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Alec Baldwin offers words of wisdom to Charlie Sheen: 'Apologize to Chuck'

By April MacIntyre Mar 12, 2011, 17:02 GMT

02/14/2011 - Alec Baldwin - Alec Baldwin Honored with a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on February 14, 2011 - Hollywood Walk of Fame - Hollywood, CA, USA © Andrew Evans / PR Photos

Alec Baldwin used a personal anecdote about his "Hunt for Red October" passover at the hands of then studio boss David Kirkpatrick to share some advice with Charlie Sheen in an open letter published on HuffPo.

Baldwin urged Sheen to eat a big heaping helping of humble pie, take it easy, clean up and get back to work for the sake of his career, finances and fans.

The most interesting bit in the article is how Baldwin finally reveals the true story on him being replaced as Jack Ryan in the Clancy film franchise sequel; the role went to Harrison Ford.

"Hunt" took the box office by storm the weekend of March 2, 1990, as "The Hunt for Red October" was a genuine blockbuster that made over $17 million in its first three days, and eventually grossed $201 million worldwide.

But the shoe-in casting for the role he created was not to be. Baldwin writes, "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."

From Baldwin's piece at HuffPo:

"...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....It took a few rounds before John and I connected...On the phone, John told me that during the period of the previous few months, he had been negotiating to do a film with a very famous movie star who had dropped out of his film days before so that he could go star in the sequels to The Hunt For Red October. John further told me that Paramount owed the actor a large sum of money for a greenlit film that fell apart prior to this, and pushing me aside would help to alleviate that debt and put someone with much greater strength at the box office than mine in the role..."

Baldwin spares no words for studio executive Kirkpatrick, described as a "beady-eyed, untalented tool."

Baldwin writes, "(Kirkpatrick) was up to something throughout my sequel negotiation. Now, he became vividly clear. I had to decide if I would agree to an open-ended clause relating to dates for the first sequel and thus completely give up the chance to do one of the greatest dramas in the American theatre, or he would rescind my offer. They had the other guy all lined up, and they were looking for a way to gut me. I thought he wasn't serious at first. Then, when I realized he was, I chose A Streetcar Named Desire."

This experience taught Baldwin that the suits and powers that be at studios and networks were best left alone, and he urged Sheen to see the big picture and mitigate some of the damage Sheen has created with his off-the-cuff videos and interviews.

Baldwin tells Sheen: "You can't win. Really. You can't. When executives at studios and networks move up to the highest ranks, they are given a book. The book is called How to Handle Actors. And one principle held dear in that book is that no actor is greater than the show itself when the show is a hit. And, in that regard, they are often right."

He advises Sheen to make up with Chuck Lorre, buy Jon Cryer a "really nice car" and "write a huge check to the B'Nai Brith" so that he can get back to work.

Do you agree with Alec? Do you want Charlie back in CBS in "Two and a Half Men?" More importantly, who was the better Jack Ryan, Baldwin or Ford?