MACAO -- A journalist Friday charged actor Sean Penn with assaulting him for photographing Penn's wife, pop idol Madonna, and demanded $100,000 or an apology.
Penn and Madonna, known for her bare midriff and sexy image on stage, were in Macao to film 'Shanghai Suprise,' starring the singer, as a missionary in pre-war China, and her husband, as a destitute saleman.
Leonel Borralho, Macao correspondent for the Hong Kong Standard newspaper, alleged that Penn and a bodyguard assaulted him after he photgraphed Madonna as the couple arrived at their hotel room Wednesday on the Portuguese territory, 50 miles west of Hong Kong.
Borralho, 61, charged that Penn grabbed his arm while the bodyguard pulled at his camera, bruising his neck. The bodyguard then told Borralho to remove his film.
Borralho said he is demanding $100,000 in damages from Penn but said he will settle for an apology.
Penn already faces two lawsuits for allegedly assaulting a British reporter and photographer who had approached the couple for an interview in Nashville, Tenn., last year.
Penn, star of such films as 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High' and 'Racing with the Moon,' was fined $100 by a Nashville judge and given a suspended 90-day jail sentence after pleading no contest to the two counts of assault and battery.
Madonna, 26, born Madonna Louise Ciccone in Detroit, and Penn were married last year.
'Shanghai Suprise,' to be filmed in Hong Kong as well as Macao, will be the rock idol's second major movie after starring in the critically acclaimed 'Desperately Seeking Susan.'
