If he can get away with it, Sean Penn is planning on directing a biopic about the early life of a policeman who was present at the Jan. 6 insurrection. Bradley Cooper would play the cop, according to Variety. Deadline, which broke the story, mentions that the cop is “caught up” in the riots, but elides which side of the divide he’s on. But since Penn is involved, it’s fair to assume it’ll be an indictment of President Trump. Nevertheless, Deadline is calling the script “an unexpected story about friendship,” as opposed to a film explicitly about Jan. 6.
The snag for the as-yet-untitled film is that it’s tied to Warner Bros., which is currently in talks with Paramount — a company with strong ties to the White House. The Justice Department recently approved Paramount’s bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery. Paramount President David Ellison hosted a dinner for the Trumps in April and was present at the president’s birthday UFC fight, which Paramount Plus broadcasted. Penn, as Variety notes, has called the president “an enemy of mankind.”
Penn is producing the film with John Ira Palmer and John Wildermuth. If the Paramount merger doesn’t kibosh the whole project, Variety says production could begin as early as the middle of 2027, as Cooper is committed to work on a new Ocean’s film.
Deadline reports that Penn attended the House of Representatives’ public hearing on the insurrection, which several officers who defended the Capitol spoke at. Michael Fanone, whom rioters beat severely, spoke then. The real-life counterpart of Penn’s script has yet to be identified.
Penn’s directing work has included the hit Into the Wild, as well as Flag Day (about a man turning to crime to support his daughter), The Last Face (about volunteers finding love amid a conflict in Africa), and Superpower (a documentary about Russia invading Ukraine, which was a Paramount Plus original). He also directed a segment of the anthology, September 11. Penn has won three Oscars in acting categories, most recently for playing an over-the-top bigoted cop in One Battle After Another. He skipped the Academy Awards ceremony, though, because he said he finds groups larger than eight people “anxiety- and dread-inducing.”
Penn is rumored to be working on another movie about journalist Jamal Khashoggi, whom the actor believes was “murdered by the crown prince of Saudi Arabia [Mohammed bin Salman],” according to The Hollywood Reporter. Trump and his administration rejected that opinion when the CIA said that that was exactly what happened in 2018.
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