Newsbreaks 8.2.07 (Penn and Chavez)

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Sean Penn has a new fan: Hugo Chavez. Apparently the two spoke on the phone recently, as Penn traveled through Venezuela. “I didn’t recognize him at first,” the actor said. “Somebody handed me the phone, then I heard this voice say, ‘Spicoli, this is Mr. Hand.’”

Chavez praised Penn for opposing the war in Iraq, as well as calling for the impeachment of President Bush. “It’s a fairly rare thing for me to pick up the phone,” Chavez said. “Usually I just leave comments on blogs.”

According to the Venezuelan state news service, Chavez goes by “Anonymous.” So, flame with caution.

Chavez called Penn “one of the greatest opponents to the Iraq invasion.” To the degree that’s true, it’s incredibly depressing. It’s like saying, “Our only hope to fight global warming is Laurie David.”

Over my lifetime I’ve watched this weird transformation: all our actors are frustrated politicians, and all our politicians are frustrated movie stars. Meanwhile, the rest of us are just frustrated.

The only other time this happened was during the Roman Empire, when Nero became an actor. We all know how that worked out. On the other hand, he did become the first person ever to receive the Thalberg award in advance.