Sean Penn on Dinner with Putin, Wanting to Name His Son Steak & New Film One Battle After Another

First guest tonight is an Oscar-winning actor, director, author, and the Spicoli against whom all others are measured. He gives a much celebrated performance as Colonel Stephen Lockjaw in the movie from Paul Thomas Anderson. It's called One Battle After Another. It opens in theaters September 26th. Please welcome Sean Penn. Hey Sean, you remember when you, years ago,

you and Kid Rock sat down to show that we could talk to each other, and even though we have differences. Seems like such a distant memory. Yeah, it didn't work. It didn't work. Yeah, it seems that we can't do that, right? I mean, do you find that it's more difficult to have conversations

with people you don't agree with now? No. No. Actually, no. No, I don't. I think it is the fashion of the public debate. Mm-hmm. But I find that when, in 90% of cases, that in fact, everybody is hungering to dismiss that disconnect. It's there, and it's, and it's, it is what is overwhelming us all. But, uh, but it's, it's not, when the crowd's not around, it's not what people

want. You, you've had an exceptionally interesting life. I mean, I think most famous actors have interesting lives, but yours is, I think, a level above that. And I have a photograph here that I wanted to ask you about, because this is, speaking of this seeming like a very long time ago, and this was a pretty long time ago, there's, um, you at, uh, a table with Jack Nicholson and Vladimir Putin.

Yeah. Who seems to be about to poison you with whatever this is. When was this?

Guys, uh, the year, I'm not sure of, but we, Jack and I had made a movie called The Pledge that we took to the Moscow Film Festival. Uh-huh. And in, as part of the festival, there was something that, uh, um, that thing, uh, arrived at. Yeah. Was it a friendly conversation then, back then?

Well, we talked about fatherhood. Fatherhood? Yeah. It was like, oh, I can tell you, I can, I can time capsule it for you, because it was approximately two to three weeks after then President Bush, uh, said, I looked into his eyes, and I felt I could trust him. And I have to say, when I say that, I, I was conned also. I've, I felt that there was something genuine there.

Uh, now we know that he's very willing to kidnap 30,000 kids, murder a lot of people to make, uh, and, uh, teach those kids to hate their parents and their country. And yet, our country isn't together enough to realize that we should give them the resources to defeat him.

Well, I think most of our country is. I don't know that the people running the country seem to understand that. Yeah. Yeah. You, um, uh, and you, so you talked about fatherhood with him. He's got kids. And, um, well, it's, well, weird. Were you speaking through an interpreter, I assume?

Yes. He clearly, he, he, he clearly speaks and understands more English than he lets on.

Than he lets on, yeah. KGB thing. Uh-huh. Yeah. Yeah.

I guess it makes sense to do that. And he was, was he a fan of yours and Jack's from the movies?

Oh, I, I wouldn't know if he was a fan. Yes, I would say he was a fan of Jack's. Everyone is a fan.

In fact, what was very funny at one point, because just to his left off, off that shot was, um, the man who had written the, their, um, national anthem for Stalin. He, his age was roughly dead.

He, he, he, he didn't say a single word when we were introduced to him. He's in his dress greens with all of his medals. And so for about an hour and a half, the only thing I saw of this guy was, was he's going to die at the table. Yeah. And the table was about 20 people. And they're all watching Putin and Nicholson having a conversation and trying to listen. And finally, there's a little lull in all of it. And when there is, the old man leans into Putin's ear and whispers something.

Jack looks to the whole table and he says, he's telling them, don't change the anthem.

That's funny. That is so crazy to see you guys sitting at a table together. Oh, you know, I don't know if you're aware of this, but Brad Pitt was on, uh, Dax Shepard's podcast, armchair expert.

And he said that, um, Dax asked him if he'd been starstruck by anyone he'd worked with. And he said he was starstruck by working with you. Brad Pitt's a very discerning man.

Yeah. Had you heard that, uh, that he said that? He has said nice things over the years, and I, and I can answer them mutually. Uh-huh. I, I, I'm a gigantic fan.

Did you sense that he was starstruck when you met him? No.

How do you handle that when you're going to work with somebody? You guys acted together when you're working with somebody and they are just, they can't get over it.

