Cinema Lounge >> Robin Wright Penn at the Balboa

Robin Wright Penn

Robin Wright Penn discusses BREAKING AND ENTERING and her career at the Balboa on Feb. 6, 2007.

Presented by Learning Annex.

The actress recently appeared at the Balboa to discuss her career following the premiere of BREAKING AND ENTERING. Serafina Kernberger offers this report.

I took some notes when Robin Wright Penn answered questions from the audience. Here's a few of the more interesting answers she gave:

• She had turned down a role with Anthony Minghella before, because she had been pregnant, but they'd agreed to work together some time in the future. When she got the script for Breaking and Entering, she agreed even before reading it.
• To understand her character better (who seemed cold and distant), Minghella suggested she visit Stockholm, because her character was from Sweden. She did, and that was all she needed to bring the character to life.
• Her advice for aspiring actors: Just do it. Be aggressive. If no one will hire you, make your own reel. One of the actresses in Breaking and Entering sent Minghella a tape of her portraying the part as she saw it, and was hired based on that.
• Her advice for career longevity: Be selective. And elusive (haha). If you're in the public eye too much, it distorts the "craftmaker". That's part of why she and Sean moved to the bay area (which she loves so much more than LA). Ask yourself: "Is this movie speaking to me? Do I need to do this?"