It’s not every day that a midlevel politician is portrayed on the big screen by a world-renowned mega-artist. But Jeff Koons, depicted at left with Sean Penn, made a cameo appearance in Gus Van Sant’s celebrated film Milk as a young Art Agnos, the California state assemblyman who later became mayor of San Francisco. "I was surprised," Agnos tells Art+Auction. "I had a lot of fun with family and friends describing my picks for who should play me — Tom Hanks or George Clooney." The ultrabrief part, however, didn’t quite merit that much wattage. In the end, Agnos says, Koons — who had a taste of politics when his former wife, the porn star Cicciolina, served in the Italian parliament — "made those two minutes much bigger, more remembered and much more commented on than anyone I can imagine playing me."

"Scene Stealer" originally appeared in the March 2009 issue of Art+Auction. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Art+Auction's March 2009 Table of Contents.