Sean Penn to direct film on January 6 Capitol assault

WASHINGTON: Sean Penn is set to direct a new film focused on a police officer caught up in the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump.

The project has also reportedly been written by Penn and is expected to feature Academy Award nominee Bradley Cooper as the as-yet unnamed officer, Deadline reported. Production is scheduled for next year, with Warner Bros expected to handle the film.

The studio was also behind One Battle After Another, the Oscar-winning film for which Penn received his most recent Academy Award. Representatives for the 65-year-old actor-director did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Attack remains a major political faultline

The January 6 assault on the Capitol remains a major divide in US public life. Thousands of Trump supporters stormed the building in an effort to block the certification of Joe Biden’s presidential election victory.

Trump has continued to deny that he lost the 2020 election. He has repeatedly described those involved in the attack as patriots and has issued pardons and commutations, including for people who admitted assaulting police officers.

Penn, who is known for his liberal political views and activism, attended legislative hearings into the insurrection. He was photographed alongside officers involved in the events, including Michael Fanone and Daniel Hodges.

Fanone, a former Trump supporter, has repeatedly spoken about the trauma he said he experienced during the riot, including in his 2022 memoir Hold the Line: The Insurrection and One Cop’s Battle for America’s Soul.

Penn’s film career and activism

Warner Bros is close to being absorbed by Paramount Skydance, whose chief executive David Ellison is the son of Trump ally Larry Ellison.

Penn made his directorial debut with the 1991 crime drama The Indian Runner. He later directed The Crossing Guard in 1995, The Pledge in 2001 and Into the Wild in 2007.

As an actor on stage, he appeared in the Broadway productions Heartland in 1981 and Slab Boys in 1983. On television, he played an astronaut in the Hulu drama series The First in 2018 and portrayed John N. Mitchell in the Starz political thriller miniseries Gaslit in 2022.

Beyond film and television, Penn has been active in political and humanitarian causes. He has criticized the George W. Bush administration, had contact with the presidents of Cuba and Venezuela, done relief work after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the 2010 Haiti earthquake, and supported Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during the Russia-Ukraine war.