Sean Penn takes aim at 'lamebrain' paper

Actor Sean Penn's days of corresponding for the San Francisco Chronicle may be over: according to the Associated Press, the feisty movie star now calls the publication an "increasingly lamebrain paper."

Penn offered the critique in a letter published Tuesday, written in response to a tongue-in-cheek article that focused on celebrity interest in Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
(Penn had met Hugo Chavez on location in Venezuela.) The humor column had listed a number of potential matchups between celebrities and dictators or other authoritarian figures.

Penn objected to the characterization, saying Chavez is a democratically elected leader.

Chronicle Editor Phil Bronstein took the criticism in stride, calling Penn, "a great actor and a great director."


"People get riled up about a lot of things, particularly in this day and age; they get to express themselves. We were more than happy to print his letter," Bronstein said.

A call to Penn's publicist was not immediately returned.

Penn's past writings for the paper included a five-part series in 2005 about his experiences in Iran.


With brainstorms like this, the SF paper could have been a tad brighter :

Here are some other strongmen to choose from: Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah; Iran Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali KhamEnei; China paramount leader Hu Jintao; Burma head of state Than Shwe.Contribute your own ideas for celebrity-dictator matchups

Sean Penn rails at media in Toronto

The guy practically had a nicotine fit and the local press didn't let him off lightly. At least he didn't punch anybody. According to the Toronto Star
actor Sean Penn broke off his press conference in Toronto twice to chide the media for annoying him, while promoting the new wilderness film he directed, "Into the Wild", based on Jon Krakauer's bestseller.

"You can stop taking pictures because I can't think," Penn told wire photographers clicking their shutters near him."It's the ugliest music in the world, all of that. OK?"

Later, Penn was visiby irritated by background chatter during lengthy question which momentarily stumped him.

"What's everybody else talking about? Or are you just interrupting?" Penn said in a excessively calm voice.

Banned from lighting up a cigarette indoors, Penn crunched on a cup of ice chips fetched by his assistant.

Penn ejected compliments for his directing and admitted that he's always resented it when people ask directors how they elicit great performances from their actors.

"Doesn't fuckin happen," he said.

"Directors don't get performances out of actors. Actors give great performances to directors."

Fifteen years after top student and athlete Christopher McCandless walked away from his privileged life and a "sick society" into the wilds of Alaska, only to die of starvation, director Sean Penn on Sunday presented his life story in the world premiere of "Into the Wild."