she got hip to the fact their relationship would be strictly platonic), with a passion for preaching free love and getting naked in public.

Take a gander at the trailer after the jump. It might appear that Ginsberg's sexuality is downplayed in the flick (which opens in New York and SF on Sept. 24, with national rollout to follow), but according to folks who caught the movie during Outfest, there's more to Franco's interaction with his male co-stars than just furtive glances. Hooray! Let the wild speculation about James Franco's sexuality... um, continue.