|
  |
|
 |
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Actor Sean Penn alleges firing over trip to Iraq
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Calling it "a page from the dark era of Hollywood," actor Sean Penn has filed a lawsuit against movie producer Stephen Bing, alleging Bing dumped him from a pending film project because of his views about a possible U.S. war on Iraq. Penn, who appeared in January on CNN's "Larry King Live" to discuss his recent trip to Iraq, said he had been hired to appear as the lead in the motion picture, "Why Men Shouldn't Worry," through an oral agreement reached in August 2002. Bing was to write and produce the film, and Penn was to be paid $10 million for starring in the movie. In the lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Penn claims that days after the interview aired, Bing contacted one of Penn's representatives seeking "assurances" the actor "would stop making public statements about Iraq." Then, the suit says, Bing called the actor directly, asking him to "refrain from further public expression of his concerns on a possible war with Iraq." Penn claims Bing then left a voicemail message that he did not want to go forward with the picture because "in the short run, the public might be fooled by propaganda and take it out on you and me by not going to the movie." Bing and his company, Shangri-la Entertainment, filed a countersuit Tuesday in Los Angeles, calling Penn "irrational and irresponsible" and that his demand to be paid represents "$10 million in extortion money." Their countersuit also contends Penn is "crazy and irrational" and that he "threatened to turn an ordinary business dispute about a non-existent contract into a personal and political crusade against Bing based on a non-existent 'free speech' issue." Bing tried for six months to "close a deal" with Penn, he claims, but was unable to do so because of the actor's "preoccupation with things other than acting" and that his company decided it was "time to move on." Penn said he had reached a "pay or play" agreement with Bing's company -- an agreement that included the actor's approval over the principal cast and the script. He said he even arranged for a joint meeting with Bing and filmmaker Woody Allen. Penn said Allen agreed to render his "artistic service" to the film, and in September 2002, was given one of the other lead roles. It was in December 2002 that Penn traveled to Iraq at the invitation of the Institute for Public Accuracy. He told King he was not promoting an "anti-war message" but rather, he felt his public position gave him an "added responsibility" to help promote debate. "The purpose was information," Penn said. "It's a way for me as a privileged American ... to be able to invest this way and participate in the system the best way I know how." Bing was most recently in the news for being at odds with his former girlfriend, model and actress Elizabeth Hurley, over the paternity of her child. Though Bing had said he was unsure whether he was the father, DNA tests revealed he is.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
