The Smarts: Charlie Sheen: Still winning!

Published on 21/06/2012 09:18

FOR a while last year, Charlie Sheen was beginning to look like a slow motion car crash. With every TV appearance (“I’m tired of pretending I’m not a total bitchin’ rock star from Mars”) he looked increasingly mad and increasingly unwell. Surely this was not going to end well?

Sheen has, however, bounced back; you may have noticed him popping up in various places in the past few days to talk about it. He has a new TV show, Anger Management – although he claims this will be his swansong, following a decision to retire and focus on raising his kids. You can see why sorting this out might be a priority, given that last year they were removed from his home following a restraining order by his wife that reportedly described him as “currently insane”.

Is Sheen a reformed man? He’s showing a little more humility than he did during last year’s infamous meltdown, but it’s all relative. “If you’re special, you’re tortured,” he is quoted as saying in an interview in the new edition of Playboy. “I know that sounds arrogant, but you can’t not be special and have a 30-year career.” He does, however, also admit that he only got into acting for “chicks and money”.

It’s this combination of honesty, cockiness and sheer quotability that makes Sheen so appealing, of course – in this respect, he’s the Liam Gallagher of Hollywood.

At this stage though, unless Anger Management turns out to be a career-transforming critical and audience hit, a dignified exit from the public eye – for a while at least – might be the wisest move. That said, we’re holding out some hope that his Violent Torpedo of Truth/Defeat is not an Option live tour might make it across the Atlantic to the place it was practically designed for – the Edinburgh Fringe.