Sean Penn: “The movie star manufacturer ran out around Jennifer Lawrence’s time”
He might have appeared in dozens of them, but you wouldn’t exactly call Sean Penn a ‘movie star’. He falls more into the ‘actor’ category; someone who gives deeper, multi-layered performances as opposed to being a big name slapped onto a poster just to draw in crowds. His talent is unquestionable – he’s won two Oscars for crying out loud – but he’s never fronted a major franchise or anything like that. Well, unless you count The Angry Birds Movie, which you shouldn’t.
He has worked with plenty of people who would fall into that category without question. His very first movie, Taps, was alongside Tom Cruise, who is often referred to as ‘the last movie star’ by modern critics. He co-starred with Brad Pitt, whom Quentin Tarantino slapped the ‘last movie star’ label on, in Tree of Life, playing a version of his character’s son through a series of plot contrivances. From the previous generation, he has appeared alongside Al Pacino, Martin Sheen, Christopher Walken, and more.
Who does Penn think is going to carry the torch for the next generation? Well, according to his interview with Louis Theroux on his podcast, the pool is looking a little shallow. “I think the movie star manufacturer ran out around Jennifer Lawrence’s time or something,” he said. “She’s probably the last movie star.” When the host put forward Timothée Chalamet, Penn replied, “I haven’t seen his movies yet.”
Unlike Penn, Lawrence has the franchise experience necessary to qualify for the ‘movie star’ label. Her most famous series is easily ‘The Hunger Games’, which she fronted between 2012 and 2015, but there’s also the ‘X-Men’ prequel movies. Lawrence played a younger version of Raven ‘Mystique’ Darkhölme in four different films, and added depth and backstory to a character that previously been little more than a sidekick. It’s not like she doesn’t have the ‘serious acting’ credentials either, being just one Oscar away from Penn’s own tally.
When asked about his former Taps co-star, who has recently been at the Cannes Film Festival with the latest ‘Mission: Impossible’, Penn was full of praise. “Certain kind[s] of movies people appreciate more than others… but this is a very good actor who is also an incredibly extraordinary craftsman,” he opined. “Those movies don’t get made on those level without somebody extraordinary behind them. He’s the common link behind many of them. It’s no accident. He does his own stunts. He’s probably the best stuntman in movie world. He’s the most experienced guy.”
Lawrence would have also been at Cannes, as she’s the lead in Lynne Ramsay’s new film, Die, My Love. It marks the director’s first movie in eight years, with Lawrence not only co-starring with Robert Pattinson but also serving as one of its producers. Given that it’s a psychological drama following a woman’s declining mental health following the birth of her child and the breakdown of her marriage, chances are this falls more into the ‘actor’ category of her filmography.
The debate over what makes a ‘movie star’ has raged on for decades and isn’t going anywhere soon. Is Penn helping the discourse with comments like this? Not at all, but he’s been around long enough that his opinion certainly counts for something. J-Law was probably glad to hear it, too.
