Sean Penn Takes a Jab at Will Smith’s Oscar Slap! Why It’s Personal (Exclusive)

Sean Penn is taking a whole new look at the deadly war in Ukraine in his new documentary "Superpower."

The Oscar-winning actor and legendary filmmaker opened up about the project to “Extra’s” Megan Ryte.

The doc started out as a portrait of the country’s actor-turned-president Volodymyr Zelensky, but it turned into a war movie.

Penn, who co-directed the film, explained, “Very tragically, it happened like this. But man, were they primed and ready to do it. And now you've got the most unified population of human beings on the planet with their leader and he with them.”

Megan asked about his original idea for the film and when that changed.

Penn said, “We thought, ‘Well, what an interesting and fun documentary it would be to go back and figure out how this comic actor became president of a country and do a profile on him… It just happened that by the time we first went to meet him, it was November 2021, and the buildup of Russian military at the border had begun. So then, bit by bit, the documentary was rewriting itself into something very different.”

While in Ukraine, Sean famously gave Zelensky one of his Oscars, saying the award could be "melted down into bullets" to fight the Russians. It was a moment that came after the Academy's decision not to let Zelensky speak at the 2022 ceremony.

“They traded that for Chris Rock getting slapped by Will Smith,” Penn commented, then joked, “And I thought to myself, ‘I'm safer in Ukraine than in that kind of toxic environment.’”

So, what made him want to make this film, especially considering the danger?

Penn recalled, “Bobby Kennedy had a great speech. I won't do it service, but he talked about take everybody that was alive when you were born. And everyone that's born after that and alive till the day of your death, and you basically have that tiny little group that one millisecond we share in existence together, and the planet is telling us really quickly, ‘You kind of have an obligation to make it work together.’ And I think it can be, I may be optimistic enough to, to feel that if Ukrainians are supported, that they may be the leading edge of the new narrative of human nature.”