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Sean Penn has never been one to mince words — and he doesn’t in a recent, wide-ranging interview with Esquire. When he gets around to talking about the current state of the movie biz, it seems he’s not too happy. The complete interview appears in the January issue of Esquire. Here are some excerpts:
I just did this picture that I enjoyed doing. Gangster Squad. But I do think that in general the standard of aspiration is low. Very low. And mostly they’re just doing a bunch of monkey-fuck-rat movies, most actors and actresses. And I blame them just as much as I do the business. I know everybody wants to make some money, everybody’s got a modeling contract, everybody’s selling jewelry and perfume. I’m blinded by it. Bob Dylan said in an interview one time — somebody asked him, Are you really this reclusive? He says, No, I’m not reclusive, man. I’m exclusive. Exclusivity is like intimacy.
…
When I was growing up and somebody like Robert De Niro had a movie come out, it was a cultural event. Because he had such a confidence and a single mission that was so intimate. But when people start using themselves as instruments of a kind of consumerist mosh pit, they’re helping that take over. I mean, you are a soldier for it or you’re a soldier against it. That’s all there is to it. And we have so little of that intimacy left, it’s no wonder that interpersonal relationships have become text relationships. It’s a texting orgy. When is somebody gonna sit there, with their mate or their child, and just look them in the eye and say, “I love you?” When is that life?
…
I don’t know the young actors as well, I’m not as aware of who’s out there, but when I think of the crew around my age: Daniel, Philip, Javier, Josh, Jessica Chastain — who is fucking Stradivarius — what a group! There’s a group that could be in all the classic pictures right now. Like the classics of the seventies or the classics of the forties. I think of that group of actors and it’s like, “Gimme a camera, I got an idea!”
Penn plays LA gangster Mickey Cohen in Ruben Fleischer’s Gangster Squad that also stars Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin and Emma Stone. It opens January 11th.
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awesome.
What is he saying about DeNiro? Is he saying he’s one of the examples of selling out?
DeNiro of anyone with his talent and generational status has made a lot of horrible movies that were clearly for the paycheck and nothing else. Did he really need to make these movies:
Motel?
Killer Elite
Hide and Seek?
Godsend?
Rocky and Bullwinkle?
Righteous Kill?
Machete?
I would think he would have plenty to occupy his time and talent than to be a part of these films.
Why don’t these great actors collectively create another UNITED ARTISTS and make lower budget films shot on digital and create a self-distribution platform that speaks to an audience hungry for films that don’t involve zombies, vampires. robots etc. Films that have artistic integrity, experimental, that don’t have to make bank in order to be successful and that satisfies their artistic needs.
Just a thought.
Awesome? Sean Penn is the Warren Buffett of Hollywood: “I got mine, but I want YOU to do it the noble way.”
Anyone remember these Sean Penn works of art?:
Fast Times at Ridgemont High (man, that was a deep film)
Crackers (the epitome of “suck”)
Shanghai Surprise (Madonna and Sean ROCK together in this gem)
We’re No Angels (I’ve seen SNL skits better made than this crap-fest)
Cool Blue (you must have really need a paycheck to make this one, Sean)
Hurlyburly (“look at me! look at me!” – the worst of his “work”)
Not so perfect, are you Sean? Like the typical Ultra-Progressive, you like to do things the way you want to do them, but dictate to the rest of us how WE should march-along to a higher standard.
Sean Penn: Hypocrite Defined.
Sean Penn has been bumming me out for the greater part of the last 20 years.And incidentally, taking serious, heavy roles almost exclusively doesn’t make you a better or more serious actor, it’s a trick like using someone’s first name in a sentence to add gravity…get it Sean? You were talented, tormented but stop pointing at the rest of us, focus on yourself, and don;t come to the aid of anything I’m trying to do…you just identify a problem make it depressing and offer no real solution, but just bag on it.
you are so brainwashed to be passive about your values. look in the mirror pale criminal.
