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Tag: Sean Penn

  • Sean Penn’s ‘Black Flies’ shocks Cannes with graphic imagery

    By IANS

    LOS ANGELES: ‘Black Flies’, the Sean Penn and Tye Sheridan film about emergency medical first responders, smacked the Cannes Film Festival in the face with a brutal world premiere.

    Splattered brains, dead dogs, an addict giving birth with a needle dangling from her arm – these and a litany of other horrors confronted Penn and Sheridan, who play veteran and rookie paramedics, respectively, at the New York Fire Department, reports ‘Variety’.

    Interestingly enough, the black-tie screening at the Grand Palais enjoyed the dose of reality, giving the film a five-minute standing ovation.

    “We carry the misery,” a weary Penn tells Sheridan in the film of their chosen profession. That’s an understatement, as chaos unfolds neighbourhood by neighbourhood in a portrait of an unforgiving city.

    As per ‘Variety’, ‘Black Flies’ stars Sheridan as Ollie Cross, a young paramedic in New York City who is mentored by Penn’s more-experienced EMT. The two are forced to face extreme violence during their shifts, from blood-soaked gunshot wounds to disturbing scenes of domestic violence and life-threatening pregnancies, forcing Ollie to confront his beliefs about life and death.

    Legendary boxer Mike Tyson also stars in the film as Chief Burroughs, Sheridan and Penn’s superior officer.

    LOS ANGELES: ‘Black Flies’, the Sean Penn and Tye Sheridan film about emergency medical first responders, smacked the Cannes Film Festival in the face with a brutal world premiere.

    Splattered brains, dead dogs, an addict giving birth with a needle dangling from her arm – these and a litany of other horrors confronted Penn and Sheridan, who play veteran and rookie paramedics, respectively, at the New York Fire Department, reports ‘Variety’.

    Interestingly enough, the black-tie screening at the Grand Palais enjoyed the dose of reality, giving the film a five-minute standing ovation.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    “We carry the misery,” a weary Penn tells Sheridan in the film of their chosen profession. That’s an understatement, as chaos unfolds neighbourhood by neighbourhood in a portrait of an unforgiving city.

    As per ‘Variety’, ‘Black Flies’ stars Sheridan as Ollie Cross, a young paramedic in New York City who is mentored by Penn’s more-experienced EMT. The two are forced to face extreme violence during their shifts, from blood-soaked gunshot wounds to disturbing scenes of domestic violence and life-threatening pregnancies, forcing Ollie to confront his beliefs about life and death.

    Legendary boxer Mike Tyson also stars in the film as Chief Burroughs, Sheridan and Penn’s superior officer.

  • ‘Zelenskyy born for this moment’: Actor Sean Penn at 73rd Berlin International Film Festival

    By Associated Press

    BERLIN: Just hours before Russia began its invasion of Ukraine nearly a year ago, actor Sean Penn had his first on-camera meeting with the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

    “It was as if he was realizing himself, that he was born for this moment,” Penn recalled in an interview with The Associated Press at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival on Saturday, a day after the festival premiere of his documentary “Superpower.”

    Penn and his co-director Aaron Kaufman were in Kyiv to film a profile of the comedic actor-turned-president when the war broke out. It would be the image of the president walking into the room for that first interview that would have the biggest impact on Penn.

    “It’s hard to explain, but there was a resolve in reaction to something that no one has ever faced before,” Penn said.

    At a press conference also Saturday, Penn said they returned to the hotel after the interview and the shelling started that very night. When they first met Zelenskyy, he had “a proper suit and a proper office.”

    “The next time we saw him, he was in camos and his country was at war,” Penn said.

    The outbreak of war sent the documentary on an unexpected track. The film contains further interviews with the president conducted over the past year.

    Producer Billy Smith, from left, director Sean Penn, left, producers Aaron Kaufman, Lauren Terp and Danny Gabai at the International Film Festival ‘Berlinale’, in Berlin. (Photo | AP)

    After completing the project, the pair continued to speak off-camera. Zelenskyy presented the Hollywood star — who has been involved in numerous international humanitarian and anti-war efforts over the years — with the Ukrainian Order of Merit last year.

    Penn was also given a plaque on a Kyiv walkway honouring world leaders who have shown solidarity with Ukraine.

