[IMG:L]To say it’s been a big week for Charlie Sheen might be an understatement.
On July 12, he announced his engagement to longtime girlfriend Brooke Mueller, definitively closing the book on the messy, public breakup from his previous wife, Denise Richards. And if the Sheen household wasn’t already in danger of running out of room for congratulatory notes and gifts, exactly one week later he received his second Emmy nomination as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for his sitcom Two and a Half Men.
Hollywood.com caught up with the actor at a party launching the CBS fall network lineup the same night he was nominated, and after satisfying his nicotine craving, a mellow, laid-back and bespectacled Sheen spoke about the two dual celebrations happening in his life, and why he’ll be sending Steven Tyler flowers.
Hollywood.com: Congratulations on your nomination. Where were you when you heard this morning?
Charlie Sheen: I was in my office at home.
HW: At 5 a.m.?
CS: No, no, no. I found out at 7 a.m. because I figured that the news was going to be the same at 7 a.m. as it was at 5:30 a.m. I had been with the kids the day before so I was pretty tired.
HW: Who told you?
CS: Well, I saw that I had like seven messages in my phone so the last time I had that many calls before 10 a.m. was this same time last year. So I figured it was a good sign. That many people wouldn’t be calling to say, “Ah, better luck next year.” So I called Stan [Rosenfeld, his publicist] and then I was thrilled to find out about Jon [Cryer] and Conchata [Ferrel] and Holland [Taylor] and the show. Yes, it was good. It was exciting. I was telling my fiancé this morning that it makes last year not feel like a fluke. Like last year wasn’t just some little piddly mercy gesture. Now we sort of feel like we belong at the party. It’s a good feeling because we work hard and oftentimes shows that are successful don’t get invited to this party because there’s built in resentment. When a show doesn’t become a media darling with zero numbers but amazing reviews but you don’t know what channel or what time it’s on. So yeah, it’s nice. This is sort of the track that Raymond had. Raymond sort of took about five years to get people to know that they were serious and they were there to stay.
HW: Which episode did you submit for your performance?
CS: I submitted two and then I found out you could only submit one, so I don’t know which one they chose. It was the episode with Steven Tyler which I thought was pretty good and then it was the episode where I have a drowning experience and I’m visited by the ghost of my father, and I’m told to take care of my mother. I don’t know, there was something about that one that I thought was okay and I guess they were good choices.
HW: So Steven Tyler brings out your best work?
CS: I guess, based on this morning’s results, I should send him some roses, you know.
[IMG:R]HW: Was there something special about this year that raised the level of the show?
CS: Gosh, I don’t know, it’s hard to be objective about something that you’re so close to. The only time that I’m able to kind of have any perspective on the show is when I catch a rerun or if I’m showing it to somebody that’s never seen it and I show ’em something from season one or season two. Not that I have the whole collection at home ready to be viewed. I have a couple episodes of course but then I can sort of see the growth and the most obvious growth that I observed is in the writing because seasons one and two, the scenes were very short, three or four pages. Now they’re 10, 12, 14 pages which gives the characters and the situations a lot of time to develop and grow.
HW: Do you have any favorites among your competing nominees?
CS: You mean if it doesn’t go to me, who should it go to? Gosh, I’m a fan of all those guys – and that’s the problem with this aspect of the business is it’s suddenly everybody’s performing or acting or doing what they love to compete. Suddenly it’s about who’s better than somebody else, and I don’t think “better” is real. I think everybody is so different and obviously everybody is so talented and so good at what they do, which is why we’re all different characters on different shows generating different audiences. So if it goes to anybody in that category – except Shalhoub. I mean, come on! What’s it been, three in a row? Three out of four? I think he should pull a Candice Bergen. I think he should graciously just say, “This has got to go to somebody else” and throw us a mini-pity party.
HW: Were you surprised? How did you feel?
CS: I was surprised, yeah. I always stay neutral about things and that way no expectations, no disappointments. It was nice. It was a nice way to start the day.