SEAN’s right on this; and even though I don’t agree with all his ops or comms, he hits it dead center with this one: it’s about the money. I get actors, writers, directors, etc., the creative folks…and the crews as well, and even the struggling producers, etc. who are broke; struggling to break through and be part of this creative storytelling called MOVIES. Because that’s where I am. Doors are opening and very slowly…like a 5 to 9 year period; primarily because I chose to walk away from LA and chose not to have a rep.
But in this digital age now and the future…and that’s what it is; there is just no real, big need for bullshit to be made, just to make a fucking buck. Not when we can all do our stuff for dirt cheap; sacrifice and work hard and getting it right and go directly to the global audiences without going theatrical distrib.
But…you, I, we all have to make that decision.
So brave.
you go internet keyboard warrior.
Amen Sean Penn! Amen! Hollywood needs to realize that most of their biggest hits DEFIED the rules. They were not for the most part, blockbuster trash. Let me explain. The biggest grossing movies of all time: Lord of the Rings, Spiderman, The Dark Knight Franchise, Inception, Avatar and Titanic. What do they have in common?
1) Indie-rooted directors (for the most part). People with vision, and artistic integrity.
2) Studios keeping their FILTHY hands off of the project and letting the directors run with it.
Sure movies like Transformers and Shrek do very well at the box office. BUT, they could do TWICE as good with the right director behind it, without studios meddling in it’s vision and look.
It’s funny–this is if you ask me reason why so many of the films you just listed weren’t actually that good. Many, if not most, of the best Hollywood films in the last 100 years were the result of a visionary director working within the limitations set forth by the studio. Without those limitations you have these directors run amok with meandering 3 hour movies (like Dark Knight Rises) that could’ve been an hour and a half or two hours at most. Sure, there are exceptions, like Titanic, but movies in general right now are either shallow exercises in spectacle or indulgent exercises in artistic freedom. The best movies in the past often resulted from the two sides meeting somewhere in the middle.
That’s a good point, in the past movies in Hollywood had both quality and mass appeal. Today they make garbage comic book movies, “twilight” etc. for money and then make self-indulgent, tedious, preachy films for the awards season so they can pretend that they are “artistes” doing important work and not soulless wankers who will do anything for a buck.
Just because something is “popular” doesn’t mean it has to be terrible like today’s movies are. The most popular TV show of all time is “Seinfeld”, which had very high quality writing, the most popular rock group of all time is the Beatles, etc.
Directors run amok creating meandering 3 hour films? *Cough*cough*Heaven’s Gate*cough*
You know Penn, FUCK YOU!! You grew up with a big giant silver spoon in your mouth and you’re gonna lecture everyone else about their choices? Go fuck yourself!!
Ditto
Sean Penn is correct about the “business of show”. Hence it has always been called “show business”. And the business of show continues and will continue to change as it has done from its inception. I am fan of his and a fan of Robin Wright. I do wonder how much of her career she gave up in her marriage to him (further in the Esquire article he calls his marriage to her “a fraud”). Whatever he’s looking for I hope he finds it. I share his “Stradivarius” admiration for Jessica Chastain. As a screenwriter I feel his pain about the LOOP that is Hollywood entertainment – you have to jump on that damn merry-go-round at just the perfect time to prevent a fall or a fall from grace. And you have to keep holding on if you happen to make contact even if your horse spins to music that makes you want to jump off.
Know what’s great about working in Hollywood? You can quit whenever you want. Fuck Sean Penn.
Right on!
Selling out is no longer uncool — it’s simply the way now. What’s become “cool” is 7 figure Twitter followers.
Hip hop is a good microcosm of this paradigm. What started out as noted from underground has become lists of name brands. Rap and movies were written from the blood of the fallen. Now it’s Avengers and bling and box office and Bentleys.
It’s as if America is afraid toadmit to any strife or struggle in our way of life. Steve Jobs was brilliant, but he also turned an unprecedented profit — he can’t be our only idol. We want to follow Kim Kardashian not only on Twitter but to the steps of her mansion. Sooner or later we’ll have to face ourselves. I hope the younger generations construct a colossal mirror.
