DID Sean Penn's sympathy for Iran's ayatollahs help cripple the box-office prospects of a recent Harvey Weinstein movie?
Sources say Penn, who traveled to Iran in 2005 and sent wordy dispatches to the San Francisco Chronicle, demanded to be removed from "Crossing Over" because he objected to an "honor killing" scene of an Iranian woman slain by her brother.
The Weinstein Company flick on the immigration issue, budgeted at $20 million, is a multi-plotted drama, like "Traffic" and "Crash," starring Harrison Ford and Ashley Judd. Although Penn shot scenes playing an enforcement agent, sources told Page Six he insisted he be cut from the movie, which has grossed a paltry $292,254 since its release three weeks ago. The Post's Lou Lumenick panned its stereotypical characters who "spout tin-eared dialogue."
Penn's rep told us: "Sean's portion of the film was somewhat experimental as it had a mystical quality that the rest of the film did not have. His not being in the final edit was a creative decision of which he was aware."
A rep for Weinstein, who tried to salvage the remains of the picture in the editing room, declined to comment as to why Penn was cut from it.
Director Wayne Kramer did not respond to our requests for comment, but was previously quoted as saying, "I'm not trying to be evasive about it, but that's a question you should ask Sean."
Meanwhile, eyebrows were raised the other night when Penn dined with gorgeous (and single) Natalie Portman, "Milk" writer Dustin Lance Black, and two others at Tower Bar at the Sunset Tower Hotel in LA.
"Sean and Natalie were talking quietly," our spy says. Penn is usually circumspect regarding his behavior around hot young actresses, as he's married to long-suffering Robin Wright Penn. He has been linked to Lindsay Lohan and Petra Nemcova, among others. A rep for Penn says, "Sean doesn't have a house in LA so, of course, he stays in a hotel."
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