With just hours to go before The Day I Met El Chapo: The Kate del Castillo Story debuts on Netflix, Sean Penn has come up empty in trying to get changes made to the self-described documentary series. 
 
 Despite claims by other outlets that the Oscar winner is trying to block the three-episode series by the Mexican actress, Deadline has learned that Penn’s sole aim was to see his part in the infamous October 2015 meeting with drug lord Joaquín Guzmán Loera depicted accurately. An aim augmented by concerns for his safety that has met with silence from both the streaming service and producers at 25/7 Productions, we hear. 
 
 The 25/7 Production series alleges that the Oscar winner gave the Department of Justice a heads-up on the get-together with the runaway and ruthless El Chapo. 
 
 “This is nothing but a cheap, National Enquirer-esque tale spun be a delusional person whose hunger for fame is both tawdry and transparent,” a spokesperson for Penn told Deadline today of the series that premieres early Friday on Netflix. 
 
 Penn later wrote about the meeting in a much criticized and widely read Rolling Stone article that came out just after the hiding Guzman was captured by Mexican authorities in early 2016. At the time, anonymous Mexican law enforcement officials claimed that Penn and del Castillo’s meeting with Guzmán led them to the drug lord. Claims that Penn disputed and have since faded. 
 
 “It is reprehensible that, in their ongoing, relentless efforts to gain additional attention and publicity, Ms. del Castillo and her team (who have zero firsthand knowledge) have sought to create this profoundly false, foolish, and reckless narrative,” a spokesperson for Penn added Thursday of the El Chapo series that Netflix is distributing. “The notion that Mr. Penn or anyone on his behalf alerted DOJ to the trip is a complete fabrication and bald-faced lie,” the statement adds. “It never happened, nor would there have been any reason for it to have happened.” 
 
 Neither Netflix nor the El Chapo producers responded to request for comment on Penn’s concerns. “Sean Penn was not trying to kill this or stop this, he just wanted to see it and then thought it need a re-edit,” a source tells Deadline of the actor’s original desire when he was made aware of the project. 
 
 In fact, a move by Penn’s CAA agent Bryan Lourd to get the actor a viewing of the finished product also hit a wall initially. When Penn did finally see the El Chapo series just over a month ago, he asked for it to be edited to more closely reflect what he said was the truth. Lawyers for Penn also informed Netflix in correspondence that the Mystic River star was worried associates of El Chapo would potentially seek revenge against the actor. 
 
 As can been seen from the trailer below, the El Chapo series mainly focuses on del Castillo, who’s political thriller Ingobernable series was renewed in April for a second season with Netflix. 
 
 Having escaped from a Mexican prison in July 2015, the recaptured Guzman was extradited to the U.S. by our southern neighbor’s government in January to face American justice over criminal activity from his role as the head of the Sinaloa cartel. ||||| On Rolling Stone’s website, actor Sean Penn is pictured meeting with Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. (Alfredo Estrella/AFP/Getty Images) 
 
 Sean Penn’s article about Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán is either the best or worst thing that has happened to Rolling Stone magazine since its infamous, now-discredited piece about an alleged University of Virginia fraternity gang rape. 
 
 Saturday — one day after Guzmán was recaptured by authorities — seemed as good a time as any to unveil one of the year’s biggest journalistic scoops: a sprawling account of how the actor and director known for starring in such films as “Dead Man Walking” and “Milk” scored a rare interview with the notorious Mexican drug lord. 
 
 Upon the story’s release, there were two questions on everyone’s minds. First, how did Penn succeed where seasoned journalists before him had failed for decades? 
 
 [Guzmán interview draws fire for journalistic compromises] 
 
 Second, was it legitimate to give the article pre-approval rights to the drug lord, or anyone, for that matter? 
 
 Penn more or less answers the first question in his 10,000-word saga, which details how Mexican actress Kate del Castillo helped him arrange the interview. According to Penn, Castillo began a correspondence with Guzmán after she tweeted a message asking him to consider “trafficking with love.” 
 
 Actor Sean Penn's interview with recaptured Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán Loera has brought into question whether he went too far in using his celebrity on a controversial issue. Here are five other celebrities who many say have crossed the line using their name to champion a cause. (Claritza Jimenez/The Washington Post) 
 
 As it so happens, Guzmán is a fan of del Castillo, and he asked one of his lawyers to send her flowers. From there, the unlikely pen pals maintained regular contact even while Guzmán was behind bars, and he told del Castillo that she was the only one with whom he would entrust his life story. 
 
 Then came Penn, who knew del Castillo through a mutual friend and proposed a magazine story shortly after Guzmán ‘s escape from prison in July. 
 
