Politically active Penn, playing the populist demagogue Willie Stark in this week’s All the King’s Men, at the start of October again hit the headlines in the US for yet another outspoken attack on President Bush. In a statement read out by his King’s Men co-star Mark Ruffalo at a meeting subtly entitled “World Can’t Wait—Drive Out the Bush Regime”, Penn – who visited Iraq in December 2002, prior to the US-led invasion – lambasted “the arrogant, the misguided, and the cowards [who] argue that an immediate pull-out of our troops from Iraq would inspire lack of confidence and the lost credibility of the United States.” Supporters of Bush were once again, unsurprisingly, a tad miffed.
In terms of film work, Penn has only one acting project in the pipeline. Due out in 2008, In Search of Captain Zero will see him play a surfer and former drug-runner who heads off on a road-trip through Central America to find a long-lost buddy with whom to share his dream of an “endless summer”. Could be a return to Penn’s breakout stoner role in the 80s classic Fast Times at Ridgemount High, but with the Central American setting and Penn’s involvement, it’s pretty much guaranteed there’s going to be some critique of US policy in the region.
Penn is currently trying out his skills behind the camera again with Into the Wild, a self-penned adaptation of a 1997 book based on a true story about a university who suddenly gave up all his possessions, hitchhiked to Alaska and lived in a school bus in the forbidding wilderness. He’s got some decent talent on board, with Lords of Dogtown star Emile Hirsch in the lead role and the likes of Vince Vaughn and Catherine Keener in support. Could be worth keeping an eye on.
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