Sean Penn: Trouble, thy middle name...

Sean Penn has always courted controversy. From being labelled “unpatriotic” to being Hollywood’s bad boy, the actor has been there, done that. So it’s no surprise that his latest role is a sympathetic portrayal of a would-be presidential assassin and airplane hijacker. In his latest flick, The Assasination of President Nixon he’s a social misfit who longs to be part of the system but is rebuffed at nearly every attempt. Recently, the Dead Man Walking star made it clear that he did not like the Iraq war policies of George W Bush. So much so that he even visited Iraq before the US-led invasion in 2003 to get an up close and personal view of the reality there. But he defends himself saying, “I'm not anti-American. If I understand what it means, I can't imagine anything more anti-American than trying to shut people up," says Penn. The 44 year-old has been one of

Hollywood's most hardto-figure actors for years. But then, he did win the best actor Oscar for his role in Mystic River last year. “I have nothing to complain about," he says.