Sean Penn is taking an undetermined sabbatical for possibly as much as a year to focus on his family according to 
Variety.
That means he has bowed out of two films: Cartel and The Three Stooges.
I was looking forward to seeing him as Joe in The Three Stooges. The studio might wait for Penn to return from his long holiday. Â Cartel is pretty much a cut-and-dried type story we see at least once a year in the movie theaters. The studio is making a list to cast the part, so production can start this fall.
Apparently, Penn’s decision caught the studios by surprise, but I bet his wife, Robin Wright, is happy.
Penn has two films in the can that are to be released next year:Â Â Fair Game and The Tree of Life.
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I just posted earlier today that Sean Penn is thinking about starring in the movie Cartel.
I just found out that hot Spanish actor, Javier Bardem, is also taking a look at a role in the same film. Rafael Castillo, a wealthy but righteous DA, who wants to put the cartels away. Castillo shunned his rich family for the law.
It will be interesting to see how the casting of Cartel plays out.
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Sean Penn is showing an interest in a drama for Universal Pictures called Cartel, which Asger Leth is set to direct.The story, penned by Peter Craig, follows Ed Marker as he journeys to protect his son after his wife is brutally murdered in the disturbing world of Mexican cartels.
The drama stems from a remake concept of 1993 Italian film La scorta, which follows four cops who struggle to guard a special prosecutor trying to bring mob bosses to justice.
This film marks Leth’s dramatic feature directing debut. According to Variety, he previously won a DGA Award for directing the 2006 documentary Ghosts of Cite Soleil.
The plan is to get the picture into production by summer. Once Penn is signed on to star, the production date goes on the calendar.
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