I think that, um, among the colleagues that I, that I've had sort of around this kind of a conversation with, it tends to be mutual. Uh, and if not initially, because perhaps they are newer actors. Uh-huh, right. They don't know their work well. That, you know, when someone, uh, feels that the other person is talented, there's, uh, an excitement in that. Some of it's a selfish excitement because the better someone else is in the scene, the more it feeds you in the scene.

Do you feel that the better somebody else is, the better you are?

Uh, uh, absolutely. Sure. And also, you, you know, you're there taking a big chunk of your life committed to something that takes a lot of concentration. And, um, it, it, it, if the movie, as a whole, or the play as a whole isn't working, um, you've wasted your time a little bit more.

Who have you been most starstruck by? Have you been starstruck?

Meryl Streep. Meryl Streep. Oh, yeah, that's a pretty good one. Yeah.

And did she make you feel comfortable and get over it quickly?

Yeah, she's, I didn't, I haven't worked with her, but I've met her on several occasions.

Uh-huh. She's a very elegant person.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You, I heard you're, you're, you build furniture.

I do, yeah. Yeah. What kind of furniture are you building?

It tends to have a lot of hidden compartments in it. Okay.

Uh, much like yourself, I guess. And, uh, do you, you have like a whole wood shop at your house?

Yeah. Yeah? And you get, how much, like, are you out there all day working on stuff?

Generally from 5 30 in the morning till about midnight.

And then do you put the stuff in your house or do you give it away or?

Well, I put the stuff in the house and then if it's heavy, I think I'm, I'm a near complete piece of furniture, then the house has to pay the price for a little while. I don't want to keep carrying it back and forth. So I'll do the cutting right in the den or wherever it is and, and let it go all messy.

I don't put things down because I like to vacuum.

Okay. All right.

Clean it up afterwards. I get that. I like to vacuum too.

Yeah. Yeah. There's something about, yeah, vacuuming that, yeah.

It's squared away. Have you, do you have a power washer?

I have a, I do have a power washer.

Is there anything better than that?

It's really great. Well, I have the power washer, but also because I smoke and, um, and, and because I allow others to smoke in my home.

Yeah. You love smoking.

And because I like things tidy when I'm socializing, I have, it's like the size of, um,

a 500 Magnum and it's a, it's a vacuum cleaner and it's.

Oh, you have a little handy vac. Yeah. Yeah. Really?

Yeah. Yeah.

In a, in a, in a hidden compartment out here.

In the furniture. Yeah.

I like that. I didn't know you. Are you like a neat freak?

I like, I like, I want to earn a gravestone that says a squared away individual. That's my goal in

life. A squared away individual. I like that. Yeah.

Well, um, we're going to take a break and we're going to see a clip from this squared away individual's new film. It is called one battle after another. Sean Penn is here with us.

We'll be right back.

You've got information from me. Spit it out.

Saw a car. A gray van heading north of Craw Creek Road.

Terry.

Couldn't tell. White man driving. Black girl passenger.

North.

What's in these hills?

Sisters of the Brave Beaver.

Who are they?

They grow wheat. They're nuns.

Is that some kind of sick joke on God?

I'm not joking.

How many women?

I don't know. A bunch. 10 or 20.

Weapons?

I think they're vegetarian.

That is so intense.

I'm hearing very, very good things about the film. You're happy with the way it came out?

Well, it's, you know, so many times if you come, you know, like here, you feel like you're hustling for a movie.

Yeah, right.

This one, as a movie fan, I see people, no one should miss this movie. This guy, Paul Thomas Anderson, is touched and, and really, really, it's so, he has absolutely no relationship with convention.

When he sends you a script, do you even really need to read it or are you sure you're going to do the movie before he sends it?

