Who says Sean Penn doesn’t like the press?
The Hollywood icon saved a stranded motorist – Variety’s red carpet maven Marc Malkin – after the Golden Globes pre-show host found himself stranded on the way back from the Palm Springs Film Festival over the weekend.
There was buzz at a Golden Globes pre-party Friday night that Malkin – who is co-hosting the awards’ official pre-show on Sunday – was driving back to Los Angeles from the starry Palm Springs, Calif., fest earlier in the day when his electric car unexpectedly ran out of juice.
Sources told Page Six that when Malkin managed to get his car towed to a charging station at an exit in Cabazon, Calif., “Marc looked to one side, and Sean Penn was charging his car – and he looked to his other side and saw Mara Buxbaum (Penn’s longtime publicist) charging her car.”
Penn, 63, had been in Palm Springs to introduce “Ferrari” star Penélope Cruz when she was honored with Variety’s Creative Impact in Acting Award at a Friday awards brunch.
Beloved reporter Malkin, who’s known for always being impeccably dressed, had worked the red carpet at the same event.
Another source told us of Penn and his PR guru, “All of a sudden, they saw a little flatbed tow truck with a car on it. They all forgot to charge overnight.”
But while Penn and Buxbaum juiced up their rides, Malkin’s whip would not charge, we hear.
A source said Malkin called the charging company and was told that his vehicle wouldn’t charge if the battery was totally dead – but Malkin realized he might be able to get some power if he moved the immobile car to another type of charger nearby.
That’s when Malkin went for broke and put his car in neutral, we hear, and hoped to maneuver it to the new charger.
“Mara came up to him and asked if he needed his car pushed,” said a source. “She said, ‘You need someone to push your car?’”
Before the red carpet whiz knew it, he looked in his rear-view mirror, and, “Penn was back there pushing his car” with Buxbaum, we hear.
Malkin was dumbstruck at the sight as the Oscar winner and the Hollywood exec pushed his car to a charger that worked, and saved the day.
“It was the funniest thing ever,” a source told us. “Sean was a real-life hero.”
Off-screen Penn is known for his humanitarian work in places like Haiti and Ukraine, via his CORE organization. He has also been known for having some scrapes with the media.
With help from Penn, Malkin luckily made it back in time to hit the Golden Globes pre-party circuit looking fresh on Friday night.
He’s co-hosting the official digital red carpet pre-show for the 81st annual Golden Globe Awards Sunday night with Angelique Jackson and Rachel Smith as a partnership between Variety and “Entertainment Tonight” before the awards airs on CBS and Paramount+.
Reps did not comment.
In Penn’s speech over the weekend, he gushed over Cruz, who stars in Michael Mann’s latest epic.
“I’ve seen Penélope in English-speaking films, Spanish-speaking films, Italian-speaking films. I speak reasonable English, minimal Spanish, no Italian at all,” he said. “And yet… I don’t remember looking at a subtitle once.”
Penn also said, according to People, “I also remember having understood every word she ever said on screen … that sort of clues me into what it is about Penélope, because when she wants us to understand, we do, [and when] she wants us to feel, we feel because she lets us.”
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