Onlookers who gathered at the Wednesday (Aug. 11) screening of Flag Day at The Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles were treated to a moment of father-daughter bonding. Sean Penn, who directed and stars in the movie, joined his daughter and co-star, Dylan Penn, on the red carpet. Sean, 60, kept it casual, wearing a black bomber jacket, black t-shirt, and faded jeans. Meanwhile, Dylan, 30, glammed it up. She wore a silver, sequined dress with matching heels. The family resemblance was there, but one might say Dylan looks more like her mother – and Sean’s ex-wife – Robin Wright.
Dylan isn’t the only member of Sean’s family in Flag Day. His son, Hopper Jack Penn, 28, also appears in the film. The film, adapted from Jennifer Vogel’s memoir Flim-Flam Man: The True Story of My Father’s Counterfeit Life, sees Dylan play Jennifer as she “comes of age while navigating a fraught relationship with her beloved, career criminal father,” per Deadline. Sean plays the father, while Hopper Jack plays Dylan’s on-screen brother. Katheryn Winnick, who joined the Penns at the Wednesday screening, portrays the mom. Josh Brolin, Norbert Leo Butz, Dale Dickey, Eddie Marsan, and Bailey Noble also appear in the film.
Days before the DGA screening, Sean and Dylan attended a showing at the Los Feliz 3 theater. Sean wore the same bomber jacket/t-shirt/jeans combo, while Dylan rocked a long black floral dress with spaghetti straps by Brock Collection. All three – Sean, Dylan, and Hopper – attended the Cannes screening together (Sean left the bomber jacket home for that one.)
“When I dreamed from the beginning to make the movie with Sean Penn as John Vogel, to have a real father and daughter play a father and daughter, knowing Sean’s commitment to authenticity, this was a special way for this story to be told,” producer William Horberg said at a Cannes press conference, per IndieWire. “We didn’t compromise. We had to fight hard to get the resources, to get Sean to do this.”
“In a film about deception, about the search for truthfulness, it goes back to Dylan’s face,” said Sean at the conference. “I find her uncontrived. When you can put a camera on an actor listening, that tells the whole world of truth and deception. My cinematic focus was on Dylan’s face to tell the story.”