Image by Getty Images

Sean Penn may play Jewish again. But this time, the role couldn’t be further from his Oscar-winning performance as the late civil-rights pioneer Harvey Milk.

Image by Getty Images

The 51-year-old thesp, reports Deadline.com, has been offered the role of notorious L.A. mobster Mickey Cohen in “Gangster Squad,” a crime drama to be directed by Jewish “Zombieland” helmer Ruben Fleischer.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Cohen, according to Deadline.com, was “a former boxer who became an associate of Meyer Lansky and Bugsy Siegel, [and] a charismatic figure who caroused around town with a gorgeous girl on his arm, and often with his attractive etiquette coach at his side.” Cohen “once even took part in a Life Magazine profile. But he was also considered a sociopath whose vices included sex and extortion, and whose mood could darken on a dime,” Deadline.com writes.

Cohen “was under 5’5,” but in the crime world he was considered a giant, especially in L.A., his chosen hunting ground,” according to the web site of Bradley Lewis, author of Hollywood’s “Celebrity Gangster, The Incredible Life and Times of Mickey Cohen.” “His contacts were spread all over the country and included an array of politicians, newsmen and columnists, movie moguls, movie stars and mobsters — all of them ready to take his calls from coast to coast.”

Alongside Penn, Ryan Gosling has been approached to play one of the LAPD officers who famously chased Cohen out of town.
The role may be a stretch for Penn, who — claims CelebHeights.com — is 5’8”.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’re near the end of our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we have a very ambitious goal of $127,000 by April 21.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Make a Passover Gift Today!

$90 $180

$360

Other amount