Sean Penn gushed about working with Dakota Johnson while promoting their movie Daddio on Thursday on Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC.
The 63-year-old Oscar-winning actor admitted to Jimmy, 56, that he had a 15-year period in which he ‘had not enjoyed acting’ despite ‘good material, good actors, good directors’.
‘And I wasn’t. And I thought that that just died. I just thought this is not for me anymore. And then this, you know, gift comes. Dakota Johnson is my neighbor,’ Sean said of Dakota, 34, who lives in Malibu, California, with partner Chris Martin, 47.
‘And she called and said, “Can I come by?” She came up walking up the street with a manila envelope and said she had this script and would I read it? And I read it and I just thought, this is a gift, this one. And the writer/director, who I would meet later, Christy Hall just wrote something,’ Sean said.
Sean praised the script for its ability to address various subjects and joked ‘that if it were directed by a man or written by a man, well, God forbid written by oneself, that might be the last job they ever had.’
Sean Penn gushed about working with Dakota Johnson while promoting their movie Daddio on Thursday on Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC
Jimmy noted their conversation in the film was ‘very real’.
‘Yeah, and it’s a lot of stuff that’s quietly on everybody’s mind,’ Sean said.
Jimmy asked Seen if he was driving around while acting in the film, which follows the unexpected conversation between a cabbie played by Sean and a young woman played by Dakota who takes a cab back to her Manhattan apartment after landing at JFK International Airport.
‘So, you know, a little bit,’ said Sean, who explained that they filmed on a stage with LED screens all around.
‘You would feel that you were driving that car. You’d never really see the crew,’ Sean said.
‘I never would have guessed that, watching it,’ Jimmy said.
‘It’s a little bit of a blend. There’s some stuff that’s done on the streets. But, yeah, that was. So, going to work was going to sit in a car with Dakota Johnson all day long while she sang these beautiful words beautifully. It was sort of like how would it be as a job to go sit in a car and have Paul McCartney playing Yesterday everyday, but looking like Dakota Johnson,’ Sean said.
Dakota Johnson, shown on Tuesday at a Daddio screening in New York City, brought the script to Sean
The 63-year-old Oscar-winning actor admitted to Jimmy, 56, that he had a 15-year period in which he ‘had not enjoyed acting’ despite ‘good material, good actors, good directors’
Daddio follows the unexpected conversation between a cabbie played by Sean and a young woman played by Dakota who takes a cab back to her Manhattan apartment after landing at JFK International Airport
The Beatles, from left, John Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney, shown in Liverpool, England on July 10, 1964, released Yesterday on their fifth album Help!
Sean wore a monochromatic grey and black outfit upon arrival
The actor sported short blonde hair while heading into the taping in Hollywood
‘That’s a nice compliment,’ Jimmy said.
Yesterday is a 1965 song by the English rock band the Beatles that was written by Sir Paul McCartney, 81, who also performed lead vocals and played acoustic guitar.
Jimmy asked if Sean was aware that Daddio has been receiving good reviews from critics.
‘I’m not very aware of anything anymore,’ Sean quipped.
Daddio is scheduled to be released on June 28 in the US by Sony Pictures Classics and Dakota also is a co-producer.
