Charlie Sheen: what films influenced the actor's career (17 photos)

In the 80s and 90s, Charlie Sheen was a very popular actor who felt great in both action films and dramas and comedies. At one time, the actor played in a considerable number of popular and box office films, until one not-so-wonderful moment, failures began, which is why Sheen began to be disowned and invited to films.





Short biography

Well, as usual, let's start with a short biography of the actor. Charlie Sheen (real name - Carlos Irwin Estevez) was born in 1965 in the family of actor Martin Sheen (Ramon Gerardo Antonio Estevez) and actress Janet Templeton. Charlie grew up in a large family with two older brothers and a younger sister.

When Carlos turned 4, his family moved to Malibu. At school, Charlie Sheen showed excellent baseball abilities, and even got into the school baseball team, becoming a local star.



In high school, Carlos became interested in cinematography. At the same time, he met Sean Penn and Rob Lowe (by the way, both of them also became actors), with whom they began to make amateur films.

But the future actor never finished school, as he was expelled. In the end, he decided not to worry about it, but to immediately go and conquer Hollywood. It was then that he took the creative pseudonym Charlie Sheen. The decision to take such a surname was obvious, because his father was known under the same pseudonym. Well, he chose the name Charlie because everyone called him in the American manner anyway.

Beginning of a career

It is worth noting that Charlie Sheen got into cinema at the age of 8. True, it was an episodic role of a boy in the film "Badlands" (1973). He received a much more significant role 10 years later in the film "Grizzly 2: Predator". True, I doubt that anyone has even heard of this film.

But in 1984, Charlie, thanks to the fact that he is his father's son, got one of the leading roles in the film "Red Dawn", where his partners on the set were Patrick Swayze and Lea Thompson. Of course, now few people remember this film, but 40 years ago it collected a very impressive box office of 38.3 million dollars with a budget of 4.2 million.





"Red Dawn"

Thanks to such impressive box office receipts, Charlie Sheen's career took off, and he began to be invited to other films.

Career takeoff and success

In 1986, Charlie Sheen experienced a real takeoff, because it was at this time that he managed to star in as many as six films. However, it is worth considering that in the film "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" Charlie played only a small role as a guy at the police station. Well, such films as "Lucas", "Spirit of Vengeance", "Wisdom" and the short film "Life in the Day" were not successful.



"Spirit of Vengeance"

But where is the career takeoff then? And the takeoff happened after Charlie Sheen played the lead role of Private Chris Taylor in the film "Platoon" in the same 1986. Moreover, the most interesting thing is that initially it was planned to take Charlie's brother, Emilio Estevez, for this role. But due to the fact that Oliver Stone could not find financing for the film, the filming was constantly postponed, which is why Emilio decided to accept the offer to play in another film.

Oliver Stone spent a long time looking for an actor for the lead role, and even offered the role to Keanu Reeves. But he refused, because the film seemed too violent to him. In the end, Stone chose Emilio's brother, that is, Charlie Sheen.



"Platoon"

The film "Platoon" turned out to be a breakthrough in the actor's career, because it (meaning the film) made an impressive box office of 138.5 million dollars with a budget of only 6 million.

The success of the film made Charlie Sheen an even more sought-after actor, and his fees increased sharply by 5 times, thanks to which he could already request 500 thousand dollars for filming.

In 1987, three films were released with Charlie Sheen: "Three for the Road", "No Man's Land" and "Wall Street". And if the first two films turned out to be failures, then "Wall Street" more than compensated for this failure, without harming Charlie Sheen's career one bit, but rather the opposite. Oliver Stone immediately decided that the main role in the film would be played by Charlie Sheen, so he refused all the other actors who offered their services (Tom Cruise was even ready to act for free).



"Wall Street"

By the way, the father of Charlie Sheen's character in this film was played by the actor's father, Martin Sheen. Oliver Stone immediately wanted to cast him for this role, but he was afraid that Charlie himself would be against it, so he gave him a choice of several actors. To the director's surprise, Charlie chose his father.



Of course, it's not like the film was a hit, but nevertheless it received very positive reviews, gained cult status and grossed $45 million at the box office with a budget of $15 million.

In 1988, Sheen starred in his brother's film "Young Guns". The film grossed $45 million at the box office with a budget of $13 million. Moreover, in order not to ruin his brother, Charlie did not demand his usual fee.



