Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Sean Penn - Assasination of Pres. Nixon

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Posted by Jason Black (Member # 684) on 12-31-2004, 12:02 AM:

WTF?

There are actually clowns who praise Sean Penn for doing what Michael Douglas did in 'Falling Down'???

[Roll Eyes]

read more HERE

By Bob Tourtellotte
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - For an actor who has been called unpatriotic and even treasonous, Sean Penn is not backing away from controversy.

In fact, the explosive actor has chosen to follow his Oscar-winning performance as the villain in Clint Eastwood's "Mystic River" with a sympathetic portrayal of a would-be presidential assassin and airplane hijacker.

When the film called "The Assassination of Richard Nixon" appeared near impossible to make because of the Sept. 11 attacks, Penn pressed ahead, seeing in the role of aspiring assassin Sam Bicke a chance to tell the story of what drives a man to extreme acts.

Based on the real-life story of a man killed while trying to hijack a plane so he could crash it into the White House, the film, opening this week in some U.S. cities, is about a man driven to extremism by deep frustration with societal norms and mores.

"Nixon" looks at a social misfit who longs to be part of the system but is rebuffed at nearly every attempt. He loses his job, his wife, his second job and gets denied for a loan to start his own business.

In a world of haves and have-nots, Bicke would seem to fall into the have-nots, but Penn finds fault with that notion. He said people should judge haves by the size of their heart, not their bank accounts or upward progress in society.

"I don't think the measure of somebody is that they do things the way we want them to, but that there is something inside -- the purity of heart," he said.

Penn is no stranger to controversy and has made no secret of his dislike of the Iraq war policies of President Bush. He traveled to Iraq before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 to try to get at the conflict's truth, as he saw it.

Penn was skewered in the media and dubbed unpatriotic. In a recent interview ahead of "Nixon's" release, Penn said he still considers Iraq a "criminal war," and he fired back at his detractors.

"I don't believe I'm anti-American ... If I understand what it means, I can't imagine anything more anti-American than trying to shut people up," Penn said.

Penn, 44, has been one of Hollywood's most hard-to-figure actors for years. He is the son of a Hollywood writer who was blacklisted in the 1950s and a mother who quit acting to raise her kids. He grew up in the Los Angeles area. Continued ...

© Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved.

Posted by James R. Hammonds, Jr (Member # 673) on 12-31-2004, 12:23 AM:

What's wrong with what Sean Penn did with this movie?
I don't see anything wrong with the article.

Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 12-31-2004, 12:47 AM:

It's an excellent performance. The business with the plane is only a tiny part of the film. This is loosely based on a true story. Not knowing anything about it I thought maybe it was going to be something like Day of the Jackal in that you know the target (DeGaulle, or Nixon) wasn't assassinated but that does't make it any less suspenseful. Instead this is more of a psychological drama of a man losing it. Highly recommended.

Why isn't this thread in the review section?

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 12-31-2004, 03:22 AM:

Because Jason is not reviewing it. He's posting an article about it. At least that's my guess.

Posted by Jason Black (Member # 684) on 12-31-2004, 08:45 AM:

Joe, Steve...

Correct. I saw the article on Reuters last night and thought.. WTF? Falling Down was basically the same concept.. so all that has been done is a remake/touchup of another film.

I don't care for Sean Penn anyway, so that doesn't help matters any. I haven't seen the film, nor do I care to. My point was simply that this film has basically been done before... with no rave reviews...

Get Sean Penn in the mix, the political controversy stirs and VOILA.. instant buzz about how great the film is... [Roll Eyes]

Posted by Dave Williams (Member # 299) on 12-31-2004, 06:04 PM:

quote: Jason Black
"I don't believe I'm anti-American ... If I understand what it means, I can't imagine anything more anti-American than trying to shut people up," Penn said.

The problem with stupid people is that they always believe someone is trying to shut them up. Last I checked, Penn is still talking. I think that the claim that someone is trying to shut him up is his way of claiming some kind of legitimacy to his claims of anti-patriotism stemming from the white house. Yet he STILL KEEPS TALKING WE STILL KEEP IGNORING OR LISTENING, depending on your take on his take.

Politics and intelligence aside, Sean Penn is one of the most talented actors period! I don't agree with his extracurricular activities, but I am looking forward to seeing this film. I was very surprised when Penn did not get the best actor for I AM SAM, probably his best work to date.

Ciao baby

dave

Posted by David Favel (Member # 1125) on 12-31-2004, 09:44 PM:

FALLING DOWN - William (D-FENS) just wants to get home to see his daughter on her birthday. Unfortunately, nothing seems to be going right for him. First there's the traffic jam, then the unhelpful Korean shopkeeper who "doesn't give change". D-FENS begins to crack and starts to fight back against the every day "injustices" he encounters on his journey home.

??????????????????

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 12-31-2004, 10:41 PM:

Is "Lawrence of Arabia" a movie celebrating and endorsing Arab terrorism?

Posted by Barry Martin (Member # 1376) on 01-01-2005, 12:08 AM:

I thought this movie was supposed to be a remake of "All the Kings Men", so I would guess that it DEFINITELY has been done before. [Wink]

I do see your point about Falling Down though, there are similarities in the man being driven to extreme measures, althought I think Michael Douglas played it a bit more "insane" than what is described of Penn's character...will have to see the movie to get a good feel for that.

Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 01-01-2005, 03:26 AM:

The film is not even remotely like Falling Down unless you want to invoke that anytime someone goes nuts.

I don't recall if I've seen All the Kings Men but I don't see how there can be a connection since the Penn film is loosely based on a real life incident from the early 1970's.

Posted by Carl Martin (Member # 1146) on 01-11-2005, 05:58 AM:

did you mean "all the president's men"? no, it's nothing like that. i haven't seen falling down but there are parallels with taxi driver. it's very good, though. one could say that the portrayal is "sympathetic" in that the character is seen to have human frailties and is not an inhuman one-dimensional monster. why pass judgement on a film you haven't seen?

carl

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 01-11-2005, 11:13 AM:

quote: Michael Schaffer
Is "Lawrence of Arabia" a movie celebrating and endorsing Arab terrorism?

This is a more complex question because (i) the events dramatised in the film happened almost five decades, two world wars and a huge shift in the political climate (e.g. the collapse of the British Empire and the Suez Crisis) before it was made, and (ii) Lawrence to a limited extent and Allenby to a very great extent shared the anti-Turkish objectives of the 'revolt in the desert'. So basically, if it was terrorism, the terrorists were on the same side as the film's hero.

Interestingly, and related to (i), there was an attempt by Korda to make a feature film about Lawrence in the 1930s (Claude Rains was to have starred if I remember right), which was eventually sunk by the draconian political censorship regime which operated in the British film industry at that time. The full story can be found in this book.

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 01-14-2005, 02:58 AM:

I'd rather see President Nixon - The Assasination of Sean Penn.
[Razz]