What public figure do you disagree with the most?
You might think he’s one of the greatest actors of his generation, a philanthropist and mentor, but there are other sides to Michael Sheen. He’s got more sides to him than a full set of D&D dice.
Who is he, really? One minute he’s a dishevelled wild man in the poorly-shot Staged, the next he’s Arthur, the exquisitely groomed robot in the better-filmed Passengers.
Often he’s too lazy to think up a character to portray, such as Arthur in Passengers, Paul Bates in Midnight in Paris or Brain Clough in The Damned United, so he resorts to pretending to be real people. But which one is he? Is he satirist and interviewer David Frost, slightly smarmy Prime Minister Tony Blair, effete and prickly actor Kenneth Williams, or the tragic revolutionary leader, Lucian the vampire?
Feud with David Tennant
Sheen first worked with Tennant on the TV adaptation of Good Omens, the book co-written by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. The relationship got off to a bad start, with Sheen replacing Tennant as the angel Aziraphale during rehearsals. Pretending to be the Good Guy again. The third series is due out soon, maybe he will show his true colours this time round.
I’ve mentioned Staged and this is at the nub of my issue with Sheen. This public, ongoing war with Scotland’s greatest actor and the second-best Dr Who1 David Tennant was pitched as a distraction during Covid. Yet Sheen chose to heap humiliation on David, flaunting his art skills in the first episode and repeatedly correcting his Welsh pronunciation.
All actors are evil
Not content with pretending to be someone he’s not – for money! – he’s turned his sights on his hometown of Port Talbot. Not content to constantly insist that the ‘t’ in port shouldn’t be pronounced, he’s plotted to flood the British stages with Welsh actors. Firstly, he’s funded and is Artistic Director of the new Welsh National Theatre and secondly he initiated ‘Welsh Net’, a talent-scouting project aimed at finding and developing Welsh talent.
This is clearly misguided. Apart from Sheen there are no known actors or entertainers from Port Talbot or anywhere in South Wales. Well, none of much note.
He’s set up a charity to provide housing, little thinking that in doing so he might affect house prices in Por’ Talbot. He sold his houses to fund a the Homeless World Cup in 2019. Again, without a thought of the effect on property prices. He also used his own money – gained through devious means, don’t forget – to wipe out £1 million of debt for 900 people in South Wales.
Gameshow takeover
The latest calumny is his ousting of poor little Richard Osman on House of Games, no doubt the result of a hostile negotiations. What next? A series of successful murder-mysteries, I’ll warrant.
In summary
The answer to the question at the top is ‘no’. I think he’s a brilliant actor and a wonderful person.
- Tom Baker is the best. Yes, his is. Be quiet. ↩︎
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