Dylan Penn talks to Brut about her journey into acting

Brut America

“I was a b—tch.”   She’s the daughter of Robin Wright and Sean Penn. After she finished high school, her parents cut her off. Dylan Penn tells Brut what happened next ...

Transcript

00:00I was a b**ch. Yeah, I was a real b**ch at 12.

00:03A little too cocky and too confident,

00:07but it's funny because I had braces, headgear,

00:11and still thought I looked great.

00:14So that was me at 12.

00:15♪♪

00:25I had applied to school and I didn't get in,

00:29so I moved to New York, and they were like,

00:32if you're not going to go to school

00:34and you're going to move to New York

00:35and do whatever, you pay for everything.

00:38So, yeah, I was waitressing at different bars.

00:43I was hostessing.

00:44I worked in an ad agency for a second,

00:50and then I started delivering pizzas,

00:53and that led to modeling by day and delivering pizzas by night.

00:58I went to a fraternity with a pizza in full makeup,

01:01and I had my uniform on and everything,

01:06and I had the hot pizza in my hand,

01:08and I was like, you know, 12.95 or whatever,

01:11and he was like, guys, I think the stripper's here

01:15because I was in full makeup from the day of modeling.

01:19So, yeah, it was a humbling experience, that's for sure.

01:23You think you'd be a different person

01:24if you hadn't had those experiences?

01:26Yes, for sure.

01:28I think, I mean, I really think it was like,

01:31do your job and shut up.

01:32That's really what I was doing,

01:35and the customer's always right,

01:37and you have to learn to really act.

01:42So, yeah, it was great.

01:43Your father is a liar.

02:01I'm an entrepreneur.

02:03Just saying we should be straight with each other.

02:05No matter the whole world can explode,

02:08and I will be here for you.

02:10I remember hearing him in talks about it

02:12when I was like 14, 15, 16, around there,

02:15and I read the book, and I loved the book,

02:20and that's when he asked me to play a young Jennifer,

02:26and I said no, and that was kind of the last of it.

02:29I just didn't want to act.

02:30I just, it wasn't something I was interested in.

02:33I kind of thought it was a ridiculous profession,

02:35like adults dressing up as other people,

02:38but I think also growing up around it,

02:40it seemed boring to me.

02:44I have enormous respect for actors now

02:47after doing it myself,

02:48but I just always wanted to be behind the camera,

02:52like whether it was directing, writing, producing,

02:55which is something I still want to do,

02:56but that's really why I said no,

03:01and then one thing led to another,

03:04and 15 years later, I decided to do it.

03:06I'm the first to say nepotism is a real thing.

03:11I wouldn't be sitting here if it weren't for my dad

03:14putting me in this film.

03:15I don't think he would have given it to me

03:17unless he thought I could do it.

03:22I also auditioned for someone else,

03:24the other actor who was supposed to play John,

03:26but yeah, I think that this is really interesting actually

03:32because I'm a really bad auditioner, really bad.

03:36I think it's a completely separate skill,

03:38and some people are really good at it,

03:41and they're terrible actors.

03:44You can have your opinion about me, and that's fine,

03:46but I really messed up the audition,

03:50but I think my dad wouldn't have given me the role

03:52unless he thought that I could do something.

03:55Also, this is Jennifer's choice.

04:00My dad would not have given it to me

04:02unless Jennifer approved it first.

04:04This is her story.

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