What's behind the Netflix documentary that could cost Sean Penn's life?

Hollywood actor Sean Penn fears he will be murdered at the hands of a Mexican drug cartel over a Netflix documentary, according to his lawyer. Sputnik tells the hidden story of The Day I Met El Chapo.

Netflix viewers were warned that the documentary about the Mexican drug cartel chief could lead to the death of Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn.

The film, which was released on Netflix on Friday, October 20, states that Penn briefed US authorities when he met Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman in 2015.

The Day I Met El Chapo is based on an event version of the famous Mexican actress, Kate del Castillo, who acted as an intermediary for the bizarre meeting in October 2015.

Del Castillo says Penn warned US officials of the meeting, which may have led to El Chapo's final capture three months later.

Penn said the idea of alerting the US Department of Justice was a lie.

What makes the story even more interesting is that del Castillo, with whom El Chapo would have become obsessed, also claimed to have slept with Penn when organizing the meeting.

'The Blood Will Be in Your Hands'

Penn's lawyer, Theodore J. Boutrous Jr., wrote an open letter warning Netflix of the danger they were putting their client in.

"It is reprehensible that in their continuing and relentless efforts to garner additional attention and publicity, Ms. Del Castillo and her team will seek to create this narrative deeply false, foolish and reckless, "said Penn's spokesman Mark Fabiani.

"The notion that Mr. Penn or anyone on his behalf has alerted the Justice Department about the trip is a fabrication and full-fledged lie. It never happened, nor would there have been any reason for that to have happened," he added.

"Penn had the opportunity on several occasions to attend 'The Day I Met El Chapo', and did not do it," a Netflix spokesman said.

El Chapo fled five months after escaping through a tunnel built in a shower of the Altiplano's maximum security prison in central Mexico.

The $ 6.7 million-mile tunnel had been equipped with ventilation ducts, running electricity to turn on the light and the stairs.

Penn wrote an article for Rolling Stone about the meeting.