    ALSO READ | ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ wins big at 2023 BAFTA Awards

    Penn told the AP that people would be most surprised by Zelenskyy’s “command of the mechanisms of government.”

    “Not only his, but all of those upon whom he is reliant, his sense of mapping the diplomatic territory,” he said. “He’s on fire. He has that extreme gift for politics.”Penn recalled the “civility” he saw when leaving Ukraine via the Polish border a few days after the invasion began.

    “No one was honking. No one was trying to drive around the other and take and there was a kind of quiet acceptance,” Penn said during the interview. “You know, and these were families being torn apart. Some, most remain torn apart.”

    During a later visit to Ukraine, Penn loaned one of his two Oscars to Zelenskyy, telling him: “When you win, bring it back to Malibu.”

    “The Oscar is there in his office and it’s ready to be melted anytime he wants to melt it,” Penn clarified in the press conference after threatening to smelt his awards in public if Zelenskyy was not on the program for last year’s Oscar telecast.

    The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences did not include a video address from the president, opting instead for a moment of silence in support of the people of Ukraine. Zelenskyy did address the opening of the Berlinale on Thursday, exhorting artists and filmmakers to express support for Ukraine.

    Penn said at the press conference that the gift of the Oscar was inspired by his “continuing shame towards the leadership of the Academy, the motion picture academy, in choosing to present Will Smith smacking Chris Rock rather than the greatest symbol of cinema and humanity living today on their broadcast.”

    Penn’s two Oscars both were for best actor, in 2003 for “Mystic River” and in 2008 for “Milk.” His previous directing credits include “Flag Day,” “Into the Wild” and “The Pledge.”

    While it is not unusual for entertainment personalities to get behind a cause, “Superpower” sees Penn travel all the way to the front line of the war to talk to soldiers in the trenches. When it comes to his drive and determination, the star couldn’t tell you where that comes from.

    “I could make up a number of answers” he joked to the AP. “It’s something I just don’t really ultimately think about, though I’ve been asked many times. … I don’t have the words for it.” 

    BERLIN: Just hours before Russia began its invasion of Ukraine nearly a year ago, actor Sean Penn had his first on-camera meeting with the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

    “It was as if he was realizing himself, that he was born for this moment,” Penn recalled in an interview with The Associated Press at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival on Saturday, a day after the festival premiere of his documentary “Superpower.”

    Penn and his co-director Aaron Kaufman were in Kyiv to film a profile of the comedic actor-turned-president when the war broke out. It would be the image of the president walking into the room for that first interview that would have the biggest impact on Penn.

    “It’s hard to explain, but there was a resolve in reaction to something that no one has ever faced before,” Penn said.

    At a press conference also Saturday, Penn said they returned to the hotel after the interview and the shelling started that very night. When they first met Zelenskyy, he had “a proper suit and a proper office.”

    “The next time we saw him, he was in camos and his country was at war,” Penn said.

    The outbreak of war sent the documentary on an unexpected track. The film contains further interviews with the president conducted over the past year.

    Producer Billy Smith, from left, director Sean Penn, left, producers Aaron Kaufman, Lauren Terp and Danny Gabai at the International Film Festival ‘Berlinale’, in Berlin. (Photo | AP)

    After completing the project, the pair continued to speak off-camera. Zelenskyy presented the Hollywood star — who has been involved in numerous international humanitarian and anti-war efforts over the years — with the Ukrainian Order of Merit last year.

    Penn was also given a plaque on a Kyiv walkway honouring world leaders who have shown solidarity with Ukraine.

    ALSO READ | ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ wins big at 2023 BAFTA Awards

    Penn told the AP that people would be most surprised by Zelenskyy’s “command of the mechanisms of government.”

    “Not only his, but all of those upon whom he is reliant, his sense of mapping the diplomatic territory,” he said. “He’s on fire. He has that extreme gift for politics.”
    Penn recalled the “civility” he saw when leaving Ukraine via the Polish border a few days after the invasion began.

    “No one was honking. No one was trying to drive around the other and take and there was a kind of quiet acceptance,” Penn said during the interview. “You know, and these were families being torn apart. Some, most remain torn apart.”

    During a later visit to Ukraine, Penn loaned one of his two Oscars to Zelenskyy, telling him: “When you win, bring it back to Malibu.”

