When Stanton needed a hand, a young Sean Penn was there
CANNES, France – Before Harry Dean Stanton took the Cannes Film Festival by storm with Paris, Texas in 1984, he was a basket of nerves.
The film would go on to win the Palme d’Or, the festival’s highest prize, but director Wim Wenders recalls having to cajole the anxious actor, who died at age 91 in September, to just make the trip.
“Even when he did Paris, Texas, he was full of selfdoubt, and we had to hold his hands every evening,” Wenders told USA TODAY before the debut of his latest documentary, Pope Francis — A Man of His Word. “Harry said, ‘I can’t live up to this.’ He was scared that he was too old.”
Wenders says Stanton would point to his co-star, actress Nastassja Kinski, and say: ‘Look at her. She’s so beautiful. No one’s going to believe she likes me.’ Harry was full of self-doubt.”
But Wenders knew differently, and he pushed the actor to attend the film’s premiere.
“He even was afraid to go to Cannes!” Wenders says. “He always said, ‘ Look at me’ as if he was nothing. I said: ‘ Harry, they’re going to love you in Cannes. You have to come!’ ”
To ease Stanton’s nerves, Wenders encouraged him to bring an assistant. “I said: ‘Find somebody who can help you and who can be with you, and whatever you need, he can let us know.’
“And Harry brought an assistant. Not many people know that. A young actor who was there all the time, who helped Harry get into his tuxedo. He was really comforting him, and he was there strictly for Harry and very modestly so. And the young actor was called Sean Penn.”
The German director says he not only saw Stanton’s last film, a semi-autobiographical drama called Lucky, but “I saw it several times and I introduced it in Germany because I liked it so much,” he says.
“I loved Harry. There is no actor like him.”