The trailer has landed for Netflix’s two-part documentary aka Charlie Sheen, and it looks to be about as subtle as Sheen’s tabloid years — which is to say, not at all. Watch the trailer above and read on for what’s in store.
Charlie Sheen, Unfiltered
At the peak of his sitcom fame (and still hanging onto one of the ‘highest paid TV actors’ ever brag), Charlie Sheen was a magnet for headlines — part unhinged comedy routine, part full-blown meltdown. Now, with seven years of sobriety, he’s pulling back the curtain on the meteoric highs, the spectacular wipeouts, and the private battles that spilled into the public arena.
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Directed by Andrew Renzi (Pepsi, Where’s My Jet?, Untold: Jake Paul the Problem Child), aka Charlie Sheen doesn’t just hand the mic to Sheen — it surrounds him with people who lived it alongside him. In the trailer, Oscar winner Sean Penn, a long-time friend, sums up the early spiral with, “He started experimenting with uh… everything.” Denise Richards, Sheen’s ex-wife and mother to two of his children, notes, “When it started to change, it was quick.” And in a blunt, no-prisoners moment, former Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss simply calls him “a crybaby pussy bitch.”
Winning His Trust Was the First Battle
Renzi says getting Sheen to even agree to the project was a mission in itself. “He did not want to make a documentary,” he tells Netflix site Tudum. “[Sheen] was like, ‘Why step into this arena in this way?’ I had seven to eight months of relationship building with him before we even sat down to shoot the film. That was really important to me.”
The filmmaker stresses this isn’t a puff piece. “A guy like him has a lot to offer the world with that story,” Renzi says. “A lot of times we are scared of hearing from people who have done things we might not agree with, when in reality we should be listening to them. Who better to reveal these kinds of things and to talk about these missteps? I find that to be a beautiful arc.”
Malibu Beginnings, Hollywood Extremes
The documentary covers Sheen’s childhood in Malibu, the son of Martin Sheen and brother to Emilio Estevez and Ramon Estevez, before charting his path to megastardom and the spectacular falls that followed. Alongside Sheen’s own reflections, the film weaves in stories from Jon Cryer, Brooke Mueller, Chris Tucker, and even Sheen’s former drug dealer — painting a picture that’s equal parts admiration, regret, compassion, and disbelief.
While Martin and Emilio chose not to appear on camera, Renzi says they were fully supportive: “They wanted to let Charlie have this moment … Watching the movie with Charlie’s whole family in the same room was incredible.”
aka Charlie Sheen premieres September 10 on Netflix.
