Sean Penn demands all ‘Gaslit’ cast and crew get vaccinated

Sean Penn posed an ultimatum on the set of the next Starz Watergate series “Gaslit”: either all the cast and crew get COVID-19 vaccines, or he doesn’t return to work. Although NBCUniversal, the studio of “Gaslit”, imposed mandatory vaccinations on the cast and crew members of “Zone A” (those who are nearby during production) and provided a vaccination clinic. on hand for those involved in production, Penn puts his foot down. Representatives of the actor confirmed his decision to Variety.

Penn offered to make the mandatory vaccination effort easy for everyone, free of charge, through his nonprofit Community Organized Relief Effort.

“Gaslit” focuses on the untold stories and forgotten characters of Watergate, from opportunistic Nixon subordinates to deranged fanatics aiding and abetting their crimes, to tragic whistleblowers who would ultimately bring down the whole company. Penn will play Attorney General John Mitchell, Nixon’s most trusted advisor and best friend at the time. Julia Roberts will play Martha Mitchell, the Arkansan socialite who was one of the first to publicly sound the alarm over Nixon’s involvement in Watergate, despite her affiliation to the president through her husband, John Mitchell.

“Gaslit” is produced by UCP, a division of Universal Studio Group, for Starz. Along with Robbie Pickering and Matt Ross, “Mr. The Creator of Robot,” Sam Esmail – via his global deal with UCP – and Chad Hamilton are executive producers under their production banner Esmail Corp. Roberts will be producing under his Red Om Films banner, with co-executive producers Lisa Gillan and Marisa Yeres Gill. “Gaslit” brings together Esmail and Roberts, who worked together on the first season of the Amazon series “Homecoming”.

Anonymous Content and Slate’s Gabriel Roth and Josh Levin are also executive producers of “Gaslit”. Leon Neyfakh, who created the “Slow Burn” podcast, consults on the project. “Slow Burn” has already been adapted in a docuseries by Epix.

“Gaslit” is written by Pickering, Amelia Gray, Alberto Roldán, Anayat Fakhraie, Uzoamaka Maduka and Sofya Levitsky-Weitz. Karen Bailey, Executive Vice President of Original Programming at Starz, oversees “Gaslit” for the Lionsgate-owned network. The Starz pickup marked the second Esmail project announced by UCP last February, following the black comedy “The Resort” by Andy Siara, who wrote the Andy Samberg-Cristin Milioti breakout comedy “Palm Springs” .

The deadline first reported the news.