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  • 3/25/2025
“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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