Great actor one
bad actor
Brillant Sean Penn hasnt lost his edge or
edginess
Jay Stone
Sean Penn is
perhaps the greatest actor of his generation, and also a major
league pain in the butt.
I interviewed him once about his role in the 2004 movie The
Assassination of Richard Nixon, in which he plays a troubled
loner who is tormented by the corruption of America and who
wants to kill the president. I asked him
about the parallels to Taxi Driver (troubled loner tormented by
the corruption of America wants to kill the president.)
Anybody who writes that will be maliciously hurting the picture
and hurting independent film, he replied with a barely
controlled anger, adding that if anyone drew such a comparison,
he would probably never speak to that person again.
Nor has he.
At least he didnt sock me in the nose, which was his specialty
back when he was married to Madonna and was arrested for
punching a photographer (in those days, he was also convicted of
domestic assault and jailed for hitting an extra). He was a
rising star, on the way to cementing his reputation as an
intense, politically charged and sometimes difficult man who
couldnt swallow the notions of celebrity and didnt know how to
spit them out.