 The way it all came together was a feat worthy of Rolling Stone’s history. A combination of celebrity cachet and immersive reporting brought Penn face-to-face with the kingpin himself. 
 
 The actor was exacting in his strategy. 
 
 Sean Penn meets then-fugitive El Chapo Guzmán, on Oct. 2, 2015. (Courtesy of Rolling Stone) 
 
 “I could not sell [Guzmán ] on a bait-and-switch,” Penn writes, “and I knew that in the writing of any piece, my only genuine cards to play were to expose myself as one fascinated and willing to suspend judgment.” 
 
 This unconventional approach toward a man charged with organized crime, murder and drug trafficking in a number of U.S. jurisdictions apparently won the day. Guzmán agreed to a formal interview with Penn and even let slip a sentimental tidbit about his mother. 
 
 He sees her “all the time,” he tells Penn. “I hoped we would meet at my ranch and you could meet my mother. She knows me better than I do.” 
 
 These scenes have provoked envy and skepticism from other journalists. Much scrutiny has fallen on a disclosure at the top of the article that notes that “an understanding was brokered with the subject that this piece would be submitted for the subject’s approval before publication. The subject did not ask for any changes.” 
 
 For some, the editorial decision to give Guzmán final say on the article’s publication negates the interview. Less than a year after The Washington Post found that major details of Rolling Stone’s rape story were untrue and the magazine retracted the article, the magazine’s ethics are once again being called into question. 
 
 [The full demise of Rolling Stone’s rape story] 
 
 Andrew Seaman, chair of the Society of Professional Journalist’s ethics committee, wrote in blog post: “Allowing any source control over a story’s content is inexcusable. The practice of pre-approval discredits the entire story. … The writer, who in this case is an actor and activist, may write the story in a more favorable light and omit unflattering facts in an attempt to not be rejected.” 
 
 In an interview with the New York Times, Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner defended the choice to give Guzmán pre-approval. 
 
 “We have let people in the past approve their quotes in interviews,” Wenner said. “In this case, it was a small thing to do in exchange for what we got.” 
 
 Guzmán speaks little English and ultimately had no problems with the final product, Wenner said. Jason Fine, a lawyer and managing editor for the magazine, told the Times that Rolling Stone could have decided not to publish the piece if Guzmán wanted changes. 
 
 Wenner also told the Times of other concerns as Rolling Stone worked on the story: “I was worried that I did not want to provide the details that would be responsible for his capture. We were very conscientious on our end and on Sean’s end, keeping it quiet, using a separate protected part of our server for emails.” 
 
 Wenner told the Times he got a call from Penn several months ago and began an ongoing conversation that eventually led to publication of the article. 
 
 In fact, the Associated Press quoted Mexican authorities saying that Penn’s contacts with Guzmán helped them track down the fugitive in a rural part of Durango state. 
 
 Penn’s reliability as a narrator also has been questioned, as he at times appears to display a disturbing admiration for Guzmán, which some have interpreted as overlooking the thousands of lives that his Sinoloa cartel has probably claimed. 
 
 Actor and activist Sean Penn is under fire for meeting with Mexican drug lord "El Chapo" Guzman, but he has a long history of getting involved in international affairs. (Gillian Brockell/The Washington Post) 
 
 “As you dive deeper into the meandering mess, it becomes clear that Penn holds some sort of Hollywood-inspired reverence for El Chapo,” Gawker’s Melissa Cronin observed. 
 
 This suspicion isn’t helped by Penn’s distinctive prose, the subject of much mockery on social media. 
 
 Among the lines that have been singled out: “We sit within quietude of fortified walls that are old New York hotel construction, when walls were walls.” 
 
 But could all this be chalked up to professional jealousy? 
 
 Vox Executive Editor Matthew Yglesias tweeted: “Sean Penn infiltrated a dangerous Mexican drug cartel leading to the apprehension of a wanted killer and everyone’s criticizing his prose?” 
 
 Steve Coll, dean of Columbia University’s School of Journalism, likewise told the Times that while he has concerns about the pre-approval pact, “scoring an exclusive interview with a wanted criminal is legitimate journalism no matter who the reporter is.” 
 
 It could be journalism just legitimate enough to save the Rolling Stone’s struggling reputation. The magazine is currently facing a $25 million lawsuit filed by U-Va.’s Phi Kappa Psi chapter, the fraternity at the center of its disgraced rape article. 
 
 The astonishment that has greeted Penn’s “El Chapo Speaks,” then, is perhaps the best reception that the magazine has garnered in several months. 
 
