Her art belongs to Daddy: Penn film is a family affair
WORKING with family hasn’t always gone well for Sean Penn. His performance in 1986’s Shanghai Surprise with then wife Madonna was panned by critics. But he’s hoping for more success this time around after enlisting the talents of his own daughter, who freely admits he was the boss on the set. The 60-year-old Oscar-winner has cast Dylan Penn, 30, in Flag Day – his eighth film as a director. They were seen promoting the film at this year’s Cannes Film Festival – with Ms Penn bearing a striking resemblance to her mother, actress Robin Wright, 55. Ms Wright divorced Penn in 2010. Flag Day is based on a book by Jennifer Vogel about a father who leads multiple lives as a bank robber and conman to provide for his daughter. Ms Penn said: ‘I went into this project looking at it as, this is my job. This is my boss.’ Her father told reporters that he nearly passed up the chance to also act with his daughter – until he sent the script to Matt Damon. He said: ‘The last effort I made to not play it was when I sent the script about a month and a half before shooting to Matt Damon, who called me, not to say that he could do it, not to say that he can’t do it, but to say that I was a stupid schmuck not to do it.’ Penn’s son Hopper Jack, 27, also stars in the film. Dylan, who received early career success with modelling campaigns and has appeared in several independent films, said about her famous father. ‘We’re both alpha, that can sometimes clash, but think it worked out in the end.’ Flag Day is set to be released in theatres on August 20.