Celebrity2 min(s) read
Why Sean Penn didn't show up to the Academy Awards as he wins third Oscar for One Battle After Another
Sean Penn won a historic third Oscar award this evening for his role in One Battle After Another, but didn’t show up to collect it.
This might seem strange, given the level of personal recognition, but it’s not a massive surprise to those in the know.
Sean Penn’s performance in One Battle After Another was critically acclaimed
Penn has previously won two other awards, one for Mystic River in 2003 and then again for Milk in 2008, as well as three other nominations.
This time around, the 65-year-old won the Best Supporting Actor gong for his role as Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw in Paul Thomas Anderson’s smash hit One Battle After Another.
But, he declined to turn up to the award ceremony to grab his gold statuette in person, leading people to question what he has against it all.
After all, it’s not every day that you level up with Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep, Daniel Day-Lewis, Frances McDormand, Walter Brennan and Ingrid Bergman, is it?
Incidentally, only Katharine Hepburn has four wins.
However, because of Penn’s no-show, it was left to Kieran Culkin, presenting the award, to say something on his behalf.
He simply said: "Sean Penn couldn't be here this evening — or didn't want to.”
But, you might ask, why? After all, doesn't he want a luxurious swag bag?
Sean Penn has offered insight into how he views awards before now
In the past, Sean Penn has criticized award ceremonies, as well as the Oscars in particular.
In fact, he ones accused the Academy of ‘extraordinary cowardice’ when it should be supporting more out-there and diverse filmmaking.
“The Academy have exercised really extraordinary cowardice… limiting the imagination and different cultural expressions,” he said.
He has also previously said that he simply can’t get himself up for it.
In one interview, he said: “I don’t get very excited about what we’ll call the Academy Awards.”
In yet another interview, Penn said: “Ceremonies like the Oscars should best be seen as television shows first and less as barometers of artistic merit.”
So, that goes some of the way to explaining why he didn’t turn up tonight.
He has still used the Academy Awards to further some of his beloved political causes though, even once threatening to melt down his two statues if they didn’t give a platform to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
He even later gave a statue to the president himself, stating that he could keep it.
Some things are more important to Penn than awards, regardless of how prestigious they are.