Sean Penn may be one of Hollywood’s most intense performers, but at this year’s guest of honor at Lyon’s Lumière Film Festival, he appeared relaxed, funny, and surprisingly candid in front of a packed theater, sharing stories about filmmaking, aging, and activism.
At a festival that celebrates both classic and contemporary cinema, as well as the theatrical experience itself, the two-time Oscar winner began by remembering his first love: the cinema itself.
“I talked a lot about my experiences falling in love, just like any girl you fall in love with,” he said. “Movies used to be something that happened in theaters, with strangers, on a big screen. So I’ve had a really difficult time transitioning to just being a spectator and somehow embracing all this streaming and small screen stuff.”
Penn, known for immersing himself in roles such as the death row inmate in Dead Man Walking and gay rights activist Harvey Milk in Milk, was asked how he prepared to play the “sadistic, fascist colonel” in Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another.
“I think you’re being too critical,” he deadpanned, drawing laughter from the crowd.
With a smile, he talked about the first time he read Anderson’s script. “This is an example of a great script,” he said. “I was giggling for the first 20 pages and thinking, ‘This is what Paul is doing now.'” I was very happy. It’s like knowing the song he’s playing even if you’ve never heard it before. For better or worse, I’m sure that most of what I was dancing to was this music that Paul wrote.
“The other thing is that people get older,” he said with self-deprecating humor about a montage of his films shown at the start of the masterclass. “This clip reel reminds me of a commencement speech I once gave at a university,” he said. “And the person who was giving the keynote was giving advice to young people. I look at this and think, ‘Use sunscreen! When you see the change, you’re like, ‘Oh my god, what just happened?'”
When the discussion turned to the directors who shaped him, Penn recalled the difficulty of performing in Brian De Palma’s carefully choreographed long takes.
“The challenge was that when there are a lot of people in the scene and it’s a very long shot, which De Palma often does, it’s hard not to be conscious that if you mess up, everything has to be perfect, (so) you have to start over,” he said. “We must fight carefully.”
He added that he was humbled by watching Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham’s performances in “Youth.” “[It’s]unbelievable. We have such great actors and each show was[produced]in one take!” he exclaimed. “I feel like I should be an accountant now,” he smiled.
Penn also looked back fondly on his collaboration with Terrence Malick.
“Terry is one of the three or four most influential filmmakers that got me interested in directing,” he said. “I once said to him, ‘If you ever make another movie, give me a dollar and the GPS coordinates and I’ll go there.'”
Working with Malick can be both transcendent and frustrating, he said.
“He’s a film poet, but more importantly, he’s a poet,” Penn said. “I tried to quit both films I did with him because I wanted to paint on his palette. I didn’t know what kind of film we were making. That’s what makes him special. I have to trust that he thinks I’m worthy.”
He added, lovingly, “The Tree of Life script is one of the great poems in the English language. It doesn’t have any screen direction, it just flows as prose. It’s truly extraordinary.”
During the discussion, when moderator Didier Allouche was momentarily distracted by whispers on stage, Penn leaned into the microphone and asked, “Can I have a vodka and tonic?” A ripple of laughter spreads throughout the room.
When the conversation turned to his activism, which includes the documentary “Superpower,” which he co-directed with Aaron Kaufman about his encounter with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Penn reflected on how his activism, filmmaking and carpentry all stem from the same impulse.
“I can’t tell the difference between waking up in the morning and going to my workshop and making furniture, and going to a movie set and acting or directing a movie, or having worked in the NGO field or in the documentary ‘Superpowers’,” he said. “I feel like I’m always looking to add value. Sometimes it’s not, and sometimes I find myself inciting the situation. In everything, you have to weigh the risks and benefits, not against yourself but against the situation.”
As for what happens next, Penn simply gave Lumière director Thierry Frémaux a tantalizing hint at the beginning of the festival: “We’re working on a story of patriotism, and I think it’s very interesting today.”
The Lumière Film Festival will be held in and around Lyon until October 19th.
