Kick Gurry recalls Sean Penn asking to star in his ‘inappropriate’ new Aussie series Caught

Aussie actor Kick Gurry reveals Sean Penn phoned him up hoping to star and produce in his new series Caught.

It’s not every day you get a phone call from Sean Penn, but Aussie actor Kick Gurry was one of the select few.

Gurry was pitching his idea for a satirical comedy series titled C*A*U*G*H*T starring Alexander England, Ben O’Toole, Lincoln Younes and himself, and through a series of fortunate events, a teaser clip for the show was shown to the Hollywood star, who then reached out.

“He saw a little teaser that I made with the other three guys, and he got in touch with me after he watched that teaser and he rang me up and said he wanted to help me get it made. He said, this show is perfectly inappropriate.”

But first, Gurry – who created, wrote, directed and starred in the series – had to pitch the show to Penn, who dropped by unannounced after their initial phone call.

The star-studded cast of C*A*U*G*H*T.

Ben O'Toole plays Rowdy Gaines and Matthew Fox is Lt Pete Mitchell.

“I still remember a friend of mine was over at my house in Los Angeles and Sean came round just unannounced, and he just walked in and my friend had never met him. He couldn’t believe it,” Gurry recalled.

“I told him, I said, ‘I’ve got this idea. I want to pitch to you for the opening scene of you in the show.’ And he sat down opposite me and he goes, ‘I’ve got 10 minutes.’”

Without giving away spoilers, that opening scene involved the Today show, Karl Stefanovic and a conga line. Penn love it.

“He rang me a couple of days later and he said, ‘There’s not much in this world that scares me. That idea really scares me.’ And he does do a lot of crazy stuff for me. He’s an incredibly courageous guy. Then he said, ‘Let’s do it.’ That’s what got him on board.”

Penn went on to be an executive producer and star of the series and the duo forged a strong friendship and working relationship in the last few years.

Kick Gurry created, wrote, directed and starred on the series.

The actor plays Dylan Fox in the series.

“I had him sitting there as a producer on the show and champion of it,” Gurry says. “I think Sean is probably the best to ever do what we do as an actor, and it’s been an amazing ride to watch him up close for the last two or three years at the lengths he goes to and what it takes for him to do what he does. A lot of genius in him creatively, and that’s been amazing.”

While Gurry had the Aussie cast and Penn, Matthew Fox and Susan Sarandon on board as the international stars, he was still faced with the challenge of finding a home for his series – a platform brave enough to air a satirical comedy amid a post-ISIS world.

Gurry got down and dirty in the fight scenes.

“Sean said to me when we had that initial conversation, he said, we’re going to need to find incredibly courageous creatives to do this with because he knows that inside of that creative gauntlet, everything gets chipped away,” Gurry recalls. “And Sean and Matthew were both have been sort of mavericks in their careers and they’re very strong in what they want to do as creatives, and that was a huge influence for me to have them.”

“I knew I would be letting Matthew and Sean down if I made the show as a diluted version of what we set out to do. So I knew I had to stay really strong with that, and it was very difficult, but it was easy at a certain point because the second I walked into Stan, which it had been a two year journey to try and get the right partner involved and see who it was. But the second I walked into Stan, they said, ‘Let’s go.’”

Lost and Party of Five star Mathew Fox walk the blue carpet at the Sydney Opera House with Kick Gurry for the global premiere of C*A*U*G*H*T.

The result is satirical comedy filmed in Sydney about four Aussie soldiers captured by freedom fighters in a war-torn country who love their new celebrity status on social media when their hostage video goes viral.

Fox, who plays American Lieutenant Pete Mitchell on the six-episode series, only has praise for Gurry in his directorial debut.

“I’ve worked with a lot of directors and they all have different techniques in trying to help you find things in the material. But I believe the most important thing when you’re helming a project like that, and you’re the boss and you’ve written what’s come from such a personal thing, the most important thing is that you create a tone for the entire crew and cast,” Fox tells news.com.au.

Sean Penn stars in and is the executive producer of C*A*U*G*H*T. Picture: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

Kick Gurry attends the global premiere of C*A*U*G*H*T at Sydney Opera House on September 27. Picture: Brendon Thorne/Getty Images

“There’s a tone. You walk through the door into the studio and you’re just hearing people laughing and you’re hearing chatter, you’re hearing a lifted, energised group of people that are all passionate about what they’re doing. And that was all an extension of Kick.”

Penn was equally impressed with what Gurry has created and told him so when they both sat down to watch all six episodes together at the Hollywood star’s home.

”When I watched it for the first time, all six episodes with Sean at his house, he looked at me and he said the best compliment,” Gurry shares. “He said, ‘The thing you’ve achieved which I’m most thrilled about is everybody shines. Everybody in the whole show gets their moment and they shine and they’re great.’

“He said your job when crafting it, after it’s finished, is to make sure that everybody has their time to shine given such magic. And yeah, it’s nice to hear that.”

C*A*U*G*H*T is available to stream on Stan from September 28

Originally published as Kick Gurry recalls Sean Penn asking to star in his ‘inappropriate’ new Aussie series Caught