Handsing Down, one of my favorite bits in the last documentary in two parts of Netflix on Charlie Sheen, “Aka Charlie Sheen”, it is when the actor remembers (with a big smile on his face) how he prepared for his scene in the beloved teenage comedy of John Hughes, “Ferris Bueller’s Day. This is one of those rare moments of the doc that does not concern #Winning, Tiger Blood or the myriad of other scandals that merged with Sheen’s public personality, but it is rather an artist remembering his first years when he was still filled with enthusiasm and excitement, eager to prove that he had what it was necessary to do it in this chaotic and unreliable business.
The opportunity took place thanks to the co-star and friend of Sheen, Jennifer Gray, who recommended it to Hughes. At this point, the actor especially had forgetful parts in his name, so he was more than delighted to nail this chance, even if it was only a cameo. According to him, he took the leather jacket of his brother, darkened his eyes with ash of cigarettes, distributed his hair and went down to Beach to meet the director. When he arrived, Hughes looked at him while walking in a parking lot and said: “You look great, a kid. See you soon next week.” This is how hearings sometimes took place in the 80s, people.
However, Sheen decided to get everything methododia For his role as “boy in difficulty in the police station”. His character in the film is a kind of tired punk rebel-rock which has entries with the law due to his drug addiction problems. Sheen wanted to embody that the best he could with a “purely organic method approach”. He said, “I just think that if I got tired, it’s going to be an asset. I need to look tired, so I’m going to be tired. There was no alcohol, no dope, there was nothing that night to prepare for that.”
It was a solid plan … until it collapsed. The day before filming, Sheen stayed late, even if his call time was at 6 a.m. He put the alarm at 4:30 am, giving himself an hour and a half to be ready and going to the location, but he did what most of us do at this age: canceled the alarm and returned to take 10 minutes of additional sleep. It turned into an hour and a half, and Sheen woke up with panic, flowing like a hell to reach the shooting as fast as he could. Fortunately for him, Hughes did not make it a big problem (proving again how much he understood the spirit and the behavior of adolescents) and turned the scene which later became a reference point in Sheen’s career.
