Sean Penn: “Paolo has magic hands when filming.”

The Italian director Paolo Sorrentino came to present This Must Be The Place, his latest film selected In Competition, accompanied by the actor Sean Penn, who plays Cheyenne, the film’s principal character. Selected extracts.

Sean Penn on the beginnings of this collaboration with Paolo Sorrentino:

“We met at the Festival de Cannes in 2008, at the prize-giving. Paolo had just won the Jury Prize for Il Divo. I said something to him like “Whenever you want, wherever you want, whatever the script. I got this script a year later. I didn’t hesitate.”

The American actor on his work with the Italian directors:

“Paolo and I talked a great deal about depression and its impact on Cheyenne’s physical appearance. He had a very clear vision of things. It’s as if he was the piano player and I was the page turner. Paolo has magic hands when filming.”

Paolo Sorrentino recalls his experience of filming in the United States:

“Filming in the States, the cinema country par excellence, was very exciting. Approaching the space with the camera was very easy. We were like children discovering a new world. The starting idea of this film was to bring two characters face to face: a former Nazi and a man of 50 who was still a child.”

Sean Penn, on rock’n’roll :

“Rock’n’roll is extremely important. It’s a sort of polite society disease. The film follows its own story and Cheyenne pursues his quest to get out of depression”.

Reported by B.P. from Festival website
Pics @AFP

by Ilaria Rebecchi

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