{"id":334323,"date":"2025-12-07T03:38:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T03:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/334323\/"},"modified":"2025-12-07T03:38:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T03:38:13","slug":"julia-roberts-and-sean-penn-confront-cancel-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/334323\/","title":{"rendered":"Julia Roberts and Sean Penn Confront ‘Cancel Culture’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThis year, Julia Roberts<\/a> and Sean Penn<\/a> both deliver star turns as complicated, volatile characters amid volatile political environments. In Luca Guadagnino\u2019s \u201cAfter the Hunt,\u201d Roberts plays Alma Imhoff, a Yale professor of philosophy who is forced to confront her own flaws and biases when a student accuses her colleague of assault. And in Paul Thomas Anderson\u2019s \u201cOne Battle After Another,\u201d Penn\u2019s Col. Steven J. Lockjaw plunges the lives of a father and daughter into chaos as he undertakes a mission of revenge against political dissidents. The actors, longtime friends and neighbors, debrief about their work and careers before heading to dinner, where the conversation surely continues.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAlexi Lubomirski for Variety<\/p>\n

\n\tJulia Roberts: How many years do you think we\u2019ve known each other? I think I know the answer.<\/p>\n

\n\tSean Penn: I\u2019m thinking back to New York \u2014 the Mayflower Hotel during the shooting of \u201cThe Pope of Greenwich Village.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRoberts: So this is over 40 years.<\/p>\n

\n\tPenn: You were Eric\u2019s little sister.<\/p>\n

\n\tRoberts: Yes. I still am.<\/p>\n

\n\tPenn: I\u2019d heard about you. But you must\u2019ve been a teenager.<\/p>\n

\n\tRoberts: Sixteen, I think.<\/p>\n

\n\tPenn: So it\u2019s been a while.<\/p>\n

\n\tRoberts: Here we are.<\/p>\n

\n\tPenn: Neighbors, buds.<\/p>\n

\n\tRoberts: All right. We do have to check a few boxes, and I am legitimately curious to know a few things about \u201cOne Battle After Another.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPenn: OK, let\u2019s get that stuff over with.<\/p>\n

\n\tRoberts: Let\u2019s not get it over with! Let\u2019s get it started! I have never met Paul Thomas Anderson. How did you meet him? This is your second movie with him.<\/p>\n

\n\tPenn: It\u2019s funny because my brother Michael scored his first two movies. So I knew he was working on this movie \u201cHard Eight.\u201d I had just directed a movie, and Michael thought I might have some advice for Paul. I don\u2019t think I offered advice except a go-to quote I had at the time, which was \u201cAlways consider the possibility that everyone else is wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019ve known him since then \u2014 he was working on \u201cThere Will Be Blood\u201d and I was on \u201cInto the Wild,\u201d both at Skywalker Ranch. So we started spending time up there together and became friends, and talked about working together a time or two. This last couple of them jelled.<\/p>\n

\n\tRoberts: What kind of environment does he create for actors on a set? Is it happy and jovial, or is it quiet?<\/p>\n

\n\tPenn: There\u2019s nothing at all performative about him as a director. There\u2019s no letting everyone know who\u2019s the director, or the boss, or any of that. In fact, he doesn\u2019t want that from anybody. There\u2019s no big trailers. Leo and I shared a double banger. And there\u2019s nobody to say, \u201cHey, could you grab me a coffee?\u201d You get your own coffee. Everything was focused on the movie.<\/p>\n

\n\tRoberts: Does he do a lot of takes?<\/p>\n

\n\tPenn: Sometimes we did. He\u2019s constantly exploring, and he has a great confidence in his writing. At the same time, when there would be a change, it would be him thinking, \u201cWe don\u2019t need this.\u201d He was throwing away gems every day.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAlexi Lubomirski for Variety<\/p>\n

\n\tRoberts: Wow. Knowing you \u2014 and, more interestingly, my children knowing you \u2014 so well, and seeing this movie and being so knocked out \u2026 Where did you start building the character?<\/p>\n

