Friday, March 4, 2011

Charlie Sheen

Charlie Sheen is merely the latest in the line of actors who have said or done something to make their publicists really earn their money. However, his case is particularly bothersome. Why?

  1. He is a series regular on an in production series. A series that has been put on hiatus due to his antics. And those antics must be pretty bad. Perhaps more than we realize. After all, shutting down production is a major decision. Not one that's made simply because the star called a producer "Mr. Poopy Pants".
  2. He is completely unrepentant. Sure, a lot of the "repentance" of the others might be PR motivated. But at least they are not going out of their way to claim it is everyone else's fault.
  3. He has gone on the biggest ego trip since...well, at least he's not some general who is in a position to command his army to invade a neighboring country. Demanding a doubling of his salary? Being tired of pretending not to be great? Hmm, I'm thinking Exhibit A of drugs do mess with your brain.
  4. I doubt he is getting the help he needs. He claims to have been cured of any drug addictions. I suppose that is possible. I am not an expert in this area. But, like I mentioned, I have my doubts. #1 through #3 do not seem like the actions of someone trying to clean up his life.

Is Charlie's acting career over? He is not dead (literally) so a comeback is possible. However, it has been seriously wounded and he has not been taking care of healing. In fact, he has been aggravating the wounds. Charlie might be the greatest actor in the world. He might even be a wonderful person, under better circumstances, to be around. But if I were producing, I would not feel comfortable having him on my set. I would be asking "Is getting Charlie to sign on important enough to risk a breakdown in the middle of shooting?".

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