Sean Penn And His Daughter Dylan Discuss Collaborating On The Upcoming Film “Flag Day.”

Sean Penn directs his daughter Dylan in her first leading role in the new film “Flag Day,” which opens in select cinemas on Friday. The two play a father and daughter with a complex relationship.

Sean Penn told ABC Audio that the film has been a long time coming for him, but Dylan Penn was first apprehensive.

“Without her, I wouldn’t have known how to do (the film),” the two-time Academy Award winner, 61, added.

“We had to sit back and be patient,” he added because she was “reluctant” to do the film.

And he had to be patient, since Dylan Penn, 30, said it took her 15 years to agree to the task.

“I’d never wanted to act,” she said, “and then I simply didn’t feel ready to take on a part like that.” “I hadn’t grown up when I read the novel. So, 15 years later, I believe I had matured a little.”

Dylan Penn described her experience working beside and being directed by her celebrity father as “overwhelming” and “nervous.”

“A lot of individuals would be scared the first time they worked in a professional atmosphere with their family,” she added. “You have no idea how that’ll turn out.”

Working alongside his daughter, on the other hand, made Sean Penn’s job a bit simpler.

“You’re attempting to convey a relationship-related emotion. And I believe we were able to employ the emotional shorthand that we had developed as a result of growing up with “He made a point. “It’s a coming-of-age narrative in which I am the protagonist.”