\n\tPenn: My experience of it was all in the script. I didn\u2019t struggle on this one at all. It was so clear to me. I had such a great experience reading that script that I didn\u2019t want to get in the audience\u2019s way.<\/p>\n

\n\tRoberts: You\u2019ve been a director for a long time now. When you\u2019re acting in something that you\u2019re not directing, is it hard to put director thoughts away?<\/p>\n

\n\tPenn: Not when you\u2019re with a real director. I never questioned where the camera was. I knew I was in great hands the whole time.<\/p>\n

\n\tLet\u2019s transition to \u201cAfter the Hunt.\u201d I have a lot of thoughts about this movie. I love the subject. I struggle to watch it because I get angry, and I have positions on different characters. I\u2019ve been admiring [Luca Guadagnino\u2019s] other films \u2014 what was the experience like?<\/p>\n

\n\tRoberts: I, too, have admired him, and I am so intrigued by all his movies, and they\u2019re all so different. You just kind of think: Who is this guy? When this movie came to me and I was reading it and pondering things, and I get the call: Maybe Luca Guadagnino is interested in this. And every cell inside of me perked up, because I thought, I want to know. That\u2019s a movie I am interested in seeing, his interpretation of this.<\/p>\n

\n\tI can speak for my castmates: We had such a joyful experience. I remember Luca saying to me one day, \u201cThis is the first time I\u2019ve ever been happy on a set.\u201d I said, \u201cI find that impossible to believe,\u201d because he\u2019s so joyful. He has so much happiness. And my experience with him was complete. I\u2019ve probably talked to him every week since this movie finished. I can\u2019t say that about any director \u2014 and I am friends with directors that I\u2019ve worked with more than once. The only person I ever had a really continuous conversation with was Mike Nichols.<\/p>\n

\n\tPenn: It\u2019s interesting \u2014 the subject being what it is, there had to have been philosophical debates, generational and gender differences. And yet that played out with a joyous set.<\/p>\n

\n\tRoberts: Luca and Andrew [Garfield] and Ayo [Edebiri] and Chlo\u00eb [Sevigny] came to our house and sat for days and days at our kitchen table, and we had all these conversations. Really bright people do not jockey for their position. They share their ideas and their feelings and then they listen intently. It\u2019s the listening that I feel we\u2019ve gotten the farthest from in culture, because conversations get so intense so quickly, and you\u2019re just waiting for that break so that you can say, \u201cOK, but this is why I\u2019m right. This is why what I believe is better.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIt was so nice to have the time and to be with truly bright people, and hearing what everybody had to say. We didn\u2019t necessarily tell all our characters\u2019 secrets. But it was just a great playground of thought.<\/p>\n

\n\tPenn: \u201cNot everything is supposed to make you comfortable\u201d \u2014 I just wanted to go, \u201cThank God somebody\u2019s saying this.\u201d We\u2019re in this time of a lot of talk therapy, a lot of what I\u2019d call the trauma industry. I think shame is underrated these days. It\u2019s got a bad name this decade. Why shouldn\u2019t people be ashamed of things? Hold on to it for a while and reenter with some more humility.<\/p>\n

\n\tRoberts: Real humility.<\/p>\n

\n\tPenn: It is a provocative movie, and I know that it got some provocative reactions. I thought it was so refreshing, especially for this auteur filmmaker. When you met him, did you suggest that you would be interested in working together at some point?<\/p>\n

\n\tRoberts: So when we first had a conversation about doing \u201cAfter the Hunt\u201d together, we were both going to be in Los Angeles. We were trying to see each other, and it wasn\u2019t working out. As fate would have it, we ended up at the same party. When I got off work, Danny [Moder] and I went to a party, and he came to the same party, and we hugged and sat down and spent the next hour and a half talking with our faces practically pressed together, with this bustling party going on around us. It\u2019s the fastest I have ever boarded a train that left the station without a destination.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAlexi Lubomirski for Variety<\/p>\n

\n\tPenn: With Paul\u2019s movie, by the time he sent me the script he already had Leo [DiCaprio] on board. Leo, I\u2019d wanted to work with him \u2014 I\u2019d known him since he was 15, and we\u2019d almost done several movies together over the years. I think I was on page 15, and I just called him and said \u2026<\/p>\n

