Ed here: In addition to being a fine actor--one of the best--and a generally cool dude, Alec Baldwin is also a damned good writer. Here he talks about some of his own travails in Hollywood and how they relate to Charlie Sheen's meltdown.
The Huffington Post
MARCH 12, 2011
Alec Baldwin
Posted: March 11, 2011 10:50 PM
Two and a Half Men Is Better Than None
I read in the paper today that Conan O'Brien's documentary is out this weekend. The one that chronicles the purportedly healing journey/concert tour he went on after his messy divorce from NBC. I also read that Charlie Sheen is suing Warner Brothers for $100 million and the two of these things reminded me of one of the more character-building experiences that I had in my career, many years ago.
People often ask me why I never continued in the role of Jack Ryan in the movies based on Tom Clancy's great novels. Usually, I have given a half truth as an answer, something about scheduling conflicts and so forth. But the truth is the studio cut my throat. Or, more specifically, an executive at the studio named David Kirkpatrick who was, as studio executives are on their way both up and down the ladder, eager to prove he had that special quality that studio executives are eager to display. That quality is an utter lack of sentimentality while transacting deals around a business built on sentimentality.
The run of events in 1991 went like this. John McTiernan, who directed The Hunt For Red October, called me repeatedly over a period of a few days and that got my attention because John was not someone who did that. I knew it must be something important. I had been traveling to Syracuse to see my mother who had been diagnosed with breast cancer. I had lost my dad in 1983 to lung cancer when he was fifty-five and the idea of being an orphan, technically speaking, at the age of 33 weighed heavily on me. It took a few rounds before John and I connected.
for the rest go here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alec-baldwin/alec-baldwin-charlie-sheen_b_834847.html
I always wondered why Baldwin didn't continue on in the Clancy series.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link, Ed.
That was a very good link, Ed. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThe worst show on TV. Really really really lame and moronic. watch Two and a Half Men Online Not funny in any way unless you are one of these people that laugh when they hear a laugh track. In that case,watch on moron. Otherwise, avoid this show at all costs. I do find this show is a good indicator of peoples taste in TV, music, movies, and comedy.
ReplyDelete