Sean Penn in the film 'Lockjaw' as a fictional character who bears a striking resemblance to a real-life CBP official in California who took the lead in the aggressive immigration raids ordered by the White House. Images of Penn as Lockjaw and Bovino have flooded social media, with messages highlighting the strong similarities between the fictional character and the real-life person. Lockjaw is portrayed as a corrupt military officer whose authority is threatened when an immigrant detention center he oversees is attacked by a group of revolutionaries led by Bob Ferguson (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor). Even Brian McKeon, the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Administration and Resources in Joe Biden's administration, commented on his X account, saying it's 'incredible' how the film and Penn's character 'foretold' Bovino's emergence onto the national scene. The main similarity between Penn's character and Bovino is their job; both are in charge of handling immigration operations on the California-Mexico border and overnight become public figures for their supposed successes. In the film, Lockjaw does not measure the tactics used to achieve his goal. Bovino and Penn seem to share a love for the seventh art. The CBP chief confessed in a podcast that he chose to work with immigration authorities after seeing the movie 'The Border' with Jack Nicholson. 'I thought about putting myself on the other side and re-watching the film from the other side,' Bovino explained in a conversation with another CBP colleague. Meanwhile, Sean Penn, who has already won two Oscars for Best Actor for 'Mystic River' (2003) and 'Milk' (2008), told Vanity Fair that reading 'a few pages' of the script, which was in development for nearly 15 years, was enough for him to agree to portray Lockjaw. 'I remember the words 'he goes there' circling in my head because I had no idea what the theme would be, what it would tackle, or what it would reflect about our current lives,' the California actor clarified to the magazine. Although the real-life official did not end up dead like the fictional character, the CBP chief was removed from operations in January and sent back to the border after a flood of criticism for the aggressiveness of the raids. Furthermore, Bovino was involved in racial discrimination issues, just like Penn's character. Another notable similarity with Bovino, who has been accused of allowing excessive force in immigration operations, especially in Minneapolis, which resulted in the deaths of two Americans. Over time, the similarities between Lockjaw and Bovino have grown. Sean Penn is a strong favorite to win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor at the 98th Academy Awards for portraying Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw in Paul Thomas Anderson's black comedy, who inadvertently portrayed the commander who led Donald Trump's major immigration offensive. The portrayal of Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw in Paul Thomas Anderson's black comedy has already earned the California actor the award for Best Supporting Actor at the BAFTA and the Screen Actors Guild Awards, which traditionally align with the Academy's choices. And on prediction sites like Gold Derby, Sean Penn far outshines his contenders: Stellan Skarsgård ('Sentimental Value'), Delroy Lindo ('Sinners'), Jacob Elordi ('Frankenstein'), and his 'One Battle After Another' co-star Benicio del Toro. Comparisons that originated on social media. This is compounded by the fact that Colonel Lockjaw has resonated with the American public by being compared to Greg Bovino, the head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Both were also linked to Confederate symbols, according to a report by The American Prospect. Inspired by the seventh art. The affinities are not only between the film character and the real person.
