Sean Penn Opens Up About His Audition For 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High'

Sean Penn waits at the valet after dining out at Nobu on Wednesday (June 17) in Malibu, Calif.

The 59-year-old actor met up with his daughter, Dylan, for a bite to eat and to catch up with the 29-year-old model.

PHOTOS: Check out the latest pics of Sean Penn

In an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Sean recalled his audition for Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

Jimmy had heard the story that Sean “came in for the audition, and I think you said, ‘I’m not gonna audition. I know who Spicoli is. So, if you want — if you want to see him, you have to hire me.’ Is that true?”

Sean confirmed that “it’s mostly true.”

“The way I remember it was that I — long before I had a penny in my pocket, had a kind of feeling of entitlement as an actor, not because I thought I was so good, but because I thought the rest were not so good,” he recalled. “That gave me an awful lot of confidence, and I read this part, and I just said, ‘I know this thing.’”

Sean continued that he was terrible at all his auditions: I was terrible at it and self-conscious. I thought, I need the mask of it being a job to get the music in me and go. So, I just wanted them to just give it to me, trust me, ‘Don’t they know what’s going on inside here by osmosis?’

“I auditioned, and it was terrible and flat, and I knew I wasn’t willing to hit the kind of music of this character that I thought it was and had familiarity with, too…so, they dismissed me, and I left.”

Check out his interview below to see how Sean ultimately won the role!

If you missed it, Sean addressed rumors that he’s difficult to work with.