Sean Penn Sparking Early Oscar Buzz for PTA’s ‘One Battle After Another?

It’s way too early to speculate about next year’s Oscars, but industry insider Kris Tapley, who last worked for Netflix, has decided to start the campaign early for Sean Penn.

He’s echoing what I previously reported about Penn’s performance in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another”; the man is said to be “absolutely terrifying” as Col. Steven J. Lockjaw.

I reported that, apparently, Penn “steals the show” as Lockjaw. Sporting a grey-ish hawk, his character is described as a “great villain” that has the power and presence to give you nightmares.

Tapley is taking it a step further, implying that an unnamed Oscar-nominated filmmaker recently told him that Penn could very well win a third Oscar for his work in PTA’s film:

You mean, the same Sean Penn who slammed the Oscars as “limiting” and even offered Ukrainian president Volodomyr Zelenskyy the “honor” to “melt down” one of his Oscar statuettes?

“The Oscar is there in his office, and ready to be melted any time he wants to melt,” Penn told CNN in an interview.

He called the “gift” of the statuette “a small gesture, symbolic between two friends – inspired by my continuing shame towards the leadership of the Motion Picture Academy in choosing to present Will Smith smacking Chris Rock rather than the greatest symbol of cinema and humanity living today. Their loss.”

No word yet on whether Zelenskyy actually took Penn up on his offer and melted down the Oscar.