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Sean Penn Finds Truth in Tale of Would-Be Assassin
2004-12-30
LOS ANGELES - For an actor who has been called unpatriotic and even treasonous, Sean Penn is not backing away from controversy.In fact, the explosive actor has chosen to follow his Oscar-winning performance as the villain in Clint Eastwood's "Mystic River" with a sympathetic portrayal of a would-be presidential assassin and airplane hijacker. When the film called "The Assassination of Richard Nixon" appeared near impossible to make because of the Sept. 11 attacks, Penn pressed ahead, seeing in the role of aspiring assassin Sam Bicke a chance to tell the story of what drives a man to extreme acts. Based on the real-life story of a man killed while trying to hijack a plane so he could crash it into the White House, the film, opening this week in some U.S. cities, is about a man driven to extremism by deep frustration with societal norms and mores. "Nixon" looks at a social misfit who longs to be part of the system but is rebuffed at nearly every attempt. He loses his job, his wife, his second job and gets denied for a loan to start his own business. In a world of haves and have-nots, Bicke would seem to fall into the have-nots, but Penn finds fault with that notion. He said people should judge haves by the size of their heart, not their bank accounts or upward progress in society. "I don't think the measure of somebody is that they do things the way we want them to, but that there is something inside -- the purity of heart," he said. Penn is no stranger to controversy and has made no secret of his dislike of the Iraq war policies of President Bush. He traveled to Iraq before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 to try to get at the conflict's truth, as he saw it. Penn was skewered in the media and dubbed unpatriotic. In a recent interview ahead of "Nixon's" release, Penn said he still considers Iraq a "criminal war," and he fired back at his detractors. "I don't believe I'm anti-American ... If I understand what it means, I can't imagine anything more anti-American than trying to shut people up," Penn said. Penn, 44, has been one of Hollywood's most hard-to-figure actors for years. He is the son of a Hollywood writer who was blacklisted in the 1950s and a mother who quit acting to raise her kids. He grew up in the Los Angeles area. Given his lineage and critically acclaimed talent, he should have been the ultimate Hollywood insider, but for years he has lived outside the mainstream of the U.S. industry. He made his first big impact as an actor in the 1982 comedy "Fast Times at Ridgemont High." He could have been a star of mainstream movies earning a fat paycheck. Instead, he pursued lead roles in art-house films or took co-starring parts among large casts to work with acclaimed directors such as Terence Malick for "The Thin Red Line." BAD BOY TURNED GOOD Penn earned the moniker "Hollywood bad boy" for getting into scrapes with the paparazzi during his marriage to pop star Madonna. He remains notoriously press shy. "I've been frustrated with the nature of the town," is all he says about the impact of personal decisions like his trip to Iraq on his career. However, in nearly the same breath, he adds: "I don't think I have anything to complain about." His rancorous past seemed to wash away last February when the U.S. film industry gave Penn its top honor, an Oscar for best actor, for playing a murdering thug in "Mystic River." Like him or not, one thing about Penn is that he does seem to stay true to his convictions. More than five years ago, he agreed to play Sam Bicke in the movie that was written by a couple of relative unknowns and directed by a first-timer, Niels Mueller. Even though the filmmakers had a hard time raising money, Penn stuck by the project until eventually it was made. He thinks "Nixon" has something to say about the nature of people who don't think the way mainstream society does. And that is something Sean Penn knows a little something about. Reuters
Dramas aplenty vie for Golden Globe attention (2006-11-28)'Saw III' cuts up competition in debut (2006-10-29)Sean Penn Finds Truth in Tale of Would-Be Assassin (2004-12-30)Kevin Bacon Goes to Dark Side with 'Woodsman' (2004-12-23)Top DVD Releases of 2004 in U.S. (2004-12-22)
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