Cannes director and Lumière Festival Director Thierry Frémaux issued something of a mild warning before Sean Penn’s masterclass. This year’s guest of honor doesn’t like talking about himself.
“It’s not like he does it often. He’s very shy and shy,” Fremaux explained.
Maybe he wasn’t even finished with this year’s opening ceremony and the schmaltzy karaoke that followed, but by all reports, it’s safe to say the Oscar-winning American actor and director was stumped.
Still, it’s no secret that the 65-year-old artist is modest and doesn’t like excessive flattery.
He joins Terry Gilliam in this regard. Speaking to Euronews Culture during a visit to the Lumière Festival When it comes to these movie events, the usual entertainment isn’t his forte.
“I love celebrating movies, but let’s not make it any bigger than that!” Gilliam tells us, his eyes shining. “Yes, movies are great, but there’s no point in overdoing it. We’re not that great! Show us another fucking movie!”
Penn would no doubt agree.
The actor, who opens with his head bowed, slightly hunched over, and routinely chewing on a toothpick, is best known for his acclaimed role in the film. dead man walking, thin red line, mystic river, 21 grams, milk and tree of life – Among other classics, his answers were generous and warmed up as events unfolded. That said, this is clearly not an exercise he enjoys very much.
At one point I even requested a vodka tonic…
“Can I buy you a vodka tonic?… But is that okay?”
It never came.
If festival organizers hadn’t seen him steal the show with Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest film. Battles continue one after anotherin which he plays the intimidating, gravelly-voiced Colonel Stephen J. Lockjaw?
After watching one of the best movies of the year, we’re betting that Penn will win another Academy Award, but one thing is clear: When Sean Penn asks for a vodka tonic, Sean Penn gets a vodka tonic.
The drinks never appeared, so perhaps it was for the best that the masterclass ran out of time, which was somewhat puzzling for a paying (and ultimately disappointed) audience who always look forward to asking questions of international luminaries.
Although the discussion was interesting, considering an actor as talented as Penn and his diverse filmography, it was a great shame that there was no audience Q&A session, as it avoided some topical issues and that Penn is an actor. outspoken artist and humanitarian.
Here are the key takeaways from the masterclass held at Pathé Bellecour:
A look back at his impressive career in a clip reel shown before the masterclass
“I was watching this clip reel and realized…I remember a commencement speech I once gave at a college. Whoever was giving the keynote was giving advice to young people…I looked at this and thought, ‘Use sunscreen! I see the change, but my goodness, what just happened?!'”
About role preparation and immersion in the role
“When it comes to work…I don’t really want to think about it. I just do it. Too much, too little. I’ve done both! After all, it just comes out of the script. I feel it innately. And if it’s influenced by what I put myself out there or what I practice, that’s great, as long as I don’t think about it too much.”
On playing a sadistic, fascist colonel in Paul Thomas Anderson’s film Battles continue one after another
“I think you are too critical! It’s a great example of screenwriting…it was right there. I felt like I was listening to music or something. I laughed for the first 20 pages thinking that this is what he’s doing now! I was so happy, and I felt like I already knew the songs he was playing, even though I had never heard them before.For better or worse, it was exactly this music that I was dancing to.”
About playing Harvey Milk milk
“He was so well-documented. There was a lot of archive footage of him. So I looped everything I could get. I looped the video and played it 24 hours a day for months on end. Literally 24 hours a day. I turned off the sound at night, but I just held on and lived. And I realized that I really regretted not having had the opportunity to meet this man. I think my love for him deepened and that alone allowed me to kind of channel a kind of love for him. Man.”
About Clint Eastwood’s acting mystic river
“I think adaptability is probably what I want most. So, for example, I made a movie with Clint Eastwood, and he loves jazz music. Anyone who has followed Clint’s career knows that he rarely does one or two takes. He’ll give you more if you want, but he’s usually happy with one or two takes. This is something I tell all my actors, especially if you’re sharing frames, be prepared for one or two takes.”
For example, if the camera is steady and all the actors’ performances have to work together, you might feel that take 3 is better. But when you add up, it’s Clint’s set where everyone is getting ready for the movie, so it’s better to be ready in take one and take two. I always think, especially in theater, it kind of forces this discussion, but sometimes in movies you have really talented people that don’t work well in the sandbox. As a result, chemical reactions do not occur because there is a sense of discomfort and things do not connect. I think the adaptability there is just understanding where the director’s vision fits best. ”
above that scene of mystic riverwhen Jimmy Markham, played by Penn, learns of his daughter’s murder.
“There’s a story behind that scene.[The character]is someone who comes off as a confident person. When you leave work for the day, you carry that feeling with you. Well, it could be a corrupt confident person. It doesn’t matter. It’s the confidence that you take home.”