Penn is the type of actor who still thinks acting on a TV series is a step backward. Acting on a series pays the bills. Sean as top billing can’t open 3,000 screens. At this stage of his career he’s a supporting player. In order for Sean to get paid he has to co-star with younger actors (e.g. Channing Tatum, Ryan Gosling.
“…around my age.” Ooh, cringing for Jessica Chastain. And pitying Penn for his body dysmorphia.
I was wondering why more people hadn’t attacked that statement….
This year with Rust And Bone, Argo, Zero Dark Thirty,Django. The writing and acting is cool. Clooney has has great integrity to do what he believes in and has played the game to get those films done.
Sean is a great actor, director and should do his own projects with smart material and smart actors and bring us his work and make films that are good even if they are made for less than should be made for.
Be the leader as your peers love working with you.Everyone wants to work with you and independent films are still strong. Just take the high road. This business has been good to a lot of people. There is the good and the
Bad like in any business.
Spoken like someone who grew up in the business, cashed in his nepotism card and lives in a beach house in Malibu and who never had to struggle to break in or succeed. Hypocrite.
Penn is pretty amazing. I assume he was asked a question about ‘Gangster Squad’ and the only way he was able to resolve the idea that he made a blockbuster was to disparage his “peers”, too: ‘oh, Hollywood’s all so corrupt, you see, everything is corrupt and nothing is pure anymore, blah, blah, blah’. A lot of people grow out of this facile cynicism in adolescence.
Today the “A” movies are now the old “B” movies, the “B” movies are the old “A” movies, computer chips capture images instead of celluloid, shooting out of town is the new Hollywood norm and nobody cares about the international monetary crisis. People in our community, and around the country, just want to make a living. If that living is bullshit monkey movies, then so be it. Better here than in China. Sean Penn should get on a private jet (so he can smoke) move in with Hugo Chavez and make propaganda films.
You have bad taste in movies sir.
You got it wrong pal…I just accept the reality of evolution.
One of the sadnesses about working in the business today is that the great movies of the 70s were mainstream, crowd-pleasing movies. Nowadays, with a few exceptions, the really terrific movies are pushed to the art houses or never made at all. The mainstream movies are written mostly for teenagers. And not, as far as i can tell, the smart teenagers.
Were you even alive during the ’70s? Because New Hollywood was anything but crowd pleasing.
Does anyone else see the humor in someone who married MADONNA IN THE 80′S talking about commercializing oneself/selling out? He’s becoming a morose, bitter old man.
so why doesn’t he just be exclusive and shut the fuck up?
So wait:. Penn did Gangster Squad because the script was so terrific and he was dying to work with The dude that made 30 Minutes or Less? Man, that is EXCLUSIVE!
Yes we all have bills to pay. And yes, sometimes you may have to take a job you don’t love b/c of the monetary compensation, BUT at some point in time, what you say NO to, has a bigger impact then what you say YES to. Now if you are Megan Fox, or Jessica Alba, Taylor Lautner, or about 96% of the ‘up and comers’ who have about 1% talent and the rest youth and age, then by all means go…RUN FORREST RUN to those horribly written/directed/acted jobs. These aren’t the people I think Sean is referring to. Those lucky hacks, who by the grace of good luck, good fortune, good looks, or right place right time scenarios, should take any job they can get b/c they know deep down that they’re a fraud and it’s all one big farce.
BUT to the rest of us. Those who have talent, real, undeniable, unique, God given, honed, trained, talent. Those of us who love the ARTS and got into this business not for fame, but b/c we couldn’t imagine doing anything else. Those of us who are the future Spielberg’s, Scorcese’s, Meryll Streep’s, Denzel Washington’s, Daniel Day Lewis’, Cate Blanchett’s, and everyone in between. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD BE OKAY WITH SAYING NO. AND BEING HUNGRY SOMETIMES, simply b/c you can’t afford a microwave meal. It’s okay to struggle, and strive for greatness. No Great, in any category, whether it is Plato, Einstein, Steve Jobs, Michael Jordan, or anyone of that measure has achieved what they did, simply by SETTLING FOR MEDIOCRITY or ‘selling out.’
