The one actor who terrified Jack Black: “He was just very reckless. And intimidating”
Jack Black seems like the kind of guy anyone could get along with. He has a disarmingly goofy energy that permeates every performance, whether he’s playing Kate Winslet’s love interest in The Holiday or a panda who just wants to prove to the haters that he can become a master of martial arts. Outside of acting, Black exudes even more positive energy through his band, Tenacious D, a mock rock band that combines very real musical skill with all-out comedy.
Despite his charming, slacker persona, Black has worked with many heavy-hitting actors over the years. In addition to Winslet, who he once described as “a pro on another level,” he’s shared the screen with Susan Sarandon, Gene Hackman, Cate Blanchett, and Joaquin Phoenix (to name but a few).
It’s easy to imagine Black as the actor every other performer would be happy to see on set. He exudes entertainment, spending most of his interviews running away with questions instead of providing sober yes or no answers. But there was at least one actor who Black struggled to relate to and even found downright unsettling to be around. Speaking to GQ in 2005, the School of Rock star recounted his experience working on Tim Robbins’ 1995 crime drama Dead Man Walking and said that its star, Sean Penn, was operating on his own plane of existence.
“Sean Penn was a fucking freak,” Black said. “He was just very reckless. And intimidating. I was a little scared of him. You just didn’t know what he was going to do next. He would burst into spontaneous psychobabble poetry and the whole room would go silent and uncomfortable, and no one would know what to say next ’cause there was a lunatic raving poetry.”
That last comment wouldn’t surprise anyone who’s attempted to read Penn’s brush with becoming a novelist. Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff is full of unintelligible word salad that is both condescending and unreadable. The fact that he put his co-stars through a similar litany of mind-numbing twaddle makes it surprising that he’s gotten as far as he has in his career, no matter how proficient he is as an actor.
In Dead Man Walking, Penn plays a rapist and murderer on death row. Black, who rather improbably plays his brother in the film, went on to describe the star as “Not a fun hang” but conceded that his skills as a performer were undeniable. “It was literally, ‘Holy crap, this guy’s off the deep end,’ he said, “But then when he was on camera, it was like, ‘Holy crap. This guy is on another planet — he’s on planet Fucking Great Super Acting.'”
Giving credit where credit is due is admirable, and it’s tough to argue with Black’s assessment of Penn’s acting. Mystic River, Milk, and even Dead Man Walking are proof. But the swipe that was taken at Penn in Ben Stiller’s Hollywood satire Tropic Thunder (which incidentally stars Black as well) also rings true. In the film, Robert Downey Jr.’s character references Penn’s role in the film I Am Sam, in which he played a mentally disabled character.
“Never go full [R-word],” he tells Stiller’s character when advising him how to win an Oscar. “You don’t buy that? Ask Sean Penn, 2001, I Am Sam. Remember, went full [R-word]? Went home empty-handed.”
For all his acting prowess, Penn has often fallen victim to his own tendency to take himself far, far too seriously.
