Sean Penn explained his much-discussed absence from the Oscars in March, where he missed accepting his third Oscar in person, during an appearance at New York’s Tribeca Film Festival on Friday in the Storytellers series moderated by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.
The intense, immensely talented and sometimes mercurial international actor and activist was at the festival a year late, having had to cancel its scheduled 2025 date due to the death of his family. On Friday evening, he sat down with Collins, his host Source with Kaitlan Collins weeknights on the cable news channel while also serving as the network’s chief White House correspondent.
Penn won his third Academy Award in March for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Colonel Stephen J. The oppressive Lockjaw in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Best Picture-winning film. One battle after anotherp. This is in addition to his winning the Best Actor award Mystic River In 2004 and Milk in 2009. Penn was noticeably absent from the Academy Awards to accept the award he was expected to win; Days later, it was revealed that he had flown to Ukraine to meet with Volodymyr Zelensky. After the agreement, he may not attend the awards with him Battle after battle He said that he deliberately timed his trip to Ukraine to coincide with the broadcast of the Oscars ceremony.
“The best I could muster was comfort,” he admitted. “Knowing I wasn’t going to do it anymore, I did it before this year. I went to the Golden Globes, and I’d never been to that before. That’s when I decided: ‘I can’t do this.'”
“[The Oscars] “It’s always been a social nuisance for me,” he added.
Ben explained a rule regarding social gatherings to a reporter and the packed crowd at Spring Studios in lower Manhattan. “I’m not going anywhere to be with a specific group of more than eight people. If you block out two hours for your night, that gives you 15 minutes per person.”
But don’t add a ninth person, Ben said, because a crowd larger than eight “just creates anxiety and dread.” Despite this – or perhaps because of it – Penn said he has managed to “cool down” over the years, shaking off his reputation for punching photographers, attacking colleagues with shouting matches and other well-publicised anti-social behavior that his youthful antics conveyed to the revered actor.
Not that it’s 100 percent accessible these days. Ben told the audience that taking a selfie, even with some of his biggest fans, no matter what their lives are, would never happen.
“People shouldn’t take selfies never with anyone. It’s bad for you; It’s bad for everyone. “It’s a soul sucker,” he said, earning a huge laugh from the packed house as the audience hung on his every word. “It’s a Holocaust grandmother and her paraplegic 6-year-old driving the car?” It’s a hard no.
Penn began his acting career in the early 1980s with ensemble roles in the military thriller film Taps And the beloved comedy Fast times at Ridgemont High Schoolbefore moving towards serious roles and presenting interesting performances State of grace and Indian hostility. His reputation as an actor grew alongside his reputation for violent outbursts that resulted in fines and even imprisonment. Those days are over, he suggested, when Collins asked him at the end of their conversation if he had become more mature over the years.
“I haven’t had a screaming match with anyone in four years,” Ben told her, then explained how that was possible. “I didn’t hear anyone scream for more than two seconds before I left.”
When Penn broke into Hollywood’s serious actors in the early 2000s by winning Best Actor, his name also became synonymous with speaking out for aid and reaching out to distressed parts of the world. Over the years, he’s put his money, time and energy where his mouth is — arguably more than anyone else in Hollywood.
It has been 16 years since Ben founded J/P HRO in the wake of the catastrophic Haiti earthquake in 2010. The non-profit relief organization has been renamed Community Organized Relief Efforts (CORE) and aims to provide immediate humanitarian aid and recovery to underserved communities around the world, particularly in war-torn Ukraine in recent years following the Russian invasion.
The actor assured the audience that the people of Ukraine are just like Americans, and that what is happening there is unimaginable and devastating. But he believes the country will eventually triumph over the Russian invasion, which has now extended beyond four years.
As for this year’s Oscars, Ben revealed that he watched the ceremony from Ukraine. According to him, the famously long awards show lasted through the night and into the morning, with the broadcast beginning around 2 a.m. local time and ending around 5 a.m.
“I really enjoyed my first Oscars,” Penn told the audience. “It was great.”
