Remember that Oscar that Sean Penn pulled out of a duffel bag and gave to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky in 2022 — the one Zelensky said he couldn’t accept and then Penn insisted was a loan rather than a gift (“When you win, bring it back to Malibu”)? Photos of the gifting were never clear enough to determine which of Penn’s two best actor statuettes — the one for Mystic River or the one for Milk — had been handed over, and when THR asked Penn directly in 2024, he wouldn’t say. But now, two years later, Rambling has solved the mystery.
Following a forensic examination worthy of a CSI episode all its own (actually, we just dug up some photos nobody else had bothered to look at and blew them up), it can now be confirmed: It was the Mystic River one.
Penn, a best supporting actor nominee this year for One Battle After Another, has a complicated relationship with his Oscars. Several months before lending Zelensky his trophy, he threatened to melt both of his statuettes if the Academy didn’t allow Zelensky — who had expressed interest in addressing the ceremony — to speak. The Academy declined. Penn never got around to melting them.
Does the choice of Mystic River over Milk signify anything? That’s a mystery for another day.
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This story appeared in the March 11 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
