Sean Penn is trading screenplays for a reporter’s notebook yet again.
The Oscar-winning actor traveled to Tehran, Iran, in June. The San Francisco Chronicle, which has published previous accounts of his travels, is running a five-part series this week on his experiences.
In the first installment, Penn wrote about the difficulties of obtaining a visa to travel to Iran, how women are instructed to cover their heads before landing in the country, and some tense moments when he was fingerprinted entering Iran.
The 45-year-old actor compared the bustle of Tehran to Baghdad, Iraq, or Mexico City, saying the city was filled with “jousting, yelling, horn honking and warm thickly polluted air, mud-splattered motorcycles winding through human traffic at death-bound speeds.”
Penn arrived in Tehran the week before the Iranian elections.
Given a press credential by Chronicle Executive Editor Phil Bronstein, Penn visited Iraq in late November 2003, shortly before Saddam Hussein was captured.
Penn won a best-actor Oscar for his role in “Mystic River.” His screen credits also include “I Am Sam,” “Sweet and Lowdown” and “Dead Man Walking.”
He wrote and directed “The Crossing Guard” and “The Indian Runner.”