- Sy Richardson, Repo Man, 1983. Penn was extremely keen to play Lite in the Liverpool auteur Alex Cox’s take on his own days as a repossession driver. Cox had already decided on the veteran black actor and coach for actors (and directors).
- Zander Schloss, Repo Man, 1983. Alex Cox then gave the nerdy Kevin to Penn. That didn’t light anyone’s fire. After a day’s shooting, Cox felt Penn was too comedic and passed Kevin to Shloss, a gofer, er, production assistant… who then joined the The Circle Jerks punk band (heard on the soundtrack). Chicago critic Roger Ebert hailed this as the first movie combining punk teenagers, automobile repossessors and aliens. “The kind of movie that baffles Hollywood, because it isn’t made from any known formula and doesn’t follow the rules.”
- Tom Berenger, Platoon, 1986
- Tom Sizemore, Natural Born Killers, 1993. Reservoir dog Nice Guy Eddie chose True Romance over NBK… He had seen how director Oliver Stone ruined Quentin Tarantino’s original script. Penn replaced Sizemore in Holly, 2005. Penn died after a mixing drugs. “A natural death,” said brother Sean Penn, “brought on by hard living.”
Birth year: 1965Death year: 2006Other name: Casting Calls: 4