Charlie Sheen recently appeared on “In Depth With Graham Bensinger” and reflected on being dropped from 1989’s “Born on Independence Day” to become Tom Cruise’s star vehicle. Sheen said he is in talks with Platoon director Oliver Stone about reuniting for a film that tells the true story of Vietnam War veteran Ron Kovich and how he became an anti-war activist after being paralyzed in combat. Sheen had no idea that Stone was changing his mind until one night when Sheen’s brother, Emilio Estevez, called him.
“Emilio, he’s calling me and he’s like, ‘Hey, are you sitting down?'” And I wonder if someone died? ” Sheen said (via EW). “I’m like, ‘No, what’s going on?'” He said, “Cruise is doing ‘Born on the Force.’ I loved how Emilio thought I had to sit down to hear the news that would make me faint. I mean, what are we doing here? It’s a movie. ”
Even if it was just a movie, Sheen admitted that being dropped by Cruise was “a big deal,” adding, “It was also an element of betrayal. So I was like, ‘Okay, okay.'” As you know, Oliver has been a fan of Tom’s for a long time. It will be a different movie if Tom does it than if I do it. ”
Sheen said news of Cruise’s casting came after he had a “meeting” with Stone about the film, and the two had dinner with the real Ron Kovich. “I didn’t hear from him after that,” Sheen said of Stone. “We stopped talking about it and I called Oliver and he said he was in Cuba. Whatever. This is like 1988 or ’89, right? I was like, ‘Okay, yeah, tell him I’m looking for him.’
Sheen had the opportunity to confront Stone about the betrayal when the two met at the same bar. “I was drunk enough, and he was drunk enough to finally bring it up, and he was like, ‘I feel like you don’t have any passion for it. I feel like you’re losing interest.'” I was like, ‘Well, I didn’t see you.’ How do I know how much passion I’ve lost or interest has evaporated if I never talk about it again? ”
Sheen was no longer bitter about how things turned out, saying, “You can’t lose something you never had. I didn’t sign the contract. There was a handshake.” And he’s not one to talk negatively about Cruise, who earned his first career Oscar nomination for “Born on Independence Day.”
“It wasn’t like I had anything bad to say about him, because when you watch the movie, you’re like, ‘Oh, I get it. I get it. He turned it into that,'” Sheen said. “When someone gets a job and makes it their job, you take it for granted. You don’t sit there and analyze it and think, ‘I could have done it better.'” No, fuck it. It was great (acting) and you should have won a goddamn Oscar. ”
Cruise’s Oscar nomination was one of eight Academy Award nominations that “Born on the Fourth of July” earned. The film was also nominated for Best Picture and won the Stone Award for Best Director. The film grossed $162 million worldwide.
You can watch Sheen’s full interview on the podcast “In Depth Graham With Bensinger” in the video below.
