Sean Penn skips ceremony, scores most unforgettable Oscar yet

It’s not every day an Oscar winner accepts a trophy made from a war-damaged train.

Fresh off his 2026 Academy Award win, Sean Penn chose Kyin over Hollywood – and somehow made the moment even more cinematic.

The actor, 65, skipped the ceremony in Los Angeles on March 15, leaving Kieran Culkin to accept his Best Supporting Actor award on his behalf.

Instead, Penn showed up in Kyiv the next day – because of course he did.

Then came the twist.

On March 17, Ukranian Railways CEO Oleksandr Pertsovskyi handed Penn a one-of-a-kind Oscar – crafted from metal salvaged from a train damaged in the ongoing war.

"You're missing Oscars... So we made this one," Pertsovskyi tells Penn in the video, per the BBC. "This is from the railcar that was damaged by the Russians."

Hollywood could never.

Meanwhile, Volodymyr Zelenskyy shared a photo with Penn, praising his loyalty: "Sean, thanks to you, we know what a true friend of Ukraine is," Zelenskyy wrote.

"You have stood with Ukraine since the first day of the full-scale war. This is still true today. And we know that you will continue to stand with our country and our people."

Penn, a longtime supporter since the Russia-Ukraine war began, has never been subtle about it. In fact, he once gave one of his own Oscars away.

“I thought, well, f---, you know? I’ll give them to Ukraine," Penn told Variety in 2023. "They can be melted down to bullets they can shoot at the Russians."

From red carpets to railcars – Penn’s Oscar season just hit different.