Sean Penn Spotted On Set Of Paul Thomas Anderson’s New Film So He Must’ve Been Cast

So there’s a chance Paul Thomas Anderson’s already-stacked cast for his upcoming film now has Sean Penn, too.  It’s a maybe, and goes to one of the reasons we don’t post set photos here on this site anymore. You can’t trust them. But according to some set snaps, Penn paid a visit to Anderson and that has Twitter abuzz that he’s now part of the 1970s SoCal film.

Take it with a grain of salt, of course. Actors visit their friends on movie sets all of the time. In the case of Marvel, they’ve been known to fly actors in, suit them up, and have them shoot what appear to be real scenes. The only reason this is different is that COVID-19 guidelines are already tight enough about having too many people around during a production, which would make Penn unlikely to just lounge about having a chat.

If true, Penn joins an ensemble that includes Bradley Cooper, Benny Safdie, Cooper Hoffman (son of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman), and Alana Haim. This is a return to the multi-tiered Socal stories of Anderson’s early career with films Boogie Nights, Magnolia, and Punch-Drunk Love.

We haven’t seen a lot from Penn lately. He and co-star Mel Gibson took their names off of his most recent film, The Professor and the Madman, due to a legal dispute. Prior to that he starred in Hulu series The First, which I don’t even remember, and only lasted one season.

Travis Hopson
Travis Hopson has been reviewing movies before he even knew there was such a thing. Having grown up on a combination of bad '80s movies, pro wrestling, comic books, and hip-hop, Travis is uniquely positioned to geek out on just about everything under the sun. A vampire who walks during the day and refuses to sleep, Travis is the co-creator and lead writer for Punch Drunk Critics. He is also a contributor to Good Morning Washington, WBAL Morning News, and WETA Around Town. In the five minutes a day he's not working, Travis is also a voice actor, podcaster, and Twitch gamer. Travis is a voting member of the Critics Choice Association (CCA), Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), and Late Night programmer for the Lakefront Film Festival.