Death Row Revisited

Hollywood bad boy, Sean Penn, may be heading back behind bars - to direct his first film for more than three years. Penn who's last experience in the slammer earned him an Oscar nomination for his role as a condemned killer in Dead Man Walking, is closing in on a deal to direct Fine Line's prison drama Monsters Ball, according to Variety. The actor may also co-star in the film which is about a white prison guard who strikes up a friendship with the widow of a black man-a prisoner he helped execute. If the deal goes ahead, Monsters Ball - old English expression about a death row prisoner's last night alive - will be Penn's first crack behind camera since the 1995 film, The Crossing Guard , starring Jack Nicholson. Shooting is reportedly pencilled in for a March or early April start. Penn, who is currently filming Woody Allen's next project in New York, will be all over the place this holiday season. He toplines Terrence Malick's long-awaited return, The Thin Red Line, and also stars in the big-screen adaptation of David Rabe's Hurlyburly.