Sean Penn to star in 'Prone Gunman'

Los Angeles: Academy-award-winner Sean Penn is in talks for a starring role in action thriller 'Prone Gunman'. Based on a Jean-Patrick Manchette novel about an international operative betrayed by the organization he works for, the thriller is being produced by Silver Pictures' Joel Silver and Andrew Rona.

Manchette was a leftist French author, and his books -- in the French noir genre -- have been described as existentialist and involving explorations of politics as well as the human condition, The Hollywood Reporter said.

Penn next stars as gangster Mickey Cohen in Warner Bros' period crime movie 'Gangster Squad', which releases on January 11.