SHEEN: I’M QUITTING ACTING TO FIGHT RISE OF THE RIGHT
Star’s shock pledge to become full-time activist:
for how people relate to me.”
Sheen, who was nominated for a Golden Globe nomination for his role in Masters of Sex, is starring in new sci-fi movie Passengers alongside Hollywood heavyweights Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt, out next week.
Sheen plays a robot barman and shot his scenes a year ago in Atlanta, unaware it may have been his last film for the foreseeable future.
The acclaimed actor, who portrayed Tony Blair in The Queen, has long been a visible presence when it comes to worthwhile causes close to his heart or in the public eye.
Causes he has lent a hand to over the years include supporting the NHS, Unicef and fighting homelessness.
More recent efforts close to home include helping a dying man’s last wish be granted – for the man to have a male choir perform at his funeral; calling on people in Wales to work together to stamp out the “hidden crime” of slavery; and pleading for more government action to support Tata steelworks in his home town of Port Talbot, in what was a turbulent year for the crisis-hit industry.
Sheen moved to California 14 years ago to be closer to his daughter Lily, whose mum is actress Kate Beckinsale, but with their daughter almost ready to leave home and go to university, it means Sheen can act on his yearning for Wales.
“I wouldn’t swap what I’ve done for anything,” g,” he added. “I’ve ve done everything I wanted to do.”
He described d Wales as a place ce full of “romantiticism about thehe past. And thenn a kind of bleaknesskness about the presentent and then just a blank k space about the future”.
“I know a lot of British actors who love it here and don’t think twice about spending the rest of their days here. I have never been one of those people. It’s fine, the weather’s nice, but it’s not my country, it’s not my culture, it’s not my tribe, you know? So I find that hard.”
Passengers opens on December 21.