This page contains
as much news as I have been able to find about Sean
Penn. As new bits of information pop up, I will
include them on this page. If you yourselves know
anything that I don't have posted, e-mail me at ragingbull21@yahoo.com.
Sean Penn Quitting Acting?
Monday, December
28, 1998 11:25 AM
From Mr. Showbiz.com
From our department of
likely false alarms comes this news: In the midst of
strong reviews for his performances in the new films The
Thin Red Line and Hurlyburly, Sean Penn
says that he wants to quit acting. Penn complained in
the cover story of the Dec. 27 New York Times
Magazine, "I'm talking about a whole career
of feeling that the movies I cared most about, movies
like At Close Range and She's So Lovely,
were just not seen. So I would rather write and
direct." He says that once he has completed work
on Woody Allen's next film, in which he plays a '30s
jazz musician, he'll appear only behind the camera.
Penn's friends have heard this kind of talk
before—and dismiss it. Warren Beatty says,
"He's not going to give up acting. What Sean
means is that he would like to give up the thought of
making the brand of picture that opens big on a
Friday night." Jack Nicholson doesn't believe
Penn's pronouncement either. "If he says he's
quitting acting, it's just a momentary thing."
Of course, directors who have worked with Penn have
infrequently found it an easy ride. His reputation
for squabbling with directors and producers has left
a lot of bruised egos—and perhaps burned
bridges—in his wake. Earlier this month, reports
from the Allen set were that Penn had been a no-show
during some of November's filming. "Sean's been
playing sick because he's P.O.'d at the way Woody
works," a source said at the time. And in the New
York Times article, Penn has scathing words for
Oliver Stone. "You could have called U-Turn
Dr. Dolittle, because being able to communicate
with the director was like talking to a pig. "
says Penn. "I think that was my greatest
accomplishment on that movie. For seven hellacious
weeks, I was able to communicate with a pig."
