Sean Penn still hasn’t apologized for his Oscar “joke”. When he was presenting the Best Picture Oscar to Birdman, Penn quipped, “Who gave this son of a bitch his green card?” As I said at the time, Penn is actually friends with Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu and they worked together on 21 Grams. And for what it’s worth, Inarritu thought the joke was “hilarious.” But people were still offended. And Sean Penn offered no apologies, half-assed or sincere.
I wonder if reporters will ask him about it while he promotes his new film, The Gunman. So far, this week, no one has asked him anything. We’ve been saying for months that Penn seems especially chilled out now that he’s with Charlize Theron, but I would imagine that if an enterprising journalist really pushed him about the joke, Penn would probably punch the journo. Meanwhile, Penn IS giving interesting quotes, just not about the Oscars. Penn spoke to the Shortlist this week about acting as a craft, a career and a living. Some highlights:
Penn doesn’t think much of actors these days: “I think many actors have disgraced their craft and are left to celebrity status in many cases. They’re mostly the punks for what the studio wants to do.”
He did ‘The Gunman’ for the money: “Listen man, you get divorced, you pay a few fines and you get involved in something where it’s hard to get people to dig in their pockets and you have to dig in your own, and you’ve got kids, and by the time you finish directing a movie you’ve paid for it more than you’ve been paid for it. There are a lot worse ways of making a living than doing something that fascinates you, and acting does fascinate me.”
Being famous versus being an actor: “I think acting today, by and large, is more associated with a fame-building game than anything to do with a gift. It’s supposed to be a giving and not taking industry, and today it’s more about the take.”
It’s not weird for a man his age to play the lead in an action film: “President Obama’s biggest surprise when he met the Seals who went into Abbottabad to get Bin Laden was that they were old. It’s also a conversation about who’s going to the movies these days. Maybe older people go the theatre more and will identify [with someone my age], while kids are looking at movies on their laptops.”
[From Shortlist via Channel 24 & The Irish Independent]
I enjoy the fact that he doesn’t see the hypocrisy of slamming actors for being studio chore-monkeys while admitting that yes, he signs on to movies just because he needs the money. I guess Sean Penn is the only one allowed to sell out in the name of craft, in the name of art. But when other actors try to balance studio projects to pay the bills and smaller, important work, suddenly they’re “punks” and “celebrities” (the ultimate pejorative, I suppose).
And I wonder what Charlize Theron thinks about that? She’s one of those actor/celebrities balancing small projects, studio projects and lucrative endorsement deals. Incidentally, when Sean and Charlize were in France for the Cesars, he spoke to a French outlet about Charlize. The reporter referred to Charlize as his girlfriend and Sean corrected him, saying: “No, no, excuse me, Charlize is not my girlfriend. She’s the love of my life.” God, they’re really doing this, aren’t they?
Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.
I had no idea he made this joke (slept through the Oscars) but I’m not surprised, look at his son, that behavior is learned.
Personally, I consider this idiot a disgrace to mankind given his treatment of Madonna in the past, and it pains me that Charlize allows him around her son.
He’s a tool, most of them are.
I have always thought ok maybe I can shake off the Madonna thing (I was somewhere bt 9 and 13…so formative! when it happened) bc he was AMAZING AMAZING and WONDERFUL on FRIENDS as Phoebes (really Ursulas) love interest -but in this one single moment (the Oscar surprise guest “green card” joke-
Damn
He lost me forever
There was nothing creative or clever
And definitely nothing funny
About a green card joke
Ugh
Just no
That’s all Ive got
Ugh
And …just…NO
SOMETIMES BEING ABLE TO SAY NO
IS
EVERYTHING!!!
Okay, that photo of Sean and Charlize should be captioned ” Beauty and The Beast” He looks rough there
Hey – do not insult my Beast from “The Beauty and the Beast” by comparing him to Sean. 😡
The Beast is more of a man than Sean will ever be.
Yes, you are right. The Beast was a real gentleman. Sean Penn not so much
Second that. No need to insult Disney : D
Haha well done!!!
A$$hat. That’s all I got.
That’s all you need.
Hee hee hee. This guy is endless entertainment
Great article @Kaiser but you wrote it like you actually expected/expect there to be an apology…from Sean Penn.
Youmustbenewhere.gif? 😉
I don’t like Sean Penn but I really don’t think there’s any need for him to apologize re: the Innaritu joke. They’re friends and it was said with affection.
Do you think he wanted to add (cough, RDJ, cough) after his griping?
Personally I think finding a balance between large and small films is ideal, but everyone has their own needs and career goals. And there are plenty of actors more interested in the craft than the celebrity- you just don’t hear about them so much because of that!
Well he’s son calls paps the N-word so I’m sure Penn was just joking and wasn’t reducing Latinos to immigration jokes.
That’s a good point. If I wanted to joke with an old friend at that moment, I probably would’ve said “who is this guy paying off for all these wins?” Or something like that. Going right to a green card joke is pretty telling.
Yeah that ‘joke’ was not cool. Maybe you can do that shit with your friend in private, but the OSCARS, a known racist backwards institution that does everything to not reward diversity is really not the place to come out and joke about stuff like that. Not cool. That was my problem with it. Not the joke itself (even though I do find it problematic) but the place and the industry he directed it at.