"Young Guns"

But thanks to this and Sheen's previous successes, Charlie received his first million dollars for the film "Major League", which was released a year later. And the film itself collected almost 50 million dollars at the box office with a budget of 11 million, which again had a very good effect on the actor's career.

But then Charlie Sheen's success gradually began to fade. In 1990, 6 films were released with the actor's participation, but all of them were either failures or barely broke even.



"Hot Shots"

Only the parody film "Hot Shots", released in 1991, was able to return Charlie Sheen to the pedestal. The film caused wild delight among viewers, and in theaters it managed to collect 181 million dollars with a budget of 26 million.

Flops

But the story with the film "Hot Shots" was rather an isolated case. Further films with Charlie Sheen were waiting for continuous flops or a very meager plus. Plus, around this time he started having problems with alcohol, illegal substances, and also with fighting in public places (and not only).

For example, the film "Deadly Fall" (1993) was a huge failure. Charlie had hopes for the Disney company and its film adaptation of the novel "The Three Musketeers", where the actor played Aramis, but the film also failed at the box office, collecting just over 53 million dollars with a budget of 30 million. Because of this failure, Disney curtailed the production of the planned sequels.



"The Three Musketeers"

Luckily, in the same 1993, the second part of the parody film "Hot Shots" was released, which, although less successful than the first, still gained wild popularity in the world, and the film's box office receipts amounted to 133 million dollars with a budget of 25 million.

Well, in 1994, another failure occurred. We are talking about the film "Falling Speed" (not to be confused with "Deadly Fall"). Many actors refused the role in this film, but Charlie picked it up, especially since he was paid as much as 6 million dollars. And by the way, despite the fact that everyone was throwing dirt at the film, Charlie Sheen always said that this was one of his favorite films with his participation.



"Falling Speed"

As a result, with a huge budget of 50 million dollars, the film collected a pitiful 16.5 million dollars. And if it were not for the contract with the Disney studio for 5 films, then perhaps Charlie Sheen's career could have gone to the bottom much earlier.

But then the situation only worsened, because the film "Shadow Conspiracy", on which great hopes were pinned, collected only 3 million dollars at the box office with a budget of 45 million. Can you imagine what a loss this film suffered?



"Shadow Conspiracy"

Other films of 1997 also turned out to be unprofitable. Only the film "Money Talks Everything" managed to break even, collecting 48 million dollars at the box office with a budget of 25 million.

After such a loud series of failures, Charlie Sheen's career was shaken and went downhill sharply. Because of this, it was decided to shoot the last film under the contract, "Hostages", with a minimum budget. Moreover, the film did not even make it to theaters, but was released directly on video media.



"Hostages"

After that, no one wanted to mess with Charlie Sheen, since everyone around him considered him a damned actor, whose appearance would ensure the failure of the film. Poor Sheen had no choice but to take on any offers, starring in films released directly to video.

Second Wave of Success

Only in 2003 did Sheen slightly perk up by starring in the film "Scary Movie 3", which received quite decent box office receipts. Apparently, parody work is his thing.



"Scary Movie 3"

But still, the main event for Charlie Sheen was his participation in the series "2.5 Men", where he played one of the main roles. The series became an absolute hit, thanks to which Sheen was provided with work for several years. For each episode of the series, the actor received 2 million dollars, which was a very, very cool income for serial work.



TV series "2.5 Men"

Career death

Perhaps Charlie Sheen could have kept his career afloat if not for his constant antics, drunkenness, fights and being late for work. There was no longer any strength to tolerate such behavior, so in 2011 Charlie Sheen was simply kicked out of the series "2.5 Men".

Charlie Sheen tried to "flounder", but he was mainly offered roles in various low-quality films. No, of course, he appeared in the sequels of the film "Scary Movie", but his roles there were very tiny. Well, and then the actor practically stopped appearing on screens altogether. Plus, in 2017, he was accused of harassment while filming the movie "Lucas". However, he managed to win the case, dropping all charges against himself.



"Machete Kills" (2013)

Well, a few years ago, Charlie Sheen announced that he was HIV-positive. Around that moment, he stopped acting in films altogether. The last time he starred in a feature film was in 2017. As for his TV series activities, in 2023, he played himself in one episode of the TV series "Bookie". And I don't think we'll see Charlie Sheen in any good box office movie again.