Sunday, 4 November 2007
Sean Penn, Hair Actor
posted @2:23 p.m. by Richard Kelly
I note in today's Observer a fine interview with actor/director Sean Penn by Sean O'Hagan, in which your host is generously quoted, as a consequence of one of his other life-functions as Mr Penn's authorised biographer. Since the book in question Sean Penn: His Life and Times is 500+ pages, I've tended to fight shy of Penn-related lists. But hell, it's Sunday, a slooow day, and I just find myself put in mind of Susan Sarandon's characterisation (echoed by Sean himself on certain droll occasions) of Penn as 'a hair actor'. Cue a list of the best Penn barnets on film, one that extends the general follicle fixation of Ten Bad Dates...
TEN BEST SEAN PENN BARNETS ON CELLULOID
#10 As Spicoli in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
Blonde surfer locks: would be higher, if it wasn't a wig.
#9 As Glendon Wasey in Shanghai Surprise (1986)
Greasy, shoulder-length shyster's look for the first reel of the picture: not everyone stayed to see more...
#8 As Jim in We’re No Angels (1989)
Angelic blonde bangs for a sweetly naive convict-turned-priest.
#7 As Mick O’Brien in Bad Boys (1983)
Wolfish, near purplish-dark bangs for a reform school kid.
#6 As Dillard in Crackers (1984)
The San Francisco Mission District rockabilly look.
#5 As Sam Dawson in I Am Sam (2001)
Short back 'n' sides and near vertical on top, rivalling Eraserhead.
#4 As Daulton Lee in The Falcon and the Snowman (1985)
Another rank mop in need of a good shampoo, offset by coked-out shades and moustache.
#3 As Brad Whitewood Jr. in At Close Range (1986)
A blonde peroxide shampoo and set for a teenage tractor thief.
#2 As Matthew Poncelet in Dead Man Walking (1995)
A pompadour of such towering splendour, only a convict could lavish the needful time on it.
#1 As Dave Kleinfeld in Carlito’s Way (1993)
Yes, folks, the reddish frizz flanking a bald crown really is what was left of Sean's own hair once he had worked on it, so condemning himself to 4 months of wearing a hat round New York City...
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