HW: How does this stack up to your other exciting news?
CS: Oh, it’s all good. You’re talking about the engagement and like that. I’m pretty thrilled. Some days it’s okay to be me I guess.
HW: If we told you last year you’d be engaged and nominated, would you believe us?
CS: Not a chance. Not a chance.
HW: How did you get here then?
CS: Just by staying focused and staying in touch with the truth and maintaining a sense of humility and focusing on the work. The only thing I can control is my reaction to things in most situations. Especially when it’s stuff that’s dealing with the press or otherwise, you just try to learn something from it and move on.
HW: What did you learn from your first marriage that might be different this time?
CS: I won’t take myself as seriously this time around. And Brooke is a terrific gal. We love each other to death. I tell my friends that what’s special about her is that we’re laughing from the minute that we wake up. Not at each other but about something, so I think any time that there’s that much humor in a relationship, it’s a pretty good sign.
HW: Have you started planning?
CS: We have not. One thing at a time. We did this and we’ll enjoy that and then when the time is right for the other, we’ll investigate that.
HW: Does it get any better than this? What do you have to look forward to?
CS: Oh no, first and foremost is my children. Any time that I interact with them, I think those are the blessings.
HW: What are they into these days?
CS: They’re sort of graduating from The Wiggles into animated films which is great because we can all sit down and enjoy something as a group.
[IMG:L]HW: Did you get wedding advice from your costar, Jon Cryer?
CS: Well, Jon did it smart. He went down to Mexico. That way, it’s like, “Hey, if you’re in town, come by. If not, don’t take it personally.” Then he threw a party afterwards which I think a lot more people are doing because there’s so much politics in planning a wedding with both sides of the family and all that, even though there shouldn’t be. People tend to lose focus about what they’re celebrating that special day.
HW: And how does it feel to be engaged again?
CS: It feels great.
HW: But what’s changed, why try again now?
CS: I gotta follow my heart and my gut. It just feels right.
HW: What makes her so right?
CS: Things that need to stay between her and I. You know what I’m saying? People want to know way too much these days. At some point, you gotta just say, “That’s between us.”
HW: What can you tell us?
CS: She’s the coolest gal I’ve ever met, so I’m a lucky guy.
HW: Are you the romantic one or is she?
CS: She’s pretty romantic. She’s not shy. I’m like, “Honey, my parents are watching.” No, she’s very affectionate.
HW: Will it be a big or low-key wedding?
CS: I don’t know, man. Some people go to Vegas and stay married 30 years. Other people invite everyone on the planet and it’s over the next day, so I don’t know. For the girls usually, it’s more about the wedding album, so it’s about how this thing looks put together in a really nice book, which is fine because that’s what everybody wants to look at. But I think you can’t overlook why everybody’s there and what really matters on that day. We’re in no rush. We’re going to enjoy this part of it and if the next part seems like it’s time to do that, then we’ll do that, but there’s no pressure.
HW: How are you getting ready for next season?
CS: Well, it’s still a moderately difficult schedule. Not schedule, but what’s asked of us is difficult because there are so few characters. They hang a lot on the three guys, so I’ve got to start memorizing stuff now that is just paragraphs from books I’m reading just to get the muscles reactivated. So it’s very word heavy and it’s very smart and it’s very specific. There’s no ad-libbing, and the reason it works is because of the way it’s written. I mean, yeah, I like to believe we bring something to it by the way we perform it, but when the jokes are that specific, they’re a word from being funny or not. So you gotta spend a lot of time learning and committing to them. That’s what is the most taxing.
HW: Do you rehearse a lot?
CS: We don’t get a chance to do enough because we’re basically putting up a 50-page play every week really in three days. But I think that the writers have come to know us and respect us and appreciate us so much that they’re writing to our strengths. They’re writing to areas that they know that we’re comfortable with and that we’re going to hopefully excel behind.
