Oscar winner
Sean Penn prefers to be a director than an actor
Sean Penn at the premiere of “Flag Day” 2021 in Cannes. Photo: Franck Bonham/imageSPACE via ZUMA Wire/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
Many actors are drawn behind the camera at some point. Directing has always been more than just a part-time job for Sean Penn.
Two-time Oscar winner Sean Penn (“Mystic River”, “Milk”) is best known for his strong performances in front of the camera. But he prefers directing to acting, as Penn (61) said in an interview with the “Augsburger Allgemeine”.
“As an actor you tell the stories of others, as a director you tell your own. And I like nothing better than telling stories. I got this urge from my father, who was also an actor and director. »
He’s in Licorice Pizza
He is now keeping his distance from major leading roles. “I’m scared of delving into difficult characters. They fill me with a deep-seated terror, »said the Hollywood star. He is not like other actors who love to “express all kinds of emotions”. Penn can currently be seen in a small supporting role in the coming-of-age romance Licorice Pizza. In it he plays an aging, drinking Hollywood star who wants to impress a young woman with his stories and a motorcycle stunt.
The director of films such as “Indian Runner” (1991), “The Promise” (2001) and “Into the Wild” (2007) directed the father-daughter drama “Flag Day” last year. In addition to daughter Dylan (30) and son Hopper (28), he also played himself – but only because of his children, Penn emphasized. He never wanted to direct and be in front of the camera at the same time again, he told the “Augsburger Allgemeine”. “I’m a perfectionist, and not everything can be combined.”