Charlie Sheen's judgment could rightfully be called into question on any number of fronts, but one thing's not in doubt: The man's a top-notch negotiator.
The troubled actor's manager, Mark Burg, revealed the secret to Sheen's financial success to Vanity Fair contributing editor Mark Seal for a profile on Sheen in the magazine's June issue.
Specifically, Burg pulled back the curtain on how Sheen came to become the highest-paid actor on television with his $100 million "Two and a Half Men" deal in 2010.
And no, it had nothing to do with casting any warlock spells.
According to Burg, Sheen merely stared down CBS and Warner Bros. Television until they caved to his demands.
"Warner Bros. was like, ‘We’re offering a million dollars [per episode] for two years, and nobody walks away from $48 million,’" Burg recalled. "I said, ‘Guys, he’s going to walk. I’m not bluffing.’”
Eventually, the offer was upped to $72 million (with CBS honcho Les Moonves maintaining "two different schedules — one if Charlie didn't come back"), but Sheen held firm. Even a 25-minute speech from his attorney, Jake Bloom, wasn't enough to bend Sheen off of his firm goal of $100 million.
In the end, Burg says, CBS and Warner Bros. blinked.
"It [was] the day before the up-fronts … I picked up my son at school, and we were driving to a Laker playoff game … I parked the car, I’m now on my cell phone, walking into the stadium, and Charlie goes, ‘Pass. Mark, it’s a hundred million or I’m not doing it.’ Charlie hangs up, and Jake called up Bruce Rosenblum [president of Warner Bros. Television Group] and Les Moonves and passed during the national anthem. I’m like, ‘Wow, I hope he knows what he’s doing.’”
Apparently he did, because, as Burg notes, before the game tipoff occurred, “they said yes [to $100 million]."
A pretty impressive feat — and it most likely would have been even more impressive, had Sheen not completely blown it by getting let go from the show this March due to his increasingly erratic behavior.
Sheen is, of course, currently suing Warner Bros. TV and "Two and a Half Men" executive producer Chuck Lorre for $100 million, claiming that he was wrongfully terminated. Time will tell if Sheen can stonewall his way into another windfall.
