Sean Penn is wellknown for disliking journalists but he is not someone who takes publicising his movies lightly.

Especially when the film has a political edge.

Since The Assassination Of Richard Nixon, an independently-made, low budget film, has a political point of view, it is natural that Penn would be in Toronto to promote it.

One of the few films to ignite the 29th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival, the movie revolves around Samuel Bicke, a failing salesman and frustrated husband who attempts to hijack a plane and crash into the White House.

He hopes his action will make a statement against political corruption in the Nixon era.

Based on a true story, this movie could have been unthinkable soon after 9/11. It may still be unthinkable to many filmmakers even today.

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But when there is a new director -- Niels Mueller -- who is prepared to take the risk, and Oscar-winner Penn (who plays the central character) working for a fraction of the reportedly $10 million he gets for a movie, something like The Assassination of Richard Nixon happens.

The film was first conceived six years ago, and looked like it would fall apart several times because the money was drying up. But it was completed a few months ago and finally had its North American premiere at Toronto. It will begin a platform rollout in late December, expanding to more theatres through January.

The movie was never meant to influence the November US presidential election, Mueller told the press conference in Toronto.

Penn made the festival theatre rounds -- checking out for offbeat films -- with two beefy bodyguards.

At a press conference, Penn, whose leftwing views are well-known, rejected the idea that the film was sending a wrong message; and that it was making someone like Samuel Bicke a hero.

"The story of a twisted head on a basically good man is a valuable story, and the results of what happened are more dangerous not to look at than to look at," Penn said with a little agitation, as he tapped his cigarette packet.

Did he see parallels with the present government and turbulent era of the Nixon administration? "I think that administrations have to look at how they oppress their own people and people in other countries," Penn, who made a much publicised visit to Iraq before the American invasion, said.

He added the Bush government should "understand that if they take people's hopes and dreams away, bad things can happen."

"I guess the problem is that, statistically, there is a lot more of them [disgruntled people] today," he continued with a wry smile, "and we can be grateful to President [George W] Bush for that."

The film was completed with the help of several anti-Bush big names in Hollywood. Leonardo DiCaprio, director Alexander Payne (About Schmidt) and director Alfonso Cuaron (Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban) are credited as its executive producers.

"I think, in many ways, the film explores the thin line that separates many of the people that feel powerless in their lives," Mueller said. "This was a person [Bicke] who sought and heard the notion of the American dream and internalised it."

Penn, an avid supporter of the third party candidate, Ralph Nader, in the 2000 US presidential election, is leaning towards John Kerry this time.

It is an artist's responsibility -- especially during turbulent times -- to understand the times within which he lives, Penn said. And taking up a film dealing with a political subject could be part of a process to understand the difficult times and getting others to reflect on it too.

"If you find something (by way of a screenplay) that speaks to your time," he continued, "and you feel there is an element of it, a character that you have something in particular to share with it, and its first ten pages are written pretty well then you're off to the races."