    “The Oscar is there in his office and it’s ready to be melted anytime he wants to melt it,” Penn clarified in the press conference after threatening to smelt his awards in public if Zelenskyy was not on the program for last year’s Oscar telecast.

    The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences did not include a video address from the president, opting instead for a moment of silence in support of the people of Ukraine. Zelenskyy did address the opening of the Berlinale on Thursday, exhorting artists and filmmakers to express support for Ukraine.

    Penn said at the press conference that the gift of the Oscar was inspired by his “continuing shame towards the leadership of the Academy, the motion picture academy, in choosing to present Will Smith smacking Chris Rock rather than the greatest symbol of cinema and humanity living today on their broadcast.”

    Penn’s two Oscars both were for best actor, in 2003 for “Mystic River” and in 2008 for “Milk.” His previous directing credits include “Flag Day,” “Into the Wild” and “The Pledge.”

    While it is not unusual for entertainment personalities to get behind a cause, “Superpower” sees Penn travel all the way to the front line of the war to talk to soldiers in the trenches. When it comes to his drive and determination, the star couldn’t tell you where that comes from.

    “I could make up a number of answers” he joked to the AP. “It’s something I just don’t really ultimately think about, though I’ve been asked many times. … I don’t have the words for it.”
     

  • Sean Penn premieres love letter to Ukraine at Berlin fest

    By AFP

    Sean Penn premiered “Superpower”, his admiring portrait of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at war, telling the Berlin film festival Saturday the movie was also a wakeup call about Americans’ own fragile democracy.

    The two-time Oscar winner was in Kyiv making a documentary about Zelensky’s rise from comedian to national leader when Russia invaded nearly one year ago.

    In a series of interviews on that first terrifying night and during the initial months of the onslaught, Penn and Zelensky built up what they both call a close friendship.

    “It was a very moving way to start to get to know somebody,” Penn told reporters.

    “Aside from meeting my children at their birth, the highlight of (my life was) meeting and sensing a great human heart of courage that day with that man.”

     ‘Propagandist’ 

    Zelensky joined Penn by video link at the festival’s opening ceremony Thursday to ask for the entertainment industry’s sustained help in keeping Western countries united behind Ukraine.

    “Cinema cannot change the world,” said Zelensky. “But it can influence and inspire people who can change the world.”

    The trained actor stresses in the film that the more quickly the war is ended, the less likely “Americans will have to fight” one day in a Russian war against NATO.

    Penn, who appears in almost every scene of the two-hour movie made for Vice Media, said he was okay with being called a “propagandist”.

    “We made a very unapologetically biased film because that was the true story we found,” he said.

    Often self-deprecating on screen, the actor admits he was a naive “Pollyanna” before the war, never believing that Russia’s Vladimir Putin would go through with a full-scale invasion.

    As he heads to the front line in the Donbas region, he jokes when he is handed a knife that the Ukrainian people can now rest easy because “Sean Penn is armed”, before brandishing two clenched fists at the camera.

    In addition to Zelensky, Penn speaks with diplomats, reporters and analysts as well as Ukrainian soldiers and pro-democracy activists to offer an “idiot’s guide” to the last decade of Ukrainian history.

     ‘Vital and vain’ 

    The film’s title comes from a scene in Zelensky’s hit comedy show “Servant of the People” in which he tells his young son that he will protect him from any threat using his “superpower” — his love for his family.

    But it is also an ironic reference to the United States and Russia. Penn argues that Ukraine could be now seen as “the better us” — a new global beacon for freedom and democracy.

    “Growing up in the United States — this won’t be news to you — we are born with a misguided sense of exceptionalism,” Penn said.

    He said that while America was now riven with political and cultural strife, he found in Ukraine “absolute unity pursuing all those things that without which life is not worth living”.

    “These people are doing what they have to do simply because they love their country and they love each other,” he said.

    “So the lesson is simple and we should we should all honour them by doing our best to follow it.”

    He called for the West to step up its military support for Ukraine.

    “The most significant humanitarian response that can happen right now is the delivery and supply of long-range precision missiles,” Penn said.

    Initial reviews of the film were mixed, with The Hollywood Reporter calling the project “both vital and vain”.

    “It would be easy to write the whole thing off as one big and slightly dangerous vanity project, but let’s be honest: This war concerns all of us, and the actor is doing all he can to help the good guys,” its reviewer Jordan Mintzer wrote.