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 Timeline: Allegations of rape at U-Va. 
 
 El Chapo meeting proves Sean Penn is a very manly man 
 
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 Startling new discovery: 600 million years ago, a single biological mistake changed everything. ||||| “It is reprehensible that, in their ongoing, relentless efforts to gain additional attention and publicity, Ms. del Castillo and her team (who have zero firsthand knowledge) have sought to create this profoundly false, foolish, and reckless narrative,” Mark Fabiani, a spokesman for Mr. Penn, said in an email. “The notion that Mr. Penn or anyone on his behalf alerted D.O.J. to the trip is a complete fabrication and baldfaced lie. It never happened, nor would there have been any reason for it to have happened.” 
 
 David Broome, who produced the series, said, “We never say in this documentary that Sean Penn is in cahoots with the D.O.J.” 
 
 When Mr. Penn wrote about the meeting with Mr. Guzmán for Rolling Stone, it prompted controversy and befuddlement over how an Academy Award-winning actor was able to find and sit down with a notorious drug dealer who had twice escaped prison. 
 
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 To many in the United States, Ms. del Castillo was initially a confusing character in the story, but “The Day I Met El Chapo” examines her role in facilitating the meeting. 
 
 The documentary series began last year when Ms. del Castillo met with Mr. Broome, a reality show producer on shows like “The Biggest Loser” and “Ultimate Beastmaster,” and they decided to make something that focused on her side of the story. 
 
 “Her point of view had really never been told,” Mr. Broome said in an interview. (Ms. del Castillo was the subject of a lengthy New Yorker article last year.) 
 
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 In addition to Ms. del Castillo, her friends and family members are interviewed, along with journalists and law enforcement officials. Mr. Broome said that he and Netflix both tried to get Mr. Penn’s participation, but received no response. 
 
 Then, in late September, one of Mr. Penn’s lawyers, Mathew Rosengart, requested that Mr. Penn be able to see the movie, claiming that similar requests from the actor’s agent, Bryan Lourd, went ignored. 
 
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 After Mr. Penn watched it, Mr. Broome said, he said that he wanted to be interviewed and demanded that changes be made. 
 
 “They tried to put on pressure and demand we change the documentary,” Mr. Broome said. 
 
 In a letter sent to the lawyer for Mr. Broome’s production company on Oct. 14, Mr. Boutrous said Ms. del Castillo was providing a “reckless, misleading and self-serving” account. 
 
 “It is profoundly disappointing that Netflix and your clients have chosen to disregard the extreme danger they are knowingly creating,” he wrote. 
 
 In an earlier letter that Netflix’s general counsel, David Hyman, wrote to Mr. Rosengart, he said that “to the extent that Mr. Penn may be in any physical danger, it is as result of his decision to meet with El Chapo in 2015.” 
 
 In a statement, Netflix said: “Penn was given the opportunity on multiple occasions to participate in ‘The Day I Met El Chapo’ and did not do so. The events surrounding the now-infamous meeting have been well covered, including by Penn himself in Rolling Stone and his many public comments since. The only new ground we’re breaking with this series is to give Kate a chance to finally tell her side of this stranger-than-fiction story.”
– Sean Penn's 2015 Mexican sitdown with drug lord Joaquin Guzman (aka "El Chapo"), which he documented in an early 2016 Rolling Stone article, caused its fair share of controversy. And the ruckus isn't over yet, as the actor is now going after Netflix for a documentary on Guzman, set to start airing Friday, that Penn's spokesman says in an email to the New York Times is a "profoundly false, foolish, and reckless narrative" that could put Penn's life in danger. The actor's main bone of contention with The Day I Met El Chapo: The Kate del Castillo Story: that he thinks the three-episode film hints he assisted the DOJ in helping to capture El Chapo, who was busted right around the time Penn's Rolling Stone article went public. Del Castillo, a Mexican actress, was with Penn when he met with Guzman, and the film is said to take place from her POV. Producer David Broome denies there's anything in the film that says Penn "is in cahoots" with the Justice Department and that both he and Netflix tried to see if Penn wanted to take part (Penn reportedly never answered); Netflix backs that up, saying in a statement "Penn was given the opportunity on multiple occasions to participate." Broome says when Penn saw an advance copy of the film, he demanded changes. Deadline notes that Penn's lawyers contacted Netflix shortly after and said Penn was afraid Guzman's associates might go after him if the film wasn't altered. A letter from Penn's lawyer to Netflix notes that "blood will be on [Netflix's] hands if this film causes bodily harm" to Penn. (In the end, Penn thought his Rolling Stone article on El Chapo was a failure.)