Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn was arrested for attempted murder in Macau before escaping from his jail cell and fleeing to Hong Kong, a new biography reveals.
The former Hollywood hell-raiser dangled a photographer over a ninth-floor hotel balcony in the former enclave during the filming of Shanghai Surprise in 1986 after catching him in his room.
He was arrested and put in a cell with his personal assistant, who helped him hold the photographer over the balcony, but they escaped and jumped on a jetfoil to Hong Kong.
The extraordinary incident is revealed in interviews Penn gave author Richard Kelly for his biography Sean Penn: His Life and Times. He does not identify the hotel.
Penn was then 25 and married to Madonna. They had travelled to Macau tailed by a massive media circus for the filming of the movie, regarded as one of Hollywood's worst-ever films.
The actor recalled how after walking into his hotel an intruder 'lunged at him'. Helped by his personal assistant who was also his kickboxing coach, the actor 'grabbed the guy, ran him through the room to the balcony and hung him over - on the ninth floor'.
It was then that Penn claims he realised the intruder was in fact a paparazzi photographer, one of scores following the couple because of the intense interest in pop queen Madonna and her new husband.