WANTED (by teen-age girls everywhere) YOUNG GUNS // An interesting twist on the sibling rivalry


BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - Charlie Sheen doesn't care for horses or critics. And because he's been roped into promoting his new film Young Guns, which stars brother Emilio Estevez, well, so much for a raucous round of interviews.

Sheen's role in the Western, which is about the formative years of the legendary lunatic Billy the Kid (played by Estevez), is that of kid gang leader Dick Brewer, who gets blown away about halfway through the film.

Sheen is trying to act interested as critics conduct their group and one-on-one interviews, but it's obvious he isn't gung-ho about the whole ordeal.

He slouches in his chair, looking like a restless rebel. His hair is dyed black, spiky on top and shaved zigzag in the back for his next film. He's wearing a gray Gold's Gym T-shirt with a sport coat, jeans, black loafers with no socks and has a Band-Aid stuck around his belt.

During a morning group interview, Sheen fiddles with his cup of Earl Grey tea, stirring, squeezing lemon, dropping in a big dollop of honey. He hides behind small, round sunglasses.

Sheen says he took the role in Young Guns because another movie deal fell apart. "I was set to go to the Bahamas and hang out. Then my brother said, 'You know they haven't cast Dick Brewer yet.' So on Monday I read for the part, on Tuesday I had the job, and on Wednesday I started work."
When Sheen speaks, he sounds uncannily like his dad Martin Sheen, if the elder Sheen were apt to mumble. Charlie is 22, but already he has a string of illustrious movie credits behind him, namely Wall Street, Platoon, Lucas and Red Dawn.

He's also become quite the serious, darkly handsome movie star, whereas his older brother (Estevez is 26) is building a reputation more for being the cute, crazy blond guy who's a blast to be with.

But what I found more interesting about Sheen than Estevez is that Sheen blurts out exactly what's on his mind. He doesn't do polite conversation. Estevez - perhaps because he has also been a director (Wisdom), which requires some diplomacy - uses more guarded language with snoopy reporters.

Sheen states flatly in our group interview: "I don't like horses at all." This becomes the running joke as writers interview the other stars in Young Guns. We talked with Kiefer Sutherland and Dermot Mulroney; Lou Diamond Phillips and Casey Siemaszko aren't on hand.

When I sat down for my afternoon, one-on-one chat with him, he greeted me by chiding, 'It doesn't make any sense how so many people (reporters) can ask the same questions. Why doesn't everybody get together and just divide up the questions and say, 'You take this, you take that'? Because it's tough on the actor. You try to sound fresh, you try to sound like you're genuinely interested in talking, but if it's the same thing, you want to just hold up a sign with the answer, you know."

Not wanting to be tough on the actor (omigosh), I brought up the subject of Sheen's fame at such a young age. He seemed to like that topic as he grew more and more intense, smoking his Marlboros, telling me how tedious it is to deal with what he terms "a socially insane tornado."

"I'd seen my dad deal with the public and the press, sure. But it's tough to know how you're going to react until you get caught in the middle of it."

Sheen says he still can and does go out in public, but concedes, "It's a question of putting on the game face, putting up with the hassles. The option is to sit at home and watch videos and baseball games."

He figures, "It's a fine line. If there's someone you don't want to be seen with, then you have dinner at home."

Sheen says he doesn't mind signing autographs because he views it "as a ticket sale - it's a business move."

He says he wouldn't trade his stardom to be anonymous, though. Sheen adds, post haste, "Don't get me wrong."

Sheen says he likes the tremendous freedom he has with his acting.

He can take months off at a time and go fishing aboard his 36-foot boat.

He never reads the tabloids; never even reads reviews of his movies. "I never listen to the critics. They've never done what they criticize. It's aggravating that the public has given them so much power. You want to call these people (critics)up, go to their houses, threaten their children, but you can't."

Brother Estevez, as I said, doesn't display this short fuse. When Estevez and I were talking about the fortune that goes with box office fame, I even brought up how Bruce Willis (now married to an expectant Demi Moore, the actress who was once engaged to Estevez) had just made $ 5-million for starring in Die Hard. Estevez barely flinched.

The spurned Estevez said good-sportingly, "If someone wants to pay him (Willis) that money, more power to him. I heard he was very good in the film; I heard the film was wonderful."

By the way, Estevez got to be proficient riding horses during Young Guns. But then, he sounds as if he became immersed in the project.

He has analyzed Billy the Kid (real name: William H. Bonney) this way: "His gun was like a magic wand. When he didn't like someone he just waved it. But the killings (it is said Billy wiped out 21 people before he died at age 21) were an act of revenge."

Estevez says, "There's a lot of Billy in me, in that we both have a sick sense of humor."

Estevez, who has played some humorous characters in his films (Repo Man, The Breakfast Club, St. Elmo's Fire and Stakeout) says he'd next like to do an all-out comedy.

Obviously, Young Guns didn't quench his comedic yearnings. But there is one scene in the violent, shoot 'em up Western where Estevez gets a snicker from the audience.

The scene has him jumping out of his bath, standing with his backside to the camera. In my interview with Estevez, he swears the director (Christopher Cain) told him his butt wouldn't be seen in the film, that the shot would end with the big splash out of the tub.

"Oh well," Estevez said, chuckling, "the joke's on me."


St. Petersburg Times August 12, 1988, Friday, City Edition BYLINE: JANIS D. FROELICH
Article contributed by Elaine for PRESENTING...EMILIO!!!