What happens when an actor stops enjoying his work? Well, nothing good, judging by the words of Sean Penn. In an interview with the New York Times (via Variety), the performer and director explains having spent “15 miserable years on the sets” after the 2008 film that won him his second Oscar.
The film in question, the latest title during whose production Sean Penn admits to having had a good time, is My name is Harvey Milk, biopic of the gay politician and activist directed by Gus Van Sant in 2008. But this is not all, because Penn also assures that he could not play that role today.
Why wouldn’t Sean Penn shoot this movie today?
Sean Penn says that today he would not be allowed to play an LGBT icon like Milk (murdered in 1978 along with George Moscone, mayor of San Francisco) because he is heterosexual. Something that would make him unpopular with those who would want a gay actor for that role.
“In times like these, it couldn’t happen,” he says. “We live in a time when everyone goes too far. “It is a timid and artless policy regarding human imagination.”
Still, Penn got to play Harvey Milk, got on the Oscar stand for it… and saw himself losing the illusion for his profession. “If you are an actor who plays the lead role, is famous, is well paid and has a leading position in the film, you have to appear full of energy and work as the director’s bodyguard, to a certain extent,” he explains.
“I saw myself faking all that, and it was exhausting,” recognize. “What I was really thinking most of the time was, ‘What time is it? When are we leaving?’ I was sure I couldn’t take it anymore, but I didn’t know how to bring money home, travel safely, and things like that. if I let him.”
Luckily, Sean Penn claims to have regained his enthusiasm thanks to Daddio, the film he now co-stars in alongside Dakota Johnson (who sent him the script). “I felt like it could be a nice experience, and that’s going to matter to me more now than in the past,” she says.
Do you want to be up to date with all the latest news on movies and series? Sign up for our newsletter.
