Poison Penn Letter

Sean Penn fuming


by empire |
Published on

Not exactly something you hear of every day: a top film star is refused a private jet to a premiere. Irritated by this, he writes a letter of outrage to the studio. The letter is leaked, published and publicly ridiculed. Out of nowhere, a 'friend' of said film star also puts pen to paper and defends his pal. Believe it or not, it's completely true, here's the gaff... Sean Penn is the man in question who, when refused the request for a private jet to take him to the Houston-based screening of The Thin Red Line, went mental and penned a letter to Fox and ultimately, Rupert Murdoch. Not perhaps the best move when included in the sarcastically-laced letter was the line, "The final cost differential to Mr. Murdoch's pool-heating expenses A WHOPPING $6,000 which, against the price cut I offered in my deal to act in this movie, seemed equivalent to the fair market price of one hair on Mr. Murdoch's formidable ass" Nice.

"equivalent to the fair market price of one hair on Mr. Murdoch's formidable ass" Penn requested the jet due to his hectic schedule and the studios seemingly abundant financial resources, but was refused for two reasons. Firstly, the cost, of which there was much disagreement (see above quote) and secondly, 'policy'. And besides, the screening was a private one organised by Terrence Malick himself and Penn had done a pathetic amount of publicity for the film. When the letter was leaked, New York Times writer Bernard Weinraub grabbed it by the teeth and penned a scathing article entitled, 'Dead Man Whining'. Laying in to the Penn's petulant outburst, Weinraub wrote with equally venomous sarcasm, "Just look at all those poor movie stars. Underpaid and overworked, stars like Bruce, Julia, Harrison and the two Toms barely earn enough to stay afloat" So by now, everybody knew the plight of one disgruntled employee of Fox and the public opinion of a NYT hack. America was relishing the moment. Then things went truly into irrevocable orbit - William Baldwin wrote to the NYT editor, defending his Penn-pal with all the venom, of a dead donkey. "I vehemently disagree with Bernard Weinraub's logic-defying article entitled Dead Man Whining," wrote Baldwin in a distinctly whining-like fashion. "Sean Penn is not a close personal friend of mine but he is more than an acquaintance and considered both a highly respected artist and professional" The letter went on to state that Weinraub's "extremely weak attempt to define Sean" was simply demonstrating the by-now unheard of fact that he is, of course, just another showbiz hack with "an agenda, or his ax to grind" So at least now - thanks to the brilliance of Baldwin - we know. And in reference to the '...Bruce, Julia, Harrison and the two Toms...' jibe, Baldwin went on to defend his friend/acquaintance/whatever as the "anti-Tom" adding, "He is the poster child for those actors who fought corporate commercial studio interests to protect the creative process" And of course, the letter went on, and on. But unfortunately for Will, it was all in vain, as the NYT in the industry-honoured tradition of protecting its own - much like the Hollywood bunch it was dealing with - and with considerably bigger fish to fry, never bothered to published the letter. Damme Busted War Flick Tanks In Box Office Battles

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