CHARLIE TUNES UP FOR AUSSIE AD ROLE
HOLLYWOOD bad boy Charlie Sheen is taking his latest role in a controversial Australian TV ad series – costarring buxom Gold Coast models – very seriously, says the man who hired him.
Sheen will be on set in Melbourne today to shoot the next instalment of the Ultra Tune “Unexpected Situations” commercials, earning a rumoured $500,000 for the day.
The ads, previously with Jean-Claude Van Damme and Mike Tyson, typically spark the most ad standards complaints every year.
Sean Buckley, owner of the car repair and roadside assist giant, said it surprised him how much Sheen knew about his company and its ads when they met in Melbourne on Tuesday.
“He had done his research on the ads, he had looked up every single commercial, studied the role we’ll have him play and the comedic part of it. He said he likes to do his own homework.
“He knew quite a bit about me and Ultra Tune, he knew we sponsored fights and boxing. I was quite shocked,” Mr Buckley said.
Sheen who starred in Platoon, Wall Street and Two and a Half Men for which he was getting $1.8 million an episode, wasn’t required for the first day of Ultra Tune shooting yesterday.
It involved the four “Rubber Girls” Tyana Hansen, Parnia Porsche, Laura Lydall and Imogen Lovell, all former or current Gold Coasters. The foursome did scenes in a pink convertible near water.
Sheen’s role is rumoured to be on a luxury boat with a script that “plays on his reputation”, according to an ad insider.
Porsche said they all got to meet Sheen on arrival on Tuesday night: “He was really down to earth, I think he is going to be really fun to shoot with.
“We are all really excited about it,” she said.
Mr Buckley revealed he deliberately chose “polarising” characters such as Sheen and Tyson for his TV ads because of the emotions it aroused in viewers.
“It’s about forgiveness and redemption and all those values and that’s why the ads are polarising because people are conflicted.
“It is shock value but it conflicts the emotions. I think it’s fascinating, that conflict.”
The selection of Sheen, who is also doing a wartsand-all speaking tour while here, sparked calls by an activist group for his visa to be refused, citing Sheen’s history of alleged violence towards women.
But Mr Buckley said he believed Sheen genuinely wanted to share his story to offer up lessons from it.
“He said to me if he can help people get over their problems given the places he’s been, it’s a good win for him,” he said