    “Superpower” is running out of competition at the Berlin film festival, Europe’s first major cinema showcase of the year. The 11-day event is spotlighting Ukraine with a series of new documentaries and feature films.

    Sean Penn premiered “Superpower”, his admiring portrait of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at war, telling the Berlin film festival Saturday the movie was also a wakeup call about Americans’ own fragile democracy.

    The two-time Oscar winner was in Kyiv making a documentary about Zelensky’s rise from comedian to national leader when Russia invaded nearly one year ago.

    In a series of interviews on that first terrifying night and during the initial months of the onslaught, Penn and Zelensky built up what they both call a close friendship.

    “It was a very moving way to start to get to know somebody,” Penn told reporters.

    “Aside from meeting my children at their birth, the highlight of (my life was) meeting and sensing a great human heart of courage that day with that man.”

     ‘Propagandist’ 

    Zelensky joined Penn by video link at the festival’s opening ceremony Thursday to ask for the entertainment industry’s sustained help in keeping Western countries united behind Ukraine.

    “Cinema cannot change the world,” said Zelensky. “But it can influence and inspire people who can change the world.”

    The trained actor stresses in the film that the more quickly the war is ended, the less likely “Americans will have to fight” one day in a Russian war against NATO.

    Penn, who appears in almost every scene of the two-hour movie made for Vice Media, said he was okay with being called a “propagandist”.

    “We made a very unapologetically biased film because that was the true story we found,” he said.

    Often self-deprecating on screen, the actor admits he was a naive “Pollyanna” before the war, never believing that Russia’s Vladimir Putin would go through with a full-scale invasion.

    As he heads to the front line in the Donbas region, he jokes when he is handed a knife that the Ukrainian people can now rest easy because “Sean Penn is armed”, before brandishing two clenched fists at the camera.

    In addition to Zelensky, Penn speaks with diplomats, reporters and analysts as well as Ukrainian soldiers and pro-democracy activists to offer an “idiot’s guide” to the last decade of Ukrainian history.

     ‘Vital and vain’ 

    The film’s title comes from a scene in Zelensky’s hit comedy show “Servant of the People” in which he tells his young son that he will protect him from any threat using his “superpower” — his love for his family.

    But it is also an ironic reference to the United States and Russia. Penn argues that Ukraine could be now seen as “the better us” — a new global beacon for freedom and democracy.

    “Growing up in the United States — this won’t be news to you — we are born with a misguided sense of exceptionalism,” Penn said.

    He said that while America was now riven with political and cultural strife, he found in Ukraine “absolute unity pursuing all those things that without which life is not worth living”.

    “These people are doing what they have to do simply because they love their country and they love each other,” he said.

    “So the lesson is simple and we should we should all honour them by doing our best to follow it.”

    He called for the West to step up its military support for Ukraine.

    “The most significant humanitarian response that can happen right now is the delivery and supply of long-range precision missiles,” Penn said.

    Initial reviews of the film were mixed, with The Hollywood Reporter calling the project “both vital and vain”.

    “It would be easy to write the whole thing off as one big and slightly dangerous vanity project, but let’s be honest: This war concerns all of us, and the actor is doing all he can to help the good guys,” its reviewer Jordan Mintzer wrote.

    “Superpower” is running out of competition at the Berlin film festival, Europe’s first major cinema showcase of the year. The 11-day event is spotlighting Ukraine with a series of new documentaries and feature films.

  • Berlin film fest to beam in Ukrainian President Zelensky for opener with actor Sean Penn

    By AFP

    BERLIN: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will join Hollywood actor Sean Penn by video link on Thursday at the opening of the Berlinale, Europe’s first major film festival of the year, as it spotlights the fight for freedom in Ukraine and Iran.

    The 73rd annual event, traditionally the most politically minded of the three big European cinema showcases, will mark the Russian invasion’s first anniversary as well as anti-regime protests in Iran with new feature films and documentaries.

    US actor Kristen Stewart (“Spencer”), head of the jury for the Golden and Silver Bear top prizes, told reporters it was “an enormous opportunity to have a hand in highlighting beautiful things” in the face of global turmoil.

    “It’s the job of an artist to take a disgusting and ugly thing and sort of transmute it and put it through your body and pump out something more beautiful…in response to the world that’s falling apart around us,” she said.

