DEAD MAN WALKING (1995) His face a mask of fury and pain, Penn refuses to permit the viewer to sympathize with or dismiss this cocky, intelligent, psychopathic murderer on death row. Sarandon won an Oscar for her role as a complex nun, but the nominated Penn was just as deserving.

SWEET AND LOWDOWN (1999) Playing a wastrel 1930s jazz guitarist with a sardine-shaped mustache, Penn hits the right notes as a self-absorbed, neurotic artiste. In the scenes with a mute Samantha Morton, Penn's deadpan restraint helps redeem Woody Allen's schmaltzy direction.

I AM SAM (2001) Penn copped his third Oscar nomination by acting the distinction between sentiment and sentimentality: Sam, who has the mental capacity of a 7-year-old, fights for custody of his daughter. Penn's delicate comic scenes with Michelle Pfeiffer as his lawyer are the high points. -- KT

''The accusations about my lack of patriotism,'' says Penn, ''I could smell that coming a mile away, way before I went to Iraq.... If there was a single mission I had, it was 'Okay, I know there are kids in Iraq just like my kids. I just need to see them before I speak.'''

He's an idiot,'' Penn says of TV commentator Bill O'Reilly. ''Well, not an idiot: He's a self-serving, increasingly soul-sold person....That bully pulpit he's up in -- he needs to be hatcheted down.

Originally posted Nov 28, 2003 Published in issue #739 Nov 28, 2003 Order article reprints
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