Variety is reporting that Sean Penn is going to star and produce a film about the life of surfing legend Dorian "Doc" Paskowitz.

Alan and Gabe Polsky (Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans) will also be producing.

For the past two decades multiple producers have tried unsuccessfully to pick up the life rights to the 89-year-old Paskowitz. He finally gave them to the Polskys once they were able to bring Penn to the project.

Penn's good friend Paul Feldsher (The Four Feathers) is going to write the screenplay.

Paskowitz became very popular for abandoning his successful medical practice "and hitting the road in a 24-foot camper with his wife and nine children. The family founded the first surf camp in the continental United States."

Penn first burst on the scene in the role of the iconic surfing, stoner Jeff Spicoli in Fast Times at Ridgemont High.