Getty Image
After seeing Will Smith slap Chris Rock during the 2022 Academy Awards ceremony, two-time winner Sean Penn, in his disgust, decided that he wanted to have his Oscar trophies melted down so they could be turned into bullets to be used in Ukraine’s defense of itself against Russia.
In a recent interview with Variety, the 63-year-old Penn — who has won the Oscar for Best Actor for his performances in 2003’s Mystic River and 2008’s Milk –revealed his bizarre reaction to Will Smith’s infamous slap of Chris Rock.
“Penn tells me he became convinced his only choice was to destroy his Oscars. “I thought, well, f—, you know? I’ll give them to Ukraine. They can be melted down to bullets they can shoot at the Russians.” [via Variety]
Perhaps the only stranger reaction to that now iconic Hollywood moment was that of Judd Apatow, who hopped on Twitter that night to hilariously proclaim that Smith “could have killed” Rock. The tweet, of course, has since been deleted. But the internet never forgets.
In addition to his comments about melting his Oscar awards — which he ultimately didn’t do, instead giving one to Ukranian President Zelenskyy — Penn also had a bizarre rebuttal to Hollywood studios’ desires to utilize artificial intelligence. It’s also unclear what he did with his other Academy Award trophy.
According to Penn, if “they [the studios] want my [facial] scans and voice data,” then he thinks it’s only “fair” that he “wants their daughters” so he can create “a virtual replica of her and invite my friends over to do whatever we want in a virtual party right now.”
“So you want my scans and voice data and all that. OK, here’s what I think is fair: I want your daughter’s, because I want to create a virtual replica of her and invite my friends over to do whatever we want in a virtual party right now. Would you please look at the camera and tell me you think that’s cool?” [via Variety]
The context of Penn’s comments is that one of the major roadblocks in bringing both the actors’ and writers’ strikes to an end is the studios’ desire to use AI in multiple ways, including even potentially creating extras to populate the backgrounds of movies.
While it’s an interesting point, it’s as terribly articulated as possible.