2ND UPDATE: I’m told the Best Actor Oscar-winner has pledged in private conversations with Hollywood in recent days that he doesn’t want to go to work “right away” and wants to “regroup” and ”just needs personal time”. So now he’s pushing off some movies he was planning to do. These include MGM’s The Three Stooges and Imagine/Universal’s Cartel. So what’s the fallout? Well, Fox was thinking of partnering with MGM on the comedy but it doesn’t look like 20th is involved right now, according to my latest info. And, regarding Cartel, an insider informs me, “CAA told us Sean is taking a year off to work on his marriage. We heard this two weeks ago.” Now both those pics’ filmmakers have to decide whether to wait for Sean or just recast. Cartel insiders tell me there’s already been a decision to move one. “We are moving ahead without him and putting lists together now.” But one studios exec counts on the mercurial Penn to reconsider: ”I’m hoping he gets too much free time on his hands and wants to go back to work.”

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