I’m okay without a 46,000 sq foot hollywood hills mansion. 12 cars. a black card. etc. Im a little more evolved than that. Even at 29. I’ve already turned down jobs that would pay the bills for months and instead went and worked some part time jobs to make ends meet in the mean time, until the next worthy job comes along. Why? B/c I know my worth. I know my talent. I know who I am. Who I’m not. What I want and most importantly what I don’t. And I truly wish for each of us, who is like this, out there in this cold business….to stand strong, don’t succumb to the bullshit. B/c TRUE LEGENDS and TALENT are the only things that stand the test of time.
Nice reply. Loved reading it.
I can’t say I disagree with him. I had the good fortune of being at the right place at the right time, and funnel a small portion of a fund’s assets into film financing. Boy, was I disappointed. From my perspective it looks like everyone is doing hollow, derivative crap – just chasing the “magic formula” that worked before, regardless of the project’s merit. A thoroughly disappointing experience. I used to think Wall Street was depressing…then I went to Hollywood.
The question that occurs to me is: Was Fast Times at Ridgemont High the last time most of the American public found Penn likeable?
You know, I’ve read Penn’s statement above (-and love his movies, by the way) but WTF is he talking about??! Is that English?? “monkey fuck rat movies?” “consumerist mosh pit??” Come on, man, if your going to be a public speaker at least attempt to make some sense…
I’m tired of allowing people that make their living in front of the camera free reign to say the first thing that pops into their mind and have their word treated as gospel.
Sorry, Sean, what you’ve just posted borders on nonsense.
Sean Penn has acting talent, but he is not particularly well educated. If he were, maybe he could recognize what an incredibly crude hypocrite he is on so many different levels. Also, despite his talent, he is still over rated. He gets far more regard than he has earned because the same garbage marxist ideas that hurt his father’s career have made him a darling of the modern hollywood left. It takes absolutely no courage to express the views that he expresses. It doesn’t cost him anything. When he shows his inconsistencies his pals look the other way.
Like when he champions the vile thug dictator Chavez. This, after he wags his finger at America on Oscar night over Prop 8. Lecturing everyone about gay rights. Yet when he backs Chavez (even campaigning for him most recently) he conveniently overlooks Chavez’s stellar record on the treatment of homosexuals in Venezuela.
Bottom line: Penn is full of crap. That, and hypocrisy make him not worth listening to.
I do think that female stars are bigger sellouts than the men – open up a Vanity Fair magazine and you’ll flip past pages and pages of ads with “actresses” like Kate Winslet and Julianne Moore and Marion Cotillard hawking designer shit. It’s really ridiculous. Bring back models. These actresses are greedy and beyond narcissistic. Aren’t they embarrassed? Vanity, indeed.
I agree with some of Sean Penn’s opinions. We all know the film business is not like it used to, but their are still people doing good work. Penn is a gifted actor, but the older he gets- the more angry and bitter he is becoming. Plus, Sean’s arrogance is unbearable. He praises Robert De Niro, but the past twenty years most of De Niro’s movies have been lousy. Of course Penn will praise his best friends-Daniel, Philip, Javier, Josh, and Jessica Chastain. Sorry, Jessica cannot touch Cate Blanchett nor Samantha Morton. Josh Brolin cannot touch Robert Downey Jr. nor Gary Oldman.
Jeff Bridges and Denzel Washington are brilliant character actors that you don’t see griping, crying, and complaining about the Hollywood. They are only concerned about doing good work- not the politics of the film business.
this digital age is giving to many a chance to shine when they are not ready, esp on youtube, facebook
youtube and facebook are the career killers of many a aspiring director, actor, producer,