Sean Penn Blasts Obama For His "Phenomenally Inhuman & Unconstitutional" Voting Record.
D. Spencer Hines
Hilarious!
Stay Tuned...
DSH
Lux et Veritas et Libertas
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Sean Penn warns Barack Obama at Cannes Film Festival opening
By Anita Singh, Showbusiness Editor
Last updated: 8:05 PM BST 14/05/2008
The Telegraph
The Cannes Film Festival got off to a lively start with Sean Penn, president
of this year's jury, sounding off about US Presidential hopeful Barack Obama
and the opening movie almost being upstaged by a bunch of performing pandas.
Penn joined fellow judge Natalie Portman on the red carpet for the premiere
of the first night film, Blindness, a thriller starring Julianne Moore.
At a press conference beforehand, the actor, an outspoken critic of the Bush
administration, offered his views on the Democratic nomination race.
Asked if he would be joining other Hollywood A-listers in pledging support
for Obama, Penn gave him a less than ringing endorsement and warned that he
has an awful lot to live up to.
”I don't have a candidate I'm supporting and I'm certainly interested and
excited by the hope that Barack Obama is inspiring,” he said, but went on to
accuse him of a “phenomenally inhuman and unconstitutional” voting record.
”I hope that he will understand, if he is the nominee, the degree of
disillusionment that will happen if he doesn't become a greater man than he
will ever be,” Penn said. “This is the most important election, certainly in
my lifetime, and maybe ever.”
Sean Penn Great American Political Historian... Hilarious! -- DSH
Portman, 26, said she would not be endorsing Obama or his rival, Hillary
Clinton, but added: “I think it's a very exciting year for our politics,
that for the first time in a while we have a choice of who we like better
instead of who we hate least.”
A NICE SAFE STAND. Natalie is a Harvard graduate, Class of 2003, and
certainly no fool. -- DSH
Penn said it was impossible to separate film from politics, and promised
that the winning film would be a reflection of the current climate.
“One way or another, when we select the Palme d'Or winner, I think we are
going to feel very confident that the film-maker who made the film is very
aware of the times in which he or she lives.”
There are 22 films in competition for the Palme d'Or and the jury will watch
them over the next 12 days. “The idea is to be wide awake with an empty
bladder for the start of everything,” explained Penn.
And OFF the drugs and booze. -- DSH
Asked if he was enjoying it so far, he complained that he had been
“discouraged from smoking” – France's smoking ban was introduced last year –
before lighting up and chain-smoking his way through the press conference.
The opening film, Blindness, is a thriller from director Fernando Meirelles
about a town struck down by a mysterious epidemic, leaving Moore the only
character with the ability to see.
Based on the novel by Nobel Prize-winning author Jose Saramago, its story of
a community hit by disaster and receiving no government help draws obvious
parallels with Hurricane Katrina.
Moore said the film was timely: “I think there's sometimes something in the
zeitgeist. There's a tremendous amount of tragedy right now, physical
tragedy and man-made tragedy, and we are feeling anxious.”
Hmmmmmmmmm... -- DSH
The 47-year-old actress dyed her famous red hair blonde for the role. She
said: “I'm a redhead and I'm always a redhead, except for this movie. I
don't want to do it again. I didn't like it very much.”
Away from the main competition, comic actor Jack Black launched his latest
movie, DreamWorks animation Kung Fu Panda, by performing martial arts moves
on the beach in the company of 40 extras in panda suits. Black, who lends
his voice to the film along with the likes of Angelina Jolie and Lucy Liu,
explained that he was there to create “panda-monium”.
The film creating the most buzz on the Croisette remains Indiana Jones and
the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which has its world premiere on Sunday.
Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett and director Steven Spielberg will fly in
later this week for the summer's most eagerly-awaited sequel.