Nasty SEAN PENN is a sweetheart deep down, according to his adoring wife. ROBIN WRIGHT, 35, loved being directed by her bad boy hubby in new film PLEDGE, the (2001) - and insists he's not as scary as he seems.

She says, "He's such a genuine person, there's no facade. "There is an unspoken comfort. If we had to retake a scene where I was idiotic, we could repair it with code speak. "

Penn was also in a complimentary mood today (15MAY01) at the CANNES FILM FESTIVAL - about the film's leading man JACK NICHOLSON. He said, "He's one of the greatest gifts to American culture. You can't imagine what it's like at 6am in some distant location, and out of the car comes that face, and says, 'Morning boys'. " (RP/WNE/NFA)

Source: WENN