Charlie Sheen recalls the moment he discovered he would not star in the Vietnam War film Born on the Fourth of July, a project for which he had expected to be cast. At the time, Sheen was known for his roles in Oliver Stone’s Platoon and Wall Street, and believed he had a clear agreement with Stone to lead the 1989 movie about veteran Ron Kovic. Ultimately, it was Tom Cruise who secured the role and earned an Oscar nomination for his performance.
Sheen’s brother, Emilio Estevez, was the one who broke the news to him.
How Emilio Estevez Delivered the News
Sheen vividly remembers the phone call from his brother.
“Emilio, he calls me. He says, ‘Hey, man. You sitting down?’ And I think somebody died, right?”
Sheen explained during an appearance on In Depth with Graham Bensinger.
“I’m like, ‘No, what’s going on?’ He says, ‘Cruise is doing Born on the Fourth.’”
The two actors had crossed paths before; Estevez and Cruise co-starred in the 1983 film The Outsiders, and Cruise even stayed at the Estevez family’s home when he was new to Los Angeles. This shared history gave added weight to the difficult news.
Sheen reflected on Emilio’s approach, saying,
“I love that Emilio thought that I needed to be seated to get news he thought was going to make me faint. I mean, what are we doing here? It’s a movie.”
The Impact of Losing the Role
Although it was a setback, Sheen viewed the situation with a mix of frustration and realization. “It’s a big deal,” he acknowledged.
“Well, it was also the betrayal factor of it. So I was like, ‘OK, all right.’ You know, Oliver’s been a fan of Tom’s for a long time. It’s a different movie if Tom does it than if I do it.”
Sheen detailed the process leading up to losing the role, revealing that Stone had initially been clear about casting him.
“We had meetings about it, and we had a dinner with Ron Kovic. And then I stopped hearing from him,”
Sheen said.
“We stopped talking about it, and I reach out to Oliver, and I’m told that he’s in Cuba. Whatever. This is like 1988 or ’89, right? I’m like, ‘OK, well, tell him I’m looking for him.’”
Despite never signing a contract, Sheen’s disappointment was tangible.
“You can’t lose something you never had,”
he explained.
“I didn’t sign a contract. There was a handshake.”
Confronting Oliver Stone About the Decision
At one point, Sheen confronted Stone directly to discuss the fallout.
“I stopped in and he was there, and I was drunk enough and he was drunk enough for that thing to finally be brought up,”
Sheen recalled.
“And he was like, ‘I just felt like you didn’t have any passion for it. I felt like you lost interest.’ I was like, ‘Well, I didn’t see you. How do you know how much passion I lost or interest that evaporated if we never talked about it again?’”
Recognizing Tom Cruise’s Performance
Despite the tension, Sheen praised Cruise’s work in the film.
“It wasn’t like a thing where I’m going to talk s— about him, because then you see the movie and you’re like, ‘Oh, OK. All right. He turned it into that,’”
Sheen said.
“When someone gets a job and does that with it, you’re just like, of course. You don’t sit there and dissect it and like, ‘I’d have done that better.’ No, go f— yourself. That’s a brilliant — and you should have won the freaking Oscar.”
How Missing the Role Paved the Way for Other Opportunities
Sheen recognized that missing out on Born on the Fourth of July might have opened doors for other successes.
“I don’t know if Major League happens if I do Born on the Fourth,”
he admitted.
“I’m just pretty sure that one would have gotten in the way of the other, and if it’s not true, that’s what I’m going with.”
The full episode featuring Charlie Sheen airs this weekend in syndication on In Depth with Graham Bensinger, offering a deeper look at this pivotal career moment and his reflections on it.