\n\tRoberts: \u201cLet\u2019s go.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPenn: \u201cWherever this goes, I\u2019m in.\u201d It was killing me.<\/p>\n

\n\tRoberts: Isn\u2019t it nice to feel that way? It\u2019s so rare. I would imagine every script has your fingerprints on it.<\/p>\n

\n\tPenn: The scripts that do have my fingerprints, I either [wrote] them, or you won\u2019t find fingerprints after page 10.<\/p>\n

\n\tRoberts: Really?<\/p>\n

\n\tPenn: If I sense artifice or it hits a pet peeve \u2014 which happens more often than not \u2014 then I don\u2019t keep reading.<\/p>\n

\n\tRoberts: I have to finish.<\/p>\n

\n\tPenn: Well, you\u2019re more diligent than I am.<\/p>\n

\n\tRoberts: I\u2019m not. I just think something might happen. You don\u2019t have to say \u2014 of course you wouldn\u2019t say \u2014 but has there ever been a movie you passed on that then you saw it and thought, \u201cMaybe I made a mistake\u201d?<\/p>\n

\n\tPenn: I don\u2019t think so. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever regretted, no. I would have to have had the experience of making it and having it be miserable before I could regret it that way.<\/p>\n

\n\tRoberts: I love the way your brain works. I just love your train of thought.<\/p>\n

\n\tPenn: I have regretted doing movies, but I\u2019ve never regretted not doing them. And, with any luck, I\u2019m better at those selections now than in the past.<\/p>\n

\n\tRoberts: Do you have any idea how many movies you\u2019ve been in?<\/p>\n

\n\tPenn: Do you?<\/p>\n

\n\tRoberts: I could ballpark it, because someone told me not that long ago, and I was so surprised. Based on when that was, I could probably ballpark it at a very surprising number.<\/p>\n

\n\tPenn: What would that number be?<\/p>\n

\n\tRoberts: Fifty-five, maybe.<\/p>\n

\n\tPenn: If we include where we did a small thing in something, everything, all-in, I think it\u2019s about 100.<\/p>\n

\n\tRoberts: It\u2019s a lot of fucking movies.<\/p>\n

\n\tPenn: Too many.<\/p>\n

\n\tRoberts: Not enough for me. It\u2019s impressive. You\u2019re impressive. You just have to take it \u2014 you have to accept this right now. You are impressive.<\/p>\n

\n\tPenn: I might be the last of a generation that doesn\u2019t go to bed at 10 or put skin cream on before bed. And I know that\u2019s a dermatology problem for some. But impressive is when somebody can handle their own poetic inspirations, as you do your gifts. [You have] the capacity not only as an actress, but in terms of sharing joy. There were two years when your calls saying, \u201cWhat time should the cake be ready?\u201d were the only things that reminded me it was my mother\u2019s birthday. Raising these kids that are so extraordinarily well rounded, in a job that traditionally relies on people living in their own head \u2014 congratulations on that.<\/p>\n

\n\tRoberts: Well, let me just congratulate you on taking the conversation from being about you \u2026<\/p>\n

\n\tPenn: \u2026 and going right back to a social experiment with people complimenting each other for money. We\u2019re not getting paid. Are we getting paid?<\/p>\n

\n\tRoberts: I\u2019m not getting paid.<\/p>\n

\n\tPenn: I think you\u2019re phenomenal. My mom always used to light up when you would come around, and then you\u2019ve got this great husband who\u2019s my favorite cinematographer.<\/p>\n

\n\tRoberts: Mine too. I go, \u201cWhere do I share the most understanding? Where do I feel the most seen and understood and felt by Sean Penn?\u201d It\u2019s my love of Danny Moder.<\/p>\n

\n\tPenn: I remember him telling me you were doing a movie and Danny was handholding a camera. He\u2019s focused on his work and getting in a corner, followed by the description: \u201cThat was the sexiest thing on earth.\u201d And I thought, \u201cOK \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRoberts: Back to when you met Paul! Oh my God, I\u2019m all flummoxed now. I do have some questions for you, but now I\u2019m afraid to ask them. Who is the first big-time-actor type that you met that just knocked your socks off?<\/p>\n

