Penn is mightier with ‘ sword’

With both feet firmly planted in combat boots, seriousminded Sean Penn has jumped into the action genre.

The proof is in The Gunman. Penn produces, co- writes and stars in the shoot-’ em- up directed by Taken filmmaker Pierre Morel, who launched Liam Neeson on his new movie path. But Penn said his latest film choice was more about coincidence than career move.

“I didn’t think it was considered a new trend ( to do) what I call geriaction,” said the 54- year- old, coining a word for the trending geriatric sub- genre.

Still, the Taken comparison can’t be denied, although the headliner agreed to disagree.

In The Gunman, Penn plays a former special- forces soldier turned military contractor who flees the Congo for London after a hit. Later, he realizes the assassination team is being eliminated one by one, so to save himself he tries to find out why.

“The Gunman is a movie about a very conflicted man killing very bad men largely in service of himself,” Penn said. But in the Liam Neeson Taken movies, “you have a six- foot-four melodically voiced masculine figure who is a very good man fighting strictly for his children.”

The co- starring roster is stellar in The Gunman. Javier Bardem plays a suspicious buddy. Ray Winstone is a friendly fixer. Idris Elba portrays an Interpol agent investigating the Congo coverup. Revered theatre actor Mark Rylance plays a manipulative contractor.

Landing all four acclaimed actors had a great deal to do with a persuasive Penn. He confirmed that he phoned each of them with an invitation to come aboard. As a writer, he revised scenes to suit their specific needs when they signed on.

Apparently, the extra effort was worth it for the two- time best actor Oscar winner for 2003’ s Mystic River portrayal and 2008’ s Milk.

“They are some of the best actors working, period,” Penn said. “We had a great time working with them.”

He also ensured his soldier portrayal was realistic by training closely with former special- forces teams and military contractors “to get everything as close as possible” to their operational drills.

Appearing shirtless often in The Gunman required Penn to commit to months of dieting and weight training, yet he refused to detail his regimen.

In another sequence, his soldier of fortune surfs. And yes, that was Penn surfing.

“There were a lot of ( edits),” he said. “We had a very short window in which to shoot that in the right light.”