Shanghai Surprise is a 1986 adventure comedy film directed by Jim Goddard and starring then-newlyweds Sean Penn and Madonna. The screenplay was adapted by John Kohn and Robert Bentley from Tony Kenrick's 1978 novel Faraday's Flowers. Produced by George Harrison's HandMade Films and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Harrison himself appears in the film as a night club singer, and he wrote and recorded five original songs for the soundtrack: "Shanghai Surprise", "Someplace Else", "Breath Away from Heaven", "Zig Zag", and "Hottest Gong in Town". The film was a critical and commercial failure, and an official soundtrack album was never released.
Theatrical release poster
Sean Justin Penn is an American actor and film director. He has won Academy Awards for his roles in the mystery drama Mystic River (2003) and the biopic Milk (2008).
Penn in 2023
Penn at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival
Penn in 2008
Penn with then-wife Robin Wright in September 2006; the two were married from 1999 to 2010.