I agree with everything you said, and would just add that I feel for anyone watching with pride who had to hear that tiresome “joke.”
I just hate it when people say their current partner is the love of their lives while dissing/insulting their previous partners.
Sean Penn is a narcissistic megalomaniac who never apologizes, always insults her exes because they dared to dump him.
Charlize well is a known stuck up bi**h who is also narcissistic and in my opinion not a good mother who is dating a known women beater and someone who has a racist son.
I hope for the little boy’s sake that I am wrong and they are happy but their past and their personalities don’t give much hope.
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Lol @ report this comment …
You’re 100% accurate. They’re both insufferable and as I’ve said before I hope they make each other miserable.
“report this comment” wut wut? I co-sign Maya, these two richly deserve each other.
Charlize actually has a reputation for being professional and like one of the guys. In no way does she have a reputation like Sean Penn. Otherwise she would have never gotten work and so many friends with her co stars being a woman. She’s just a strong woman who naturally intimidates people and hates the paparazzi, so gossip people take it as her being a b*tch. To say she deserves an abusive jerk is unfair.
I would rather actors who care more about being famous and are fame-hungry than actors who beat their wives and have racist sons.
I wonder what Charlize thought about Sean’s son saying the n word? Did she even care?
You can’t blame him for what his son said in anger. Would you blame his mother? You also shouldn’t hold mistakes against people forever and their parents.
His piece is disgracing the craft.
I can’t believe him and Charlize are still together. They are serious about it aren’t they? Ugh
Insufferable.
I Rolled my eyes so hard and that Last little bit and OMGGGawed so hard people stared at me in the Panera Line
He really thinks he is awesome, doesn’t he? I am just floored by this fool. He and Kanye should totally work together. I’m sure that would end well. Or at least, amusingly.
I see there’s a good deal of dislike for this man — I suppose in some way I understand but I would say this; as an actor at times he has truly reached a level of genius. Some of his work is superb. It’s not unheard of to see great artists with great quirks and a good many personal flaws. Their talent doesn’t excuse bad deeds, but to some degree it seems to come with the territory.
Don’t attack me over stating some support. I just admire his skills.
I get what you’re saying. People have a hard time separating the person from the actor ,the art from the artist. There are a lot of people I like and admire ,but they might not have been good people. Miles Davis comes to mind. He was abusive and he wasn’t always a good person ,but he was a great musician.
Thank you, and a wonderful example indeed! I listen to Miles Davis frequently and have enormous admiration for his talent, BUT if I had a daughter I wouldn’t let her get within 10 feet of the man. Brilliant but toxic. It’s a fair person that attempts to understand both sides of that coin.
Thanks again.
Personally, I think he is absurdly overrated as an actor. He’s done some good work, but I just don’t get what the fuss is about. To this day I get irritated at the idea of wasting 2 hours of my life on Mystic River.
He’s such an ass. Right now he’s calling Charlize the love of his life, but he’ll do something stupid to mess that up too. He probably feels like he won the lottery right now landing someone like her at his age, so he’s treating her nice now, but eventually he’ll show his old self and she will kick him to the curb.
My problem with the younger batch of actors is that they all look alike and their acting styles are alike so you don’t get any sense of individuality. If you put the three Ryans – Reynolds, Gosling, and Phillippe – in a police line-up, I seriously would be hard pressed to tell them apart.
+++
Is it just the lighting, or does charlize have regrowth in this picture? That could certainly lend credence to the pregnancy rumours.
The difference between Sean and the studio punks is that he has the artistic runs on the board. The punks don’t. And to hell with the patronizing assholes who have decided to be offended on Alejandro’s behalf. I can’t get over the nerve of people who expect an apology for comment that wasn’t even directed at them, especially when the person it was directed at thought it was funny.
Wow! Finally someone I agree with! I don’t like him at all, but I think all the PC stuff is way too much, to the point of inhibiting free speech. He was making a joke that was probably an inside joke between him and his friend/colleague. Alejandro says he wasn’t offended and thought it was funny. I don’t think he owes any kind of apology to anyone. People get their panties all twisted in a wad over the dumbest things these days.
Ugh shut your ugly pie hole, Penn.
I can’t wait for the day Charlize dumps his arrogant, narcissist ass and suddenly she will be a bitch from hell and his new 30-something girlfriend will be the love of his life.
Please crawl under the nearest rock so we don’t have to witness your continued douche baggery.
Why should he apologize? The remark he made was for his friend who was not offended at all and liked it.
Thank you. This, this, THIS. Getting a little tired of all the apologies. What does some forced PR-crafted line of bull ever accomplish?
You’ve got every right to think what you want about people, roll your eyes at Sean Penn and think (or say, or tweet), “what a jackass.” But you’re not owed diddly. Life’s tough. Get a helmet.
YES! YES! YES! I’m so very tired (and actually afraid) of how limited everyone is in what they can say. There’s no such thing as free speech anymore because the PC police are always ready to burn someone at the stake for saying something they don’t agree with, or could possibly offend someone.