Tuesday, May 16, 2006


I met and photographed Martin Sheeen in October of 1988. He was in town to promote a thriller film called Coldfront. I remember that after the press conference he was surrounded by many journalists and I did not know how to isolate him from the crowd for a photograph. To make things worse in 1988 I was heavy into shooting with a spotlight and it was a cumbersome piece of equipment. So I faced Sheen and told him in Spanish, "¿Podria bajar sus gafas?" I used the castillian word for glasses "gafas" and I asked him to lower them. I knew that Sheen spoke perfect Spanish. He was so surprised to hear my Spanish that he stopped to pose for me. I got the glasses to cast shadows on his eyes exactly where I wanted. There are two films that are my favourite Sheen movies. Everybody knows about his role as Captain Benjamin Willard in Apocalpypse Now but few know that he was First Lt. Dobbs in Catch-22. I watch little TV so I have never seen the West Wing that aired its final episode this week. But I know that somehow Sheen picks his roles based less on the idea of how much money he can make and more on a character that has integrity, a virtue he seems to have in spades.