Robin Wright is enjoying a delicious dish of schadenfreude now that her ex-husband Sean Penn’s movie “The Last Face” was savaged by critics.
One insider told me, “Robin is thrilled the movie bombed. She has too much class to say so publicly, but this was her baby.”
The film was a passion project that Wright tried to develop for several years. She was attached to star in it with Ryan Gosling, and then Javier Bardem, but could never get financing.
When Wright divorced Penn, he optioned the script by Erin Dignam and put his then-girlfriend, Charlize Theron, in the starring role as a humanitarian doctor in war-torn Africa.
As a source told me two years ago, “This is obviously a vindictive move against his ex-wife.”
This week, my insider told me, “It would have killed her if Charlize had won an Oscar in the role that was meant for her.”
Wright’s publicist declined to comment, as did Penn’s and Theron’s.
Some speculate that Theron split with Penn last year when she saw a rough cut of “The Last Face.”
Wright recently launched a socially conscious sleepwear company with designer friend Karen Fowler, Pour les Femmes, which will donate all profits to Action Kivu and Synergie des Femmes, two organizations for female victims of violence in Congo.
The “Wrightnaissance” will continue with her big-screen comeback in the “Blade Runner” sequel, and as Amazon warrior General Antiope in “Wonder Woman.”
Another Hollywood insider noted that Wright is riding high with “House of Cards,” and said, “She’s quietly smirking while smoking by a window and banking all those sweet Netflix millions.”