When I first read the script, I didn’t think about this scene as a whole until the day of filming. If I were to read the script again, I would probably skip it. When I read it for the first time, I knew this was the enemy of my life.
So I had this experience of confidence…which was good. I enjoyed filming that movie. On the other hand, if you’re playing with someone who doubts themselves, you’re likely to bring that home with you, and that can be disastrous.
I was intentionally blinding myself. I have a daughter and I didn’t want to think about his scene. God knows I didn’t want to relive that feeling… So I just kept myself in a kind of robot mind, and I realized that the script said some cops were going to get my character and stop him. And I thought to myself, whoever is in this room in this situation might not be able to control a couple of big police officers, but they’re going to hurt them. And I didn’t want to be burdened by a false physicality in that.
I remember going to Clint’s that morning, and I just said it. He said: “I’ll take care of this.” Let’s put on the wardrobe and go. And once you’re back here, you can do whatever you want. ”
So when he came back, he had replaced the three actors playing the police officers with about 15. And I don’t know how many people are surrounded by 15 strong, aggressive executives…but it beats Pilates in terms of workout.
As you see in the movie, I’m literally trying to hurt or kill all of them. If that scene works, it’s because of Clint Eastwood, because that’s what you want from a director. ”
About Terrence Malick, the director (and poet) Sean Penn worked with thin red line and tree of life
“I met him once…this was when he hadn’t made a movie in a long time…and I said, if you ever make a movie again, give me a dollar and the GPS coordinates and I’ll go there.
To me, Terry is a film poet at his best. More importantly, he is a poet.
As an actor, I tried to quit both movies I was in with him for a few weeks. Because I would rather pay to see your movie than be in it. Because I feel like painting on your palette. Either way, I had no idea what kind of movie they were making. I had to understand that because that’s what makes him special. This guy deserves all of us a little bit of painting on his palette.
As you know, I don’t know if it’s available, but the script for tree of life I think this is one of the great poems in English. Never follow screen instructions. It just flows and it’s really great. ”
About the charm of Jack Nicholson directed by Penn railroad crossing guard and pledge – very special
“Somehow there’s a distribution of electronic impulses in his brain that matches his facial expressions, which is everything a movie star and an actor should be. He has a really great brain.
I won’t say which movie it was, but it was a two-person movie that I did with him, where I had a conflict with the producer. They said they would be one day over schedule and budget, and if they didn’t move locations by the end of the day, production on the film would be halted. They were going to shut it down. I was having a bad exchange with them…and then they came to the location and requested a meeting in the trailer.
I walked into the trailer and there were two people sitting there. The people I was shouting along with… But just as they started talking, Jack came in and said, “You know what? “Hey, guys, can I join you?” And he knew, just sitting next to me, that this situation was going to pass. And one of the producers started talking about how excited he was about a strip bar in Los Angeles that he had been to and that we should all go there by the end of the movie…I thought, ‘Wow, how quickly things change with Jack in there!’
About co-starring with Al Pacino Carlito’s path…and the glory of “youth”
“There’s nothing you can do to stop Al from moving a scene forward. You can change all the lines and he doesn’t care. He’ll adapt and make strong choices. I loved working with him that way. You can suddenly change the choreography, or you can just wait and see…
The challenge was long shots like Brian De Palma often does when there are a lot of people in the scene… It’s hard not to be conscious that if you mess up, you have to make everything perfect. You will have to start over again, so you will have to fight carefully.
But then I just saw “”.pubertyStephen Graham’s great show…so great. The whole show in one take – one for each (of the episodes). And now I feel that I should become an accountant. ”
how Into the Wild Still resonates in the crazy world we live in.
“First of all, I think there is a kind of wanderlust that we are all aware of on different levels. People, to varying degrees, face the challenge of being pushed outside their comfort zones. Just as they feel that they have not fulfilled their duty, in the purest moment of thought they decide not to accept everything that has been corrupting them for generations. Christopher McCandless. But part of it is the wanderlust that exists in everyone.”
About life as an artist and humanitarian
“It always felt like the same thing to me: I couldn’t differentiate between waking up in the morning and going to a wood factory and making furniture and what I did in film or in the NGO field or in documentaries.” superpower (On the extraordinary career of President Volodymyr Zelensky, from comedian to wartime president). It feels like we are constantly pursuing added value.
Sometimes it’s not. In some cases, you may find yourself making the situation worse. You have to weigh the risks and benefits in everything. I’m not so much about myself as I am about the situation. That’s not true. Do you like to make movies better or do you like to make wood better? What matters is how much you need to express yourself and what you are called to express today. ”
He uses lyrics from Eddie Vedder’s song “Guaranteed” to sum up Penn as a performer. Into the Wild: “I knew all the rules, but the rules don’t know me.”
“I think this is true for all of us…making movies even amplifies it!”
of Lumière Film Festival It will be held in Lyon, France until October 19, 2025.