Two-time Oscar winner Sean Penn might be absent from this year’s Academy Awards and if he is, the ceremony could lose one of its most unpredictable personalities.
Penn, nominated for best supporting actor for his villainous role in One Battle After Another, has already skipped several major awards ceremonies this season.
He attended the Golden Globe Awards, where he famously smoked cigarettes on camera before losing to Stellan Skarsgård for Sentimental Value. But the actor later won both the Actor Award and the BAFTA Awards. However, he did not attend the events to take the trophies home.
In Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, Sean Penn plays the main antagonist, Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw. He is a corrupt, zealot-like military officer who oversees an immigration detention center and spends much of the film desperately trying to gain entry into an elite, fascist “Christmas Adventurers Club”.
Penn’s character drives the plot by abducting the daughter of the protagonist (Leonardo DiCaprio), leading to a high-stakes confrontation that unearths a secret past between the two men.
His pattern of skipping recent ceremonies has sparked speculation that he might not appear at the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre. Penn has also previously joked about melting down his Oscars to make bullets for Ukraine — a remark that further solidifies his tendency to skip the awards.
Looking back, Penn has always been unpredictable with the Academy. He skipped the nominations events but attended the ceremonies where he won for Mystic River and Milk.
Social media is filled with posts from fans who are divided on Penn attending the Oscars. “I honestly do think Sean Penn would just skip the Oscars too which I think would be only for the best for him,” one of them wrote.
“Has he attended any of the award shows this year? Don't think he's gonna go tbh,” came another post on X.
“Third Oscar would put him elite club with Daniel Day-Lewis, but no Penn rant or chain-smoke moment on stage? TV loses edge, history gets quiet. Column nails it good drama denied,” another X user posted.
