Over the past year, the latest incarnation of the Montgomery Fellowship, "Making Music, Making Movies", has brought many acclaimed performers and filmmakers to our campus. Artists ranging from Sheryl Crow to "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" director Ang Lee been honored at Dartmouth, while giving students their own special insights into their particular forms of artistic expression. However, even in the wide range of talented artists that we have been lucky enough to bring to Dartmouth, it would be difficult to find an artists who is so acclaimed in such a wide range of artistic endeavors as the latest Montgomery Fellow, legendary actor Sean Penn.
It is perhaps unsurprising that Penn took so easily to the craft of acting. His parents were Leo Penn and Eileen Ryan, both heavy hitters in the New York theatre community. Leo especially was one of the charter members of New York's famed Actor's Studio, so acting was more or less in the blood. What was surprising was how quickly Sean took to film as his medium of choice. After a few appearances in theatrical productions in New York, he appeared in his first film, "Taps," in 1981. His performance was noted as especially compelling by most critics, but it wasn't until his breakthrough role, playing Jeff Spicoli in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, that Penn jumped to national prominence. He appeared in many films in the following years, including "Bad Boys" (1983), "At Close Range" (1986), and "State of Grace" (1990).
In 1991, he directed his first film, "The Indian Runner," which he also produced and wrote. In another surprising twist, the man who had been lauded as one of the greatest actors in his generation turned his back on acting, saying that he wanted to commit himself fully to directing. He did stay away, for two years, until he was wooed back in front of the camera for a role as Al Pacino's lawyer in "Carlito's Way," for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe.
1995 was possibly the greatest year of Penn's career. He directed, produced, and wrote his second film, "The Crossing Guard," his first team-up with Jack Nicholson. He also gave his most memorable performance as Matthew Poncelot in "Dead Man Walking" with Susan Sarandon. For this role he was nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe, and won a Silver Berlin Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival.
Penn has been especially busy in recent years, turning in award-winning performances in such films as "The Game" (1997), "Hurlyburly" (1998), and Woody Allen's "Sweet and Lowdown" (1999), for which he was nominated for another Oscar. He now brings to Dartmouth his third film as a director, "The Pledge," which once again teams him up with Jack Nicholson, and also stars his wife, Robin Wright Penn.
The theme of this film, specifically the loss of a child, echoes the theme of Penn's second directorial effort, "The Crossing Guard." Penn has been quoted as saying that the birth of his own child led him to explore these themes of unbearable loss in his writing; another factor was hearing about the death of Eric Clapton's child. After "The Crossing Guard," Penn had enjoyed working with Nicholson so much that he began to look for another project they could work on together. Remembering Nicholson's affinity for detective novels, Penn eventually decided on an adaptation of the Canadian novel of the same name.
"The Pledge" is a psychological thriller starring Nicholson as a veteran cop who is called in on the eve of his retirement to assess a crime scene. The crime in question is the murder of a local girl, which profoundly disturbs the detective. He makes a promise, the "pledge" of the title, to the girl's mother that he will bring whoever was responsible for the murder to justice. The film is an exploration of one man's growing obsession with the truth, and the lengths that he will go to find it. The film also features a nearly unrecognizable Benecio Del Toro as the murder suspect that Nicholson simply doesn't believe is guilty.
