As she opens up about her biggest challenge on her movie directorial debut, the 'House of Cards' star reveals that she was 'ready to throw in the towel' when pitching the film at the Cannes Film Festival.
- Feb 2, 2021
AceShowbiz - Robin Wright Penn's biggest challenge on her movie directorial debut "Land" was skinning an animal.
The actress helmed the film and also stars as Edee - a lawyer who takes herself off the grid and travels to the most unpopulated area in the United States - and the actress admitted she was left "shocked" by the animal skinning process.
Wright - who has directed 10 episodes of Netflix drama "House of Cards" - told USA Today, "It was stomaching the skinning of the animal. And I eat meat."
"But I just - I don't want to see that. You don't think it's going to shock you. And it does. I mean, you couldn't have a more distant comparison between what it was like shooting House of Cards to shooting and directing Land. (For House of Cards) we were on a stage outside of Baltimore for six years on sets in an airplane hangar. This was a completely different beast because you're dealing with nature."
But the movie - which also stars Demian Bichir and Kim Dickens - nearly didn't make it to screens, as Wright admitted she was "ready to throw in the towel" when pitching the motion picture at the Cannes Film Festival, but her final meeting of the day, with Focus Features, proved to be successful.
"No one was biting. I was like, I don't think this is going to work," she recalled. "I don't think anybody wants to see this movie. And I was ready to throw in the towel."
Of Bichir, Wright said that he "had a great desire to play this part because he went through a similar situation in his life, the way Edee did, and it was therapy for him. He told me that he needed to do it for that reason."
