Early-1999, shortly after the release of Terrence Malick‘s The Thin Red Line, in which he starred, Sean Penn approached 20th Century Fox and asked for a private jet to take him to a screening of the movie in Houston. Much to his dismay, the studio refused on grounds of cost and company policy.

Infuriated by the rejection, Penn wrote the following letter to the studio in response. It was very quickly leaked to the press.

Note: “Red Carpet Room” refers to the VIP lounge at LAX.

(Source: Greg Sullivan; Image: Sean Penn, via.)

January 6, 1999

To whom it may or may not concern at 20th Century Fox, et al. (in hope that those copied will spread the word to those deserving):

The purpose of this scratchpad communique may well be as much to amuse you or inform you. Clearly, its less than humble writer has found grounds for amusement in its content.

In my continuing effort to support our shared entity, “The Thin Red Line,” I have yet again run into another of the endless bureaucratic hurdles that your company relentlessly plants in my path. As a result of Terry Malick’s invitation, I made plans to join Terry in supporting the film’s screening, and ultimately its profile in Houston. As I have two movies, two children and (as each woman is at least two people) two wives presently in distribution, my schedule is rather hectic. I therefore requested that Mr. Murdoch’s gigantic corporation might be so generous (with the money they’ve earned exploiting the pain and suffering of myself and my peers in their tabloids) as to supply me with a private jet to travel to Houston.

The response was a clear NO.

Two things were cited: 1) The $40,000 cost. 2) Policy. As to number 1, we at my tiny little San Francisco office went ahead and priced the cost of such a jet ourselves. In fact, it came to $16,000, which we had offered would be divided by two, as Fine Line Pictures had already committed to pay half (I would do an interview on behalf of “Hurlyburly” while I was there). Next we priced the commercial fare somewhere in the area of $2,000. The final cost differential to Mr. Murdoch’s pool-heating expenses: A WHOPPING $6,000, which, against the price cut I offered in my deal to act in this movie, seemed equivalent to the fair market price of one hair on Mr. Rupert Murdoch’s formidable ass. Next comes policy, the number 2 reason cited us in denial of our request. Evidently this is a word prized by Mr. Murdoch’s company as I ran into it before when Mr. Malick requested that I be given an opportunity to view a videotape of the movie prior to his locking the print. I think we all know what a shameful little dance went on there, with wasted time, wasted money in the name of a policy. Has anyone at 20th Century Fox considered that it might not be my policy to do 7-figure favors for multi-national corporate interests as I did when I took the salary you paid me on “The Thin Red Line”?

Bottom line is…our policies collide. Good luck with the picture.

P.S. I know you guys don’t remember what the inside of a commercial airline terminal looks like, but if you send me a picture of your jets, I’ll send you a picture of the door at the Red Carpet Room. Wish I could’ve been in Houston. It’s a beautiful movie and I’d like to have helped spread the word.

P.P.S. If my name is unfamiliar to you, you can check your computers under Movie Buff. I believe they consider me to be someone with a career.

Best,

Sean Penn

cc: Rupert Murdoch, Peter Chernin, Bill Mechanic, Laura Ziskin, Tom Sherak, Mike Medavoy, Terry Malick, Brian Gersh, God Almighty, Kit Caruthers