The interview took place in his hideout, where he likes to sip vodka and talk about the world with friends. It's a cozy circular space with blue chairs and a couch, and a plywood coffee table that Penn made himself. The walls are covered with photos and letters, including one from his friend Marlon Brando, who is marching for civil rights.
The beach house isn't your typical professionally decorated movie star mansion. Penn has decorated it with photos of his friends and children, actors Dylan, 33, and Hopper, 30, with his ex-wife Robin Wright, watercolors of Jack Nicholson, medals belonging to his father, Leo Penn, who served 37 missions in World War II and was shot down twice, and a painting of Hopper with his mother, Eileen, a painter and actress. Above the fireplace is a headshot of his brother, actor Chris Penn, who died in 2006. There are also vintage posters (submitted by Clifford Odets) of the films of his father, the blacklisted actor and director.
And there's a photo of Andriy Pyrishkov, a member of Ukraine's aerial defense force known as “Juice” or “The Ghost of Kiev,” a charismatic pilot who died in a training accident and was featured in the PEN documentary.
There are several clocks set to different times around the world, including Ukrainian time.
Smoke fills the room as Penn takes successive puffs of American Spirit or fiddles with the inside of his mouth with a toothpick, and in the bathroom he keeps photos of his friends smoking, including Dennis Hopper and Harry Dean Stanton, as well as a Charles Bukowski quote justifying his own tobacco addiction: “Find something you love and let it kill you.”
The sharp-tongued Penn knows that many people disliked him “from the get-go.” He also knows that people don't want to be lectured by celebrities about the ills of the world or pestered for donations. He knows that many fans and fellow artists think he's an attention-seeker. He should focus on fulfilling early expectations as one of the great American actors and honing his talents as a director, rather than dancing on the world stage with leaders, dictators (Hugo Chavez, Raul Castro) and even notorious drug lords (Penn's Rolling Stone interview with El Chapo was later acknowledged as a failure because it failed to spark a conversation about U.S. drug policy).
