Actor and director Sean Penn believes he might suffer harmful repercussions two years following his meeting in Mexico with then-fugitive Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, former drug kingpin of the Sinaloa Cartel. Several media organizations report that Penn’s attorney alerted the streaming service Netflix of potential revenge against Penn that could be ignited with Friday’s release of a three-part documentary.
Penn is characterized as “fearing for his life” following the film’s release on October 20, just as Netflix planned all along, according to The Sun (UK).
The documentary centers on Penn meeting the murderous drug lord and narcotics trafficker.
The documentary “The Day I met El Chapo: The Kate del Castillo Story” rekindles the unsubstantiated view that Penn informed the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) about his secretive trip, which Penn has refuted ever since meeting with Guzmán in October 2015. Penn’s opinion of the film is that it “implies” he assisted authorities before El Chapo’s capture, according to Esquire.
Academy award-winning actor ‘terrified’ about documentary’s release
Penn is reportedly terrified and angered about the release of the documentary – presented from del Castillo’s vantage point, as Esquire noted. Mexican actress del Castillo facilitated the meeting with Penn and the former drug lord, which took place somewhere in a jungle in Mexico.
Theodore J. Boutrous, Jr., Penn’s lawyer, stated that Netflix will “have blood on its hands” if the documentary “causes bodily harm,” according to Esquire and additional media reports. Boutrous demanded that Netflix re-edit the film, which Penn “did not participate in.” According to the New York Times, Netflix did not make the changes requested.
A ‘complete fabrication’ anyone tipped DOJ about secret meeting with ‘El Chapo’
Mark Fabiani, Penn’s spokesman, stated in an email to the Times that it is a “complete fabrication” that Penn or anyone authorized to act for him “alerted the D.O.J.” Fabiani further noted, “It never happened.”
He also said that the implication that Penn tipped the Department of Justice is a reprehensible, relentless attempt to garner attention.
He called the documentary a “reckless narrative” in the respect that the actress “and her team” haven’t had any firsthand knowledge of Penn cluing in the DOJ.
Producer disputes actor’s claims, film doesn’t claim anyone in ‘cahoohts’ with justice authorities
The documentary’s producer, David Broome, asserts that the film never states that “Penn is in cahoots with the D.O.J.” The Times explained that the article Penn wrote for Rolling Stone stirred confusion and controversy – causing people to wonder how the actor and director located and met with Guzmán.
Adding its voice to the mix is Netflix, which claims that Penn “was given the opportunity to participate” in the documentary, yet did not, Esquire reported.
The streaming service also said the “now-infamous meeting” received wide coverage, even by Penn, his article in Rolling Stone, and comments he has since made publicly. “The only new ground we’re breaking,” according to Netflix as Esquire reported, is that the film is affording de Castillo the opportunity “to finally tell her side of this stranger-than-fiction story.”
Esquire also offered its take by proposing that Penn is “disappointed” that the documentary does not depict a “rugged actor” in the Mexican jungle who surfed at nine-years-old and clutches his maleness “in his hand right before meeting the world's most wanted man.”
