Daddio

Last edited Tue Jun 18, 2024, 03:43 PM - Edit history (1)

Saw Daddio starring Sean Penn and Dakota Johnson at a theatre in LA with a talkback afterwards with writer/director Christy Hall.

I'll put this out front: I'm not a fan of Sean Penn.

Back to that later. About one-third way through I said to myself, this is the best writing I've ever seen. (As a playwright myself, I always study the writing.) There are two characters stuck in a taxi after an accident on the highway who are forced to talk to each other given the situation. The dialogue is the only action. We only see for the most part their faces and upper bodies. The dialogue is multilayered, subtle, funny and deep.

Sean Penn is superb. Emotive and sharp. Looks and feels like that character he plays, a taxi driver. A couple of nights ago I watched Jimmy Kimmel interview him on his show. Penn walked in obviously not interested in being there. Kimmel worked on him and got him to be sociable. One of the questions he asked Penn was how he came to do the part. Penn said that Dakota lived nearby. He was at home and heard someone knocking on the door. He was not expecting anyone. He opened the door and there was Dakota. She reached out and handed him the script "Check this out. I think you'll like it," and she left. He read it, called her and said, "I'm in." Kimmel showed a scene from the film, then, he said there needed to be a break and more with Sean Penn after it. Usually when Kimmel says that the interviewee stays and they chit chat. Instead Penn got up, shook Kimmel's hand and left. The character he played in the film would have acted differently.

Dakota was equally superb.

The film opens June 28. Go see it. Let me know what you think!

Forgot to add: At the talkback I was extremely impressed with the writer/director. She had written several theatre plays before and had them produced but made very little money (which is true for writers in theatre) so she decided she had to get more credentials so she applied to Julliard. As part of the application she had to submit a script. She submitted Daddio. A couple of weeks later the person in charge of selecting new students told her that the script was better than any he'd ever seen and she did not need to have any more education. He asked her if it would be ok for him to give it to an agent that could help her turn the play script into a movie script. She said yes, and the rest is history. She is probably about 35 years old. She's never directed before but everyone around her on the set were experienced and helped her along the way.