'Grumpy' Penn takes walk down Long Street

Hollywood actor and director Sean Penn is in Cape Town scouting for locations for his newest film.

Penn was first spotted at Cape Town International Airport last week, and this week he was seen in Long Street at an eatery.

An industry insider said Penn was working on a script for a film he hoped to direct and shoot that was likely to star his girlfriend, South Africa-born actress and Oscar winner Charlize Theron.

He and Theron have been dating since last year.

International media yesterday reported that the project, a drama called The Last Space, would be set in a Sudanese refugee camp.

Penn caused a stir on Wednesday when he sat down to lunch at Dias Tavern, a no-frills Portuguese restaurant in the CBD.

Restaurant manager Dan Faias said Penn ordered the baby chicken and spent about an hour at the establishment.

"There was a table of young women who were beside themselves. When he left they were hanging out of the windows," he said.

Mary Mandefield tweeted that she had seen Penn at the restaurant, but he had been "grumpy" and "rude". She asked for a photo but he turned her down.

Staff at the restaurant were not allowed to take photographs.