Charlie Sheen. AFP FILE PHOTO
LOS ANGELES—Charlie Sheen is to return to the small screen in a TV series about anger management, he said Monday, four months after being sacked from a mega-hit show for a string of rants about its producers.
The troubled US actor, who was fired “Two and a Half Men” in March, said he thought “Anger Management” — based on the 2003 movie starring Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson — would suit his talents and ambitions.
“I chose ‘Anger Management’ because, while it might be a big stretch for me to play a guy with serious anger management issues, I think it is a great concept,” Sheen said, with apparent irony.
“It also provides me with real ownership in the series, a certain amount of creative control and the chance to be back in business with one of my favorite movie producers of all time, Joe Roth,” he said.
The 45-year-old actor is suing Warner Brothers studios for $100 million for alleged breach of contract after “Two and a Half Men” was canceled for the rest of the season following Sheen’s public tirades against producer Chuck Lorre.
Sheen has in the past boasted of his own wild lifestyle and drug binges but claimed to have single-handedly defeated addiction, arguing that he was able to work.
But the show’s producers insist he had breached his contract, and in May announced Twitter-friendly actor Ashton Kutcher as his replacement for a ninth season, due to be broadcast on CBS later this year.
Sheen became an Internet sensation amid the sacking row and went on tour with a live comedy show, entitled the “My Violent Torpedo of Truth/Defeat is Not an Option” tour.
“Two and a Half Men,” about hedonistic jingle writer Charlie Harper, has been a hit since it was launched in 2003 and has been nominated for numerous awards, including nods for Sheen at the Emmys and Golden Globes.
In November, the star filed for divorce from his wife of two years, days after being taken to the hospital following the reported drunken incident at a luxury New York hotel involving a porn star.
In addition to his reported substance abuse, Sheen had several run-ins with the law in the 1990s in cases related to drugs, domestic violence and prostitution.
Original posted: 2:22 pm, July 19, 2011