I was predisposed to do a movie. He and I have talked for a long time. I did a little thing with him on Licorice Pizza, but to actually do the full thing together and with Leo DiCaprio, who I hadn't worked with before, but I've known him since he was 15 and I love him, of course, and Benicio Del Toro, Teyana Taylor. It was a great cast. And then this girl, Chase Infinity, that's her name, who's, who's sort of, is magic. It's, and Gina Hall. It's just an incredible cast, but this, this screenwriting,

the direction of this film is, we had a premiere the other night and I, I was reminded of how much a film, if a film's great, then it's going to be twice as great when the audience gets it and is with it. The audience becomes part of it. Right. And every nuance, nothing handed at Spoon Fed, being in that room, this guy was able to, he, he, everyone in that audience understood every beat of it and you could feel the energy of it. It's, it's, you know, I don't, I'm sure if you go online,

you won't find me talking like this about him. This is really something. Well, you know, it's, it's,

it's interesting. And also I'm going to be in the future when you come on the show and you don't say how much you like it. I think then we'll know what a really, what an excellent actor you are.

I wasn't planning, I wasn't planning to come back. Or, well, you, um, you, uh, is it still like exciting to hear like Steven Spielberg thought this is your best performance ever?

Is that something that registers with you or are you jaded to that sort of thing now?

It is highly encouraging. And what happened is so interesting because people respond to this movie, notwithstanding my part in it or not the movie. And so since it started to screen a bit, I've gotten a lot of texts, but that guy, when he says something, all of a sudden it was international texts from people I hadn't talked to in India for 14 years or whatever it was.

Yeah. He, you know, he's got a, you know, and God spoke when it comes to, you know,

storytellers that people admire. Is Steven Lockjaw the best, um, character name you've ever had in a film? It's pretty good. It's pretty good. Yeah. Colonel Steven Lockjaw.

Is it true that you, um, that your son Hopper, um, that you originally wanted to name him Steak?

That is true. That is true.

So you said, you know, what would be great is to name the baby Steak.

Correct. And that was rejected, uh, obviously.

She exercised a veto. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Steak was, were there other weird choices or was Steak? No, I think Hopper was next.

Hopper was number two. Yeah, I think so.

Did you lead with Steak and then knowing you would get Hopper?

I wanted Steak. You wanted Steak?

Because you love Steak? Yeah.

And you're like, what could be better, what's better than Steak?

Also give a kid a challenge.

At this point in your, um, in your career, and I think it's, it's interesting you talking about the fact that you'd not worked with Leo DiCaprio before because, you know, just you guys have both been in so many great films, I would assume you had. And, uh, but you haven't. You haven't worked with Spielberg before, although it sounds like he's grooming you for ET2 or something.

Um, are there people that you, are there directors specifically that you, um, would love to work with that you haven't? Oh, yeah. It was tricky about questions like this. Is it, you know, you

say one and... All right. Well, I'll say one for you. Marty Scorsese. Yes, please. Yes. You would

like to work with Marty Scorsese. If he called, you would say, you would make yourself available.

Well, again, you still want to know that you believe yourself, that you can be value added.

It's something, um, so it would still take, you know, a read, uh, but...

You'd consider it. Oh, I, I, I, I, I, I'm... Marty, please call.

You didn't, you, didn't you, you shadow him, um, at one time?

I did. He was very generous. I had directed, the first movie I directed, you kind of, you get to the end that and you say, oh, now I know what to look for. And so I called him and I said, could I come and audit your set? He was shooting Cape Fear at the time down in Florida. So I went down and did about, uh, five days or something on set. And you just watched him?

I, I just watched him. Uh, he would involve, uh, us at the monitor. It was his first, um, widescreen picture. Uh, and, um, and then I would also be politely, uh, escorted away from him as someone saw me go for a cigarette because he's a little intolerant to the smokes. I watched a lot of

it from about a hundred meters out. So given, so you had to choose between Scorsese and cigarettes and you chose the cigarettes at that point. I, I, um, I, well, I chose the cigarettes the way

I do, let's say in a marriage, about 75%. So the rest of the time, I was right there with it.

Okay. All right. All right.

Compromise. It's all about compromise.

Yeah. I love smoking.

Hey, you got to do what you love, you know?

Yeah. It's the Bukowski line. Find something you love and let it kill you.

Sean Penn, everybody. His movie, One Battle After Another, opens in theaters September 26th.

We'll be back with Owen Cooper. Guillermo, do you know how many subscribers we have on YouTube now? Uh, 20 million.

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