\n\tPenn: When I was in high school, the actor Anthony Zerbe came and did a career-day talk. I knew of him. He was an acclaimed figure in my household. My parents were fans of his work. He did movies, but he also did a lot of television in the \u201970s. I knew his face very well; I knew my father had worked with him. I\u2019d never thought about being an actor until my senior year of high school \u2014 and really only as a way into directing movies. I wanted to do that, but I saw acting as a way to stow away on the plane to get in there.<\/p>\n

\n\tRoberts: Do you remember the first movie that you saw that you just thought, \u201cYep \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPenn: It was probably \u201cLenny.\u201d I knew it was the same director that had done \u201cCabaret\u201d \u2014 Bob Fosse \u2014 and I got a real sense of what separates people like that.<\/p>\n

\n\tRoberts: How somebody could tell such complete stories? Wow. What a person to land on.<\/p>\n

\n\tPenn: But that predates me identifying that I wanted to work in film. So then probably it was \u201cBadlands,\u201d in terms of when I said, \u201cI want to direct movies.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRoberts: And then you worked with Terrence Malick.<\/p>\n

\n\tPenn: It\u2019s why I asked you about Luca. Because I\u2019ve done that a couple of times over the years, where I\u2019ve met a director that I admired a lot and said, \u201cGive me a dollar and tell me where I\u2019ve got to go.\u201d And that was Terry Malick and Alejandro Gonz\u00e1lez I\u00f1\u00e1rritu. Oh, and Paolo Sorrentino. Three times.<\/p>\n

\n\tRoberts: I met Terrence Malick once, and I was so in awe and smitten, and we had the sweetest conversation. He seemed like somebody that you might have walked into a diner and sat down at a counter, and that was the man sitting next to you, and you had a conversation while he drank black coffee and you ate a cheeseburger. He\u2019s so unassuming.<\/p>\n

\n\tPenn: I\u2019ve made two movies with him. He\u2019s such a kind person, and there\u2019s genius in him, and a very strong, increasingly spiritual pursuit, which I didn\u2019t always know how to track as it related to storytelling. What about [Steven] Soderbergh?<\/p>\n

\n\tRoberts: Steven Soderbergh. The way that he directs perfectly aligns with the way that I act. It\u2019s really intentional, and there\u2019s a momentum that is really meaningful to him. Once he has what he wants, then we go do something else. He has it all in his head to start with. Once he sees it, he goes, \u201cThat\u2019s great. That\u2019s what I wanted. I\u2019m ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019ve made four movies with Steven. I just think he\u2019s the greatest. The last movie he hired me for [\u201c2002\u2019s Full Frontal\u201d], he said, \u201cOh yeah, I\u2019ve got this script. I\u2019m going to send it to you.\u201d And I go, \u201cI\u2019m in.\u201d He goes, \u201cNo, I want you to read it first.\u201d I go, \u201cI\u2019ll read it, but I know I\u2019m going to do it.\u201d And it was the craziest fucking thing I\u2019ve ever read, but there I was, loving every minute of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPenn: We need more of those directors. Let\u2019s go get \u2019em.<\/p>\n

\n\tRoberts: Goodbye, Sean. You\u2019re the all time!<\/p>\n

\n\tPenn: Goodbye, Julia. I\u2019ll see you at dinner in 10 minutes.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis is a conversation from Variety and CNN\u2019s Actors on Actors<\/a>. To watch the full video, go to\u00a0CNN\u2019s streaming platform<\/a>\u00a0now. Or check out Variety\u2019s YouTube page at 3 p.m. ET today.<\/p>\n

\t\tProduction: Emily Ullrich; Agency: Nevermind Agency\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This year, Julia Roberts and Sean Penn both deliver star turns as complicated, volatile characters amid volatile political…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":334324,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[166957,88,32177,90136],"class_list":{"0":"post-334323","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-actors-on-actors","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-julia-roberts","11":"tag-sean-penn"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=334323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/334324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=334323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=334323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=334323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}