casting couch

Sean Penn May Moonlight As an Action Star

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 14: Actor Sean Penn attends the premiere of Julian Schnabel’s “Miral” hosted by The Weinstein Company and His Excellency Mr. Joseph Deiss, President of the 65th session of the United Nations General Assembly at United Nations General Assembly Hall on March 14, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images for The Weinstein Company) Photo: Jemal Countess/2011 Getty Images

Two-time Oscar winner Sean Penn is eyeing a dip into the action-thriller pool, negotiating to star in the wretchedly-titled-but-hey-don’t-judge-a-book-by-its-cover-right Prone Gunman. Before you worry Penn’s going all “yippee-ki-yay, melon farmer,” consider THR’s assuaging note that Jean-Patrick Manchette, who wrote the novel being adapted, “was a leftist French author, and his books — in the French noir genre — have been described as existentialist and involving explorations of politics as well as the human condition. (If the exploration was being done by a relentless killing machine.)”

Sean Penn May Moonlight As an Action Star