Will Sean Penn be directing Robert De Niro in The Comedian?

Most recently, Robert De Niro and Sean Penn were seen together in Barry Levinson’s WHAT JUST HAPPENED, but they first crossed paths in the forgotten but enjoyable David Mamet-scripted comedy WE’RE NO ANGELS, where the two play escaped convicts that are mistaken for priests. It’s one of those goofy premises that just screams 1980s (it was released in ’89), but it’s good-natured and fun. De Niro and Penn’s hilariously retarded expressions never failed to crack me up.

Anyway, the New York Post is reporting further on something that was going around last month called THE COMEDIAN starring Robert De Niro. Original reports coming out of Cannes had pegged Martin Scorsese as being up to direct the film, though most had dismissed it as nothing more than rumor. Now, the Post is saying that the announcement of Scorsese’s name was an error and that Sean Penn (INTO THE WILD, THE PLEDGE) would actually be taking up the directorial mantle.

The film, written by producer Art Linson and Jeffrey Ross, “chronicles the exploits of an aging, bitterly funny insult comic described to be in the vein of Don Rickles meets Joan Rivers.” Linson is linked to both De Niro and Penn, having produced THE UNTOUCHABLES and HEAT, and written WHAT JUST HAPPENED which was based off his own book. All this lends the latest rumor a little more credence, but we’ll have to wait and see if any of it actually becomes official. Interesting idea, though.