Sean Penn’s fans were shocked by the actor’s ‘rough’ appearance on the Louis Theroux Podcast on Monday.
During an interview, the 64-year-old star of Mystic River made some shocking statements. He notably expressed skepticism about allegations that director Woody Allen molested his daughter, Dylan Farrow, in 1992.
However, it was his weathered look and a bright red bruise on his nose that had fans talking in the comments.
Penn appeared tired, with noticeable bags under his eyes, and sported disheveled grey hair and a beard.
‘He looks rough,’ one person wrote underneath a clip from the interview shared on X, while another surprised commentator asked, ‘He’s only 64?!?’
‘I’m his age. My 95 year old father looks younger than him,’ someone else added.
‘2 years younger than me and looks a decade older!’ another added.
‘Dang he aged like a worn leather handbag,’ someone else chimed in.
‘He looks okay for a man in his 80s.’
‘Is he 90?’ another questioned.
‘That’s a hard 64.’
‘Jeez he looks rough!!’ yet another person added.
‘Wtf happened to him, he’s aged 30 years.’
During the interview, Penn made a number of eyebrow raising statements, including his support of Allen.
It has been 26 years since Penn collaborated with Allen on the film Sweet and Lowdown. He stated that he would work with Allen again without hesitation, even in light of the director’s backlash in 2019 due to the #MeToo movement.
‘If it was the right [project],’ the humanitarian cautioned on the podcast.
Penn previously played the character of guitarist Emmet Ray alongside Samantha Morton’s character, Hattie, in a 1930s-themed comedy directed by the 89-year-old filmmaker. Their performances earned them both nominations for the prestigious Academy Awards.
Penn does not believe Mia Farrow’s 1992 allegation that her ex-partner Woody (born Allan Konigsberg) molested her seven-year-old adopted daughter Dylan.
The two-time Oscar winner scoffed: ‘I am not aware of any clinical psychologist or psychiatrist or anyone I’ve ever heard talk or spoken to around the subject of pedophilia that in 80 years of life, there’s accusations of it happening only once.’
He added, ‘And when people try to associate what were his, let’s say, much younger girlfriends, right or wrong is not the conversation here, but post-puberty, consensual stuff is to me a different conversation.’
‘So, I just think that whatever is the worst of people’s suspicions about him, just check him with the facts separate from the moment and the movement and all. Who benefited from that. Let’s just take a second. That’s all I’m saying. I see he’s not proven guilty, so I take him as innocent, and I would work with him in a heartbeat.’
The 80-year-old Rosemary’s Baby alum publicly accused Allen of the crime seven months after discovering his secret affair with her 21-year-old adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn.
The four-time Oscar winner – who was never charged or prosecuted and has vehemently denied the allegation – quickly sued Mia for full custody of their son Satchel (now Ronan) and her adopted children Dylan and Moses.
In his 33-page decision in 1993, Justice Elliott Wilk rejected Woody’s bid for full custody of all three of their children and called his behavior toward Dylan ‘grossly inappropriate’ while also rejecting the sexual abuse allegations.
In 1997, Allen married Soon-Yi and they adopted two daughters – now 26-year-old Bechet Allen and 25-year-old Manzie Tio Allen.
And while 39-year-old Dylan stands by the allegations, her 47-year-old brother Moses publicly denied she was ever abused and alleged Mia had abused him in a 2018 WordPress post.
Mia has denied that allegation.
‘With these things, I don’t know anyone well enough to say, “100 percent, this didn’t happen, that didn’t happen,”‘ Sean noted.
‘The stories are mostly told by people that I wouldn’t trust with a dime. It just seems so heavily weighted in that way.’
Woody’s last American movie – A Rainy Day in New York – coincided with the #MeToo movement in 2019 and cast members Elle Fanning, Selena Gomez, Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Hall, and Griffin Newman donated their salaries to support sexual assault organizations.
Penn’s comments come eight months after Farrow revealed she feels no ill will towards actors who decide to work with her estranged ex-partner of 11 years.
‘I completely understand if an actor decides to work with him,’ The Roommate thespian said on CBS Sunday Morning.
‘I’m not one who’d say, “Oh, they shouldn’t.”‘
Some of Allen’s outspoken supporters have included Diane Keaton, Alec Baldwin, Scarlett Johansson, Cherry Jones, Bill Maher, Jude Law, Javier Bardem, Cate Blanchett, Gina Gershon, Jim Belushi, Juno Temple, Michael Caine, and Jeff Goldblum.
Kate Winslet, Drew Barrymore, Evan Rachel Wood, David Krumholtz, Greta Gerwig, Mira Sorvino, Rachel Brosnahan, Jeff Daniels, Peter Sarsgaard, Natalie Portman, Colin Firth, Hayley Atwell, Freida Pinto, Chloe Sevigny, and Marion Cotillard have said they won’t work with the Coup de chance director again.
Penn will next play Col. Steven J. Lockjaw in Paul Thomas Anderson’s $175M-budget black comedy One Battle After Another, which hits US/UK theaters September 26.
The Warner Bros. Pictures’ IMAX crime drama is a ‘loose’ modern adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 postmodern novel Vineland.
One Battle After Another – also starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Teyana Taylor, and Benicio del Toro – is said to be the 54-year-old filmmaker’s ‘most commercial’ film to date.
Penn previously portrayed movie star Jack Holden in Anderson’s 2021 Licorice Pizza, which drew significant criticism due to the central relationship between a 15-year-old boy and a 25-year-old woman. The film only earned $33.3M back from its $40M budget at the box office.
Penn will also executive produce James Strong’s upcoming Anna Politkovskaya biopic Words of War.
