He’s a dove, not a hawker
Sean Penn figures it’s more respectable to talk about his politics than pitch his movies.
“There’s baggage attached to coming out publicly on stuff, but there’s baggage – in my view, more damaging baggage – to goin’ … on Jay Leno‘s show, philosophizing about ‘Uncle Buck’ or whatever you’re hawkin’, ” the Oscar-winning actor tells Esquire magazine in its September issue, on newsstands Wednesday.
Penn, 46, has bitterly criticized President Bush, toured Iraq to observe the war there and helped rescue workers with door-to-door searches for survivors after Hurricane Katrina swamped New Orleans.
He met with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez last week, the latest in a series of celebrities and public figures to visit Chavez that also includes Danny Glover, Harry Belafonte and peace activist Cindy Sheehan.
Asked if he wants the United States to win the war in Iraq, Penn replies: “I think we’re past that point in human evolution where there’s such a thing as winning wars.”
By the way, his next film project is behind the camera, as co-writer and director of “Into the Wild,” which will be in theaters Sept. 21.
Speaking of fashionable politics
Move over, Scarlett Johansson – Mikhail Gorbachev is the new face of Louis Vuitton.
The former Soviet leader is to appear in an upcoming ad campaign for the French luxury label, along with husband-and-wife tennis stars Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi and actress Catherine Deneuve.
In the travel-themed ads, shot by celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz, Gorbachev is featured in a car, a Vuitton bag at his side and the Berlin Wall in the background.
In sickness, and in wealth
Usher and his expectant fiancée finally have tied the knot.
The R&B singer and actor confirms that he quietly wed stylist Tameka Foster in his attorney’s office on Friday.
The couple called off their lavish Hamptons wedding on July 28 amid reports of problems with her pregnancy, but their prenup reportedly was the real issue.
Beverly Hills cop-out?
Now that Eddie Murphy has ‘fessed up to being the father of Spice Girl Melanie Brown‘s baby, her lawyer is complaining that he isn’t accepting his parental responsibilities.
“He has not indicated in his statement or to us that he plans to visit the baby,” says attorney Gloria Allred, adding that Brown’s primary concern is that Murphy “see his child, spend time with her, hold her, love her and bond with his daughter.”
Murphy’s spokesman says he has paid child support as well as covering costs of the pregnancy.
Hardest-working man, indeed
DNA testing on about a dozen people who claim James Brown was their father has found that at least two of them are telling the truth, says a longtime adviser to the late soul singer.
Several more tests have come back negative, while others are pending.
The birthday bunch
Humorist Garrison Keillor is 65. Singer B.J. Thomas is 65. Actor Wayne Knight (“Seinfeld”) is 52. Actor David Duchovny is 47. Singer Raul Malo is 42. Actress Charlize Theron is 32.