    Artistic director Carlo Chatrian said the festival stood with “the suffering population, the millions who left Ukraine and the artists (who) have remained defending the country and continue filming the war,” adding that it was a “special honour” to welcome Zelensky digitally.

    Penn will appear on stage at the opening gala in the German capital and introduce Zelensky who will speak via video stream, organisers said.

    The two-time Oscar winner, who was filming in Kyiv at the start of the Russian onslaught, will on Friday premiere “Superpower”, tracking Zelensky’s transformation from comedian to president to war hero.

    “Zelensky was two completely different creatures from one day to the next,” Penn told entertainment industry magazine Variety this week about the impact of the invasion. “He was a spirit in waiting.”

    Beyond movie screenings, the Berlinale plans panel discussions with embattled directors and red-carpet protests in a show of “solidarity” with the people of Iran and Ukraine.

    Animation back in forceThe Berlinale has barred filmmakers, companies and reporters with direct ties to the Russian or Iranian governments from taking part in the event, including its sprawling European Film Market, a key movie rights exchange for the industry.

    Hollywood actors Peter Dinklage, Anne Hathaway and Marisa Tomei will later Thursday present romantic comedy “She Came to Me”, the first of nearly 300 new movies from around the world to screen during the 11-day event.

    Nineteen films will vie for the main awards, including British-US co-production “Manodrome” featuring Jesse Eisenberg and Adrien Brody in a thriller about an Uber driver who is lured into a cult while he is expecting his first child.

    Two Asian animated pictures will also join the running, “Art College 1994” by China’s Liu Jian and Makoto Shinkai’s “Suzume”, the first Japanese anime to compete at the Berlinale since Hayao Miyazaki’s “Spirited Away” clinched the Golden Bear in 2002.

    READ HERE | Ukraine directors bring horrors of Russian invasion to Sundance film festival

    Gold for SpielbergThree-time Academy Award winner Steven Spielberg is to collect an honorary Golden Bear for his life’s work, spotlighted in a retrospective.

    British actor Helen Mirren will unveil the keenly awaited “Golda” in which she stars as Israel’s only female prime minister, Golda Meir.

    And Vicky Krieps, the acclaimed Luxembourg-born actor from “Phantom Thread” and “Corsage”, will present her turn as renowned Austrian writer Ingeborg Bachmann in a biopic by veteran German director Margarethe von Trotta.

    One-third of the films in competition are by women, who make up 40 percent of all directors represented at the festival.

    “Love to Love You”, a documentary about disco queen Donna Summer, who defined an era on the dance floor and helped inspire Beyonce’s latest album “Renaissance”, will have its world premiere.

    The film was co-directed by Summer’s daughter, Brooklyn Sudano, and features never-before-seen home videos.

    The Berlinale ranks with Cannes and Venice among Europe’s top film festivals. It will hand out the top prizes on February 25 before wrapping up the next day with screenings of popular movies from this year’s selection.

    ALSO READ | Golden Globe-winning ‘Naatu Naatu’ song from ‘RRR’ has a Ukrainian connection

    BERLIN: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will join Hollywood actor Sean Penn by video link on Thursday at the opening of the Berlinale, Europe’s first major film festival of the year, as it spotlights the fight for freedom in Ukraine and Iran.

    The 73rd annual event, traditionally the most politically minded of the three big European cinema showcases, will mark the Russian invasion’s first anniversary as well as anti-regime protests in Iran with new feature films and documentaries.

    US actor Kristen Stewart (“Spencer”), head of the jury for the Golden and Silver Bear top prizes, told reporters it was “an enormous opportunity to have a hand in highlighting beautiful things” in the face of global turmoil.

    “It’s the job of an artist to take a disgusting and ugly thing and sort of transmute it and put it through your body and pump out something more beautiful…in response to the world that’s falling apart around us,” she said.

    Artistic director Carlo Chatrian said the festival stood with “the suffering population, the millions who left Ukraine and the artists (who) have remained defending the country and continue filming the war,” adding that it was a “special honour” to welcome Zelensky digitally.

    Penn will appear on stage at the opening gala in the German capital and introduce Zelensky who will speak via video stream, organisers said.

    The two-time Oscar winner, who was filming in Kyiv at the start of the Russian onslaught, will on Friday premiere “Superpower”, tracking Zelensky’s transformation from comedian to president to war hero.

