Her career has snaked from delivering pizzas to modelling, but Penn’s latest job – starring in a Cannes drama alongside her dad, Sean – was the most daunting yet

Dylan Penn receives guests high above the Croisette, in a sterile penthouse suite overlooking the sea. It’s a perch befitting her status as visiting Hollywood royalty, the daughter of Sean Penn and Robin Wright, starring alongside her dad in this year’s Cannes competition. She’s got her phone and her water and a stylist in the wings. She’s been up here all day and won’t descend until dusk. She has tickets to see the new Wes Anderson film.

In the fact-based Flag Day, her first major role, she plays Jennifer Vogel, the daughter of an inveterate conman. John Vogel describes himself as an entrepreneur with a broad portfolio, which is another way of saying that he’s a bank robber, arsonist and counterfeiter; always up to no good, constantly looking over his shoulder. Jennifer wants to break free but can’t quite cut the cord. “In my dreams, my father was always the prince,” she explains.