Still in the pink

When it comes to movie stars behaving badly, actor Charlie Sheen could have written the book. The drugs, the booze, the women, the parties, the Hollywood royalty family. Sheen has had it all.

His friend and co-star Jon Cryer has been able to observe Sheen closely over the years, first when they worked together on the hit film Hot Shots! in 1991 and more recently over six seasons of the sitcom Two and a Half Men, screening Wednesdays on TV2.

Cryer, who plays the neurotic Alan opposite Sheen's playboy Charlie, recalls first meeting the already famous Hollywood hellraiser on the set of Hot Shots!

"He'd turn up in a convertible with porn stars in the back seat. But he was an incredible pro at the same time. He was never late and he always hit his marks. I thought 'Damn, that guy is a movie star'."

The star-struck Cryer admits that he was initially tempted by Sheen's wicked ways. "Supposedly, he was loaded most of the time. So I thought maybe I should get loaded, too." But, he says, it just wasn't him. "Whatever it is, I'm not saying I recommend it."

On the face of it, Sheen doesn't appear to have mellowed much. In almost every scene of Two and a Half Men he has a drink in one hand and a cigar in the other. But don't be fooled, says Cryer. "Charlie's been sober for seven years. The scotch is actually tea, and the beer is apple juice." But he still smokes a lot of cigarettes. "Oh goodness me, yes. He's like The Flash. You'll be talking to him, turn away and he's gone. He'll be outside, puffing away."

Cryer has clearly relished working with his more famous co-star. "He was always shockingly warm and friendly for a guy who seems so cool and who's been famous since the age of 19."

Cryer himself has amassed an impressive body of work since he graduated from acting classes in New York and London's Royal Academy in the early 1980s.

His first big break was lovelorn Ducky opposite Molly Ringwald in the John Hughes-scripted Pretty in Pink in 1986.

When Pretty in Pink came out and became a cult success, Cryer was an overnight sensation. "You never know if that's going to happen. I was a huge John Hughes fan before. But I got the job right before [huge hit] The Breakfast Club came out." Two and a Half Men has also been a huge success in many countries. Its risque humour sets it apart from other anodyne American sit-coms. Cryer describes it as "naughty".

Lately, Cryer has been working on a storyline that involves his character Alan embarking on a fling with neighbour Rose, played by New Zealand actress Melanie Lynskey.

"The talented and beautiful Melanie Lynskey," says Cryer. "It's deeply, deeply strange. We read it and went 'What!', because we are such good friends. But it's fun."

Cryer is also a fan of Flight of the Conchords' off-kilter humour. "I caught it on cable. Those guys are a scream. It's such a quirky, odd show." Two and a Half Men boasts its own brand of quirkiness. It could also be argued that the show mirrors the relationship between old friends Cryer and Sheen. The actors may have grown up, but their sibling characters are still finding their way. "People enjoy that playboy persona Charlie has," says Cryer. "But they also like watching him struggle with daily life. Basically, those guys are deeply afraid of pretty much every woman in their lives."

* Two and a Half Men TV2 Wednesday at 7.30pm
(Repeats Fridays, 7.30pm.)