Actress Kate del Castillo slams Sean Penn over details in El Chapo story that 'did not occur'

Kate del Castillo speaks out against Sean Penn article.

(Image credit: MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images)

published 11 March 2016

It was a seemingly inconsequential tweet that brought together Mexican actress Kate del Castillo and the notorious drug lord El Chapo. "Mr. Chapo, wouldn't it be cool if you started trafficking with the good? ... Come on señor, you would be the hero of heroes. Let's traffic with love, you know how," she posted in January of 2012.

While a relative unknown in the States, del Castillo made a name for herself in Mexico for her hugely popular role as a drug trafficker in The Queen of the South; both her tweet and her role earned her the attention and respect of Joaquín Guzmán Loera, the drug lord known as "El Chapo." Not long after her post, representatives for El Chapo got in touch with del Castillo about giving her the rights to El Chapo's life story, with the hope of del Castillo starring in the ensuing film.

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The final version [of Penn's article] included this addition: "And then, as it seems we are at the entrance of Oz, the highest peak visibly within reach, we arrive at a military checkpoint. Two uniformed government soldiers, weapons at the ready, approach our vehicle. Alfredo lowers his passenger window; the soldiers back away, looking embarrassed, and wave us through. Wow. So it is, the power of a Guzmán face. And the corruption of an institution." This scene, del Castillo maintains, did not occur: they didn't go through any military checkpoint, much less one where government soldiers waved them on. Sulichin and Ibáñez, who were in the car ahead of del Castillo and Penn, also have no recollection of encountering a military checkpoint. (Penn maintains that his version is correct.) [The New Yorker]

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.

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