As part of DVDnet’s ongoing commitment to quality reporting and reviews, we are pleased to present you with an exclusive interview with Sean Penn, discussing his latest effort to make it onto DVD, The Pledge.
DVDnet: Thanks Sean for taking the time out from your hectic schedule to talk exclusively with DVDnet.
SP: Get on with it, you mainstream corporate toads. And call me Mr. Penn, or I’ll take out a full page ad in Variety renouncing your website.
DVDnet: Riiiight, Mr Penn it is then. Well, it would be an understatement to say that you’ve earned a reputation in Hollywood for being a bad boy, difficult to work with, highly opinionated and a troublemaker. Lately, you’ve teamed up with another notorious Hollywood stirrer, in Jack Nicholson.
SP: Is that supposed to be a question? This is the first time you’ve done this, isn’t it? Is it so hard to say “Tell us about your latest film, Mr Penn” ?
DVDnet: Err, okay then. Ahem... could you tell us about your latest film, Mr. Penn. Er, please?
SP: It’s called The Pledge, and yes, it does star my good pal Jack Nicholson. It’s our second project together, the first being The Crossing Guard a few years back. Once again, I’m directing, and he’s acting...
DVDnet: Tell us a little about the story...
SP: Don’t ever interrupt me again, or I’ll rip out your tongue. As I was saying, in this film, this masterpiece if you will, Jackie plays retiring police Detective Jerry Black. On the actual day of his retirement, at his retirement party, in fact, he’s drawn into a gruesome murder case. It’s pretty horrific, a young girl is raped and mutilated and left in the snow. Well, Jerry agrees to be the one to go tell the parents the bad news about their child. Naturally, the folks don’t take it too well, and the mother makes him promise on his “soul's salvation” to find the killer no matter what it takes or how long.
DVDnet: ...that’s obviously the 'pledge' of the title...
SP: You’re a regular Sherlock Holmes, aren’t you? So he takes this pledge, and even after the police believe they’ve caught the killer, he’s not convinced that they’ve got the right guy. From there on, the story becomes about his obsession, how the lines between his duty, his pledge and his retired life begin to blur drawing him into this kind of spiraling insanity, this all creeping up on him and affecting him and the people around him.
DVDnet: That’s pretty heavy going stuff for today’s movie going public. Were you happy with how it was received, did you strike the right balance between entertainment and emotion?
SP: Whaddya mean “Am I happy how it was received?” Whaddya think? It’s a film about a child molestering serial killer and a cop going nuts! Good Lord, man, I mean, if you want to see shit you don’t have to think about, go and see a f**king Jerry Bruckheimer film! My films are about human emotions and the darker side of the soul – things we don’t like to see on the big screen.
DVDnet: Yes, but...
SP: DON’T INTERRUPT ME! I’m an artist, Goddammit. You’re not supposed to find my films entertaining. You’re not even supposed to see them! If I wanted you to enjoy my films I’d cast Ben Affleck and Matt Damon as gay garbagemen who travel back in time to hunt down Jack the Ripper...
DVDnet: Now that sounds like an interesting concept for a film, any idea what extras will be in the DVD version...hey, what are you doing with that chair?
SP: You f**king interviewers are all the same. I try to give you art, a piece of quality cinema, and you want to talk about money and what’s going to be on the DVD. It’s people like you that make me nuts...
DVDnet: ...put down that chair Mr. Penn... please stay back, please... not my face...
SP: Here’s a film for ya... genius director/actor has enough of the system and beats the crap out of stupid interviewer...
DVDnet: Urgh! Thanks... OOMPH!... Mr Penn ARGH! For your OWWW! time!
SP: My pleasure.