    “Zelensky was two completely different creatures from one day to the next,” Penn told entertainment industry magazine Variety this week about the impact of the invasion. “He was a spirit in waiting.”

    Beyond movie screenings, the Berlinale plans panel discussions with embattled directors and red-carpet protests in a show of “solidarity” with the people of Iran and Ukraine.

    Animation back in force
    The Berlinale has barred filmmakers, companies and reporters with direct ties to the Russian or Iranian governments from taking part in the event, including its sprawling European Film Market, a key movie rights exchange for the industry.

    Hollywood actors Peter Dinklage, Anne Hathaway and Marisa Tomei will later Thursday present romantic comedy “She Came to Me”, the first of nearly 300 new movies from around the world to screen during the 11-day event.

    Nineteen films will vie for the main awards, including British-US co-production “Manodrome” featuring Jesse Eisenberg and Adrien Brody in a thriller about an Uber driver who is lured into a cult while he is expecting his first child.

    Two Asian animated pictures will also join the running, “Art College 1994” by China’s Liu Jian and Makoto Shinkai’s “Suzume”, the first Japanese anime to compete at the Berlinale since Hayao Miyazaki’s “Spirited Away” clinched the Golden Bear in 2002.

    READ HERE | Ukraine directors bring horrors of Russian invasion to Sundance film festival

    Gold for Spielberg
    Three-time Academy Award winner Steven Spielberg is to collect an honorary Golden Bear for his life’s work, spotlighted in a retrospective.

    British actor Helen Mirren will unveil the keenly awaited “Golda” in which she stars as Israel’s only female prime minister, Golda Meir.

    And Vicky Krieps, the acclaimed Luxembourg-born actor from “Phantom Thread” and “Corsage”, will present her turn as renowned Austrian writer Ingeborg Bachmann in a biopic by veteran German director Margarethe von Trotta.

    One-third of the films in competition are by women, who make up 40 percent of all directors represented at the festival.

    “Love to Love You”, a documentary about disco queen Donna Summer, who defined an era on the dance floor and helped inspire Beyonce’s latest album “Renaissance”, will have its world premiere.

    The film was co-directed by Summer’s daughter, Brooklyn Sudano, and features never-before-seen home videos.

    The Berlinale ranks with Cannes and Venice among Europe’s top film festivals. It will hand out the top prizes on February 25 before wrapping up the next day with screenings of popular movies from this year’s selection.

    ALSO READ | Golden Globe-winning ‘Naatu Naatu’ song from ‘RRR’ has a Ukrainian connection

  • Sean Penn, Leila George finalise divorce after almost two years of marriage

    By IANS

    LOS ANGELES: Hollywood star Sean Penn and actress Leila George, who got married in July 2020, have finalised their divorce after almost two years of their marriage.

    According to people.com, the Oscar winner, 61, and the Australian actress, 30, first became romantically linked in 2016.

    George then filed for divorce in October 2021 after just over a year of marriage.

    In January 2022, the pair, who have been spotted out together since the filing, including on New Year’s Eve, retained their own private judge in order to expedite the divorce process through California’s backlogged courts.

    On Friday, their divorce was finalised and approved, according to documents obtained by People.

    The documents state that Penn and George officially separated in September 2021, and cite irreconcilable differences as the reason behind their breakup. Neither is seeking spousal support from the other.

    Earlier this month, Penn spoke with the magazine Hollywood Authentic in support of his work in Ukraine amid the ongoing Russian invasion, and he also opened up about his relationship as well, including how he “f***** up the marriage” by being “very neglectful”.

    “There’s a woman who I’m so in love with, Leila George, who I only see on a day-to-day basis now, because I f***** up the marriage. We were married technically for one year, but for five years, I was a very neglectful guy,” he said.

    “I was not a f****** cheat or any of that obvious s***, but I allowed myself to think that my place in so many other things was so important, and that included my place in being totally depressed and driven to alcohol and Ambien at 11 o’clock in the morning, by watching the news, by watching the Trump era, by watching it and just despairing,” Penn continued.

    The ‘Gaslit’ star added of George” “And as it turns out, this is going to shock you, beautiful, incredibly kind, imaginative, talented young women who get married to a man quite senior to them in years, they don’t actually love it when they get up from their peaceful night’s sleep and their new husband is on the couch, having been up since 4, watching all of the crap that’s going on in the world and has decided that 10.30 in the morning is a good time to neck a double vodka tonic and an Ambien and say, ‘Good morning, honey. I’m going to pass out for a few hours and get away from all this s***’.”

