Sean Penn Talks COVID-19 Anti-Vaxxers, Plus: Working with Daughter Dylan on ‘Flag Day’

Sean Penn is talking COVID-19 and his new movie “Flag Day” in a new interview with “Extra’s” Cheslie Kryst.

Penn and his CORE foundation have been at the forefront of the COVID-19 pandemic, setting up testing and vaccination sites.

Cheslie asked, “What goes through your mind when you hear a lot of the anti-vaccine rhetoric?”

Sean told her, “It's a cowardice of conviction. I think it is an unwillingness to engage in a culture of common sense.”

He went on, “At this point it seems criminal to me… If someone chooses to not be vaccinated, they should choose to stay home. Not go to work. Not have a job. As long as we're all paying for the streets, we’ve got to ride safely on them. And so I'm just hopeful the mindset will change… This really started with leadership voids… Now I think there are some examples of leadership that are being helpful… We really got to get everyone else, everybody needs to all get on the same page, I think the CDC should be much more clear.”

They also chatted about “Flag Day” with his daughter Dylan, a movie Sean stars in and directed. Penn plays a criminal in the true story about a man who tries to keep his crime life a secret from his journalist daughter, who is played by Dylan.

Sean loved working with Dylan, saying, “To actually see that she was going to bring her own triumph to this thing, we saw that as a crew on day one. There was a common WTF moment, like, ‘Wow, it stayed thrilling throughout the shooting.’”

Cheslie pointed out, “You had cast Matt Damon in your role, but he convinced you to act in it,” and Sean explained, “I was seeking to cast him… So when Matt said, ‘You're an idiot if you don't do this,’ I kind of thought... ‘Okay, alright. I'll give it a go.’”

Dylan also talked about how driven her dad is as a director. Cheslie asked Dylan, “You said it was helpful watching your dad direct, especially since you want to direct. What did you feel like you learned from watching Sean?” Dylan said, “I think it was helpful to see someone as a director stop at nothing to get what he wanted. Just his attention to detail is pretty paramount.”

Cheslie also commented, “You talked about how your mom [Robin Wright] described working with Sean…and how he was an incredible director and how that influenced your decision to do this, right? How did he push you to give your best performance?”

Dylan said, “We really were on the same page most of the time. In terms of pushing me, he gave great notes, But I feel he really trusted me with the performance in terms of bringing Jennifer to life.”

Sean added, “We both had an excitement of getting into the trenches with this material.”