‘I went 15 years miserable on sets’: How Sean Penn stopped being Hollywood’s bad boy
There are two anecdotes that aptly define the extra-cinematographic trajectory of Sean Penn (Santa Monica, California, 64 years old): his famous gunshots at the helicopters attempting to get images of his wedding to Madonna and the fart that he confessed to having let loose while he was with Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, the violent Mexican narco, for a Rolling Stone article. “A minor traveler’s flatulence,” as he himself characterized the latter. The former tale matches the stereotype of the classic Hollywood rebel and tormented movie star that the performer, once one of the untold young celebrities to have been hailed as the new James Dean, fits so well. But the second story epitomizes his drift towards at-times extremely controversial political and social causes.