    “As it turns out, women as described, they don’t love that,” he said.

    Penn added at the time that he did not “know what’s going to happen with us”, but, “I know that this is my best friend in the world and definitely the most influential, inspiring person, outside of my own blood, that anybody could ask to have in their life”.

    Penn was previously married to Robin Wright, 56, with whom he shares daughter Dylan, 31, and son Hopper, 28.

    He was also married to Madonna from 1985 to 1989.

  • Actor Sean Penn plans to help Ukrainian refugees through his charity

    By IANS

    LOS ANGELES: Award winning-actor Sean Penn has been filming a documentary about the Russian invasion of the country, and he’s now struck a deal with Mayor of Krakow Jacek Majchrowski to supply aid to Ukrainian refugees through his charity.After signing the agreement, Penn said during a Q and A: “We intend to stay the course. “This is one of the most heartbreaking moments in most of our lifetimes for the world at large and it is a crisis at large.” Penn previously spent time at the Ukrainian border and witnessed the scale of the refugee crisis for himself, reports femalefirst.co.uk.Following a brief return home to Los Angeles, he’s now back in Poland and determined to offer as much help and support as possible.Discussing his efforts to help the people of Ukraine, the actor said: “I’m going to do everything I can do. Whether is me being here, or coming back many times, or just coming back to shake the hands of the people who are doing the work.” “They can count on me as I count on them.”Earlier this month, Penn confessed to being startled by what he witnessed on the border between Poland and Ukraine.The Oscar-winning actor shared: “We had the luxury of being able to abandon a rented vehicle on the side of the road. This was a startling thing to me; it was mostly women and children, some in groups and some just a mother and her child, in almost all of those cars.”In some cases, the father was dropping them off and returning, because we know that from 18 to 60, men are not to leave, they’re to stay in the resistance against Russia.”

  • Sean Penn opens up about his meeting with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

    By ANI

    WASHINGTON: Academy Award-winning actor Sean Penn, who was in Ukraine to film a documentary on Russia’s conflict with the neighbouring country, recently opened up about his experience witnessing the situation of people amid the crisis — especially while joining the fleeing Ukrainians on the exodus across the Polish border.

    In a televised interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Sean said that he and his team members had “the luxury of being able to abandon a rented vehicle on the side of the road” but that “a startling thing” to him was just how many women and children were attempting to make their way across the border, The Hollywood Reporter reported.

    He mentioned some were travelling in groups, others alone, with men “dropping them off and returning because we know that from 18 to 60, men are not to leave” in order to aid in the country’s resistance against Russia.

    Sean also spoke about meeting Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and how his courage has impressed him.

    “I don’t know if he knew that he was born for this, but it was clear I was in the presence of something. And again, I think reflected of so many Ukrainians, that was new to the modern world in terms of courage and dignity, and love that comes out of the man and the way he has unified that country,” he said.

    The conflict began escalating after Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24 announced the military operation in Ukraine and warned other countries that any attempt to interfere with the Russian action would lead to “consequences they have never seen”, and since then thousands of Ukrainians, both civilians and troops, have been killed. 

  • Director Sean Penn filming documentary on Russian invasion 

    By Express News Service

    Hollywood star and filmmaker Sean Penn, who is known for his association with anti-war and humanitarian causes, is in Ukraine filming a documentary on the Russian invasion, reports Variety.

    The Oscar winner appeared at a press briefing on Thursday (U.S. Pacific Standard Time) in Kyiv, listening to government officials of Ukraine talking about the ongoing crisis. The documentary is a Vice Studios production in association with Vice World News and Endeavor Content. The actor last visited Ukraine in November 2021 to start the preparations for his documentary by visiting the country’s military installations.

    “Penn has visited the Office of the President and spoken with [Ukrainian] Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk, as well as local journalists and members of the Ukrainian military,” Newsweek reported. The Office of the President issued a statement through the Ukrainian embassy praising the Oscar-winning actor and filmmaker. The statement’s translation accessed read: “The director specially came to Kyiv to record all the events that are currently happening in Ukraine and to tell the world the truth about Russia’s invasion of our country.”

    The statement added: “Sean Penn is among those who support Ukraine in Ukraine today. Our country is grateful to him for such a show of courage and honesty. Sean Penn is demonstrating bravery that many others have been lacking, in particular some Western politicians. The more people like that—true friends of Ukraine, who support the fight for freedom—the quicker we can stop this heinous invasion by Russia.”

  • Gibbering fool: Thandiwe Newton slams Sean Penn for ‘men being too feminised’ statement

    By PTI

    LOS ANGELES: British star Thandiwe Newton has criticised Academy Award-winning actor Sean Penn for his recent comments that American men are becoming “wildly feminised”.

    Penn, who won Oscar trophies for “The Milk” and “Mystic River”, had late last month raised eyebrows after he said that being masculine is not always toxic.

    Newton posted a retort on social media, calling the 61-year-old actor a “jibbering fool”.

    .⁦@SeanPenn⁩ Dude what are you SAY-ING?? Like for REAL? You’re a jibbering FOOL. MF you used to be sexy but now you’re just tragic Men for Becoming ‘Feminized’ – Variety https://t.co/MXKD474ihJ
    — Thandiwe Newton (@ThandiweNewton) January 30, 2022
    “@SeanPenn Dude what are you SAY-ING?? Like for REAL? You’re a jibbering FOOL. you used to be sexy but now you’re just tragic,” she wrote alongside a link to an article about Penn’s remarks.

    “In front of your DAUGHTER!? That poor little mite. Thank God her Mum’s so dope. Please stop ruining the brilliance of #LicoricePizza with this nonsense,” she added.

    Penn first made the remarks during an interview with an American newspaper.

    “I am in the club that believes that men in American culture have become wildly feminized. I don’t think that being a brute or having insensitivity or disrespect for women is anything to do with masculinity, or ever did. But I don’t think that (in order) to be fair to women, we should become them,” he had said.

    Later, in another interview with British publication The Independent, the actor was asked to clarify his comments.

    “I think that men have, in my view, become quite feminised. I have these very strong women in my life who do not take masculinity as a sign of oppression toward them. There are a lot of, I think, cowardly genes that lead to people surrendering their jeans and putting on a skirt,” he said.

    At the time, he was promoting his film “Flag Day” alongside his daughter, Dylan Penn.

    The Independent in its article stated that Penn’s statement on men becoming “quite feminised” left his daughter “quiet, staring into space”.

  • Sean Penn wants all cast, crew members of ‘Gaslit’ to be vaccinated

    By ANI
    WASHINGTON: Hollywood star Sean Penn has refused to return to work on Starz’s Watergate series ‘Gaslit’ until all cast and crew on the production have had the COVID-19 vaccine.

    According to The Hollywood Reporter, the actor’s firm position on mandatory vaccinations comes on the heels of a big spike in virus cases as the highly contagious delta variant spreads throughout California and U.S.

    In Los Angeles County, COVID-19 cases have reached levels not seen since the waning days of the winter spike. Local officials have even warned the vaccinated to also take precautions.

    Penn, who is fully vaccinated and recently returned from Cannes where his film ‘Flag Day’ premiered, has offered to help the Burbank-based production’s vaccination efforts for free through his non-profit CORE.

    The production of ‘Gaslit’ is already subject to Zone A restrictions, where producers have mandated vaccines for cast and crew. Under the current safety protocols, sets are divided up into different “zones” that correspond to proximity to actors and different levels of protection needed.

    Zone A is typically the area on set where cast and crew have to work in close proximity, often without personal protective equipment. Penn, however, wants stricter rules and to include people outside or in close proximity to Zone A.

    Based on Slate’s ‘Slow Burn’ podcast, ‘Gaslit’ is a modern take on Watergate and tells the untold stories of the forgotten characters in the scandal that brought down President Richard Nixon.

    In the series, Penn portrays lawyer and convicted criminal John N. Mitchell, with Julia Roberts starring as Martha Mitchell. The cast also includes Shea Whigham as G. Gordon Liddy and Darby Camp as Mitchell’s daughter, Marty. Betty Gilpin will star as Maureen “Mo” Kane Dean, the wife of John Dean played by Dan Stevens.

    According to The Hollywood Reporter, Matt Ross will direct and executive produce the series. The series will be produced by UCP, a division of Universal Studio Group, for Starz, with Robbie Pickering on board as showrunner.