Sean Young Thinks Her Career Was Deliberately Sabotaged By A Bunch Of Directors

March 23, 2021 / Posted by:

Sean Young has the type of Wikipedia page that should begin with the words, “How much time do you have?“, because there is SO much to learn about her iconic and infamous career as an actress. There are also many stories about how Sean was a diva, a stalker, and an all-around mess. At the time, back in the pre-internet 90s, all those characterizations seemingly provided enough evidence for why the universe hit the brakes on her career. Even when Sean would offer her perspective, it was usually met with someone in high places who was able to discredit her by pointing to the stories about her being a diva.

Well, time has proven that some of the people who previously accused Sean of being a mess are actually the messes themselves. And thanks to the #MeToo movement helping to disprove the persistent Hollywood rumor of the “difficult” actress, Sean can finally get her side of the story out. Which is that, according to Sean, she probably would have had a longer, more legitimate career had it not been for a bunch of directors who sabotaged it.

We’ve been told plenty about Sean Young over the years, like that her role in Wall Street was supposed to be larger, but was reduced because she didn’t get along with director Oliver Stone. Or that she was fired from the role of Tess Trueheart in Dick Tracy because she wasn’t “maternal enough,” whereas Sean maintains her dismissal was punishment for brushing director Warren Beatty off when he allegedly hit on her. There’s an obvious pattern, which is the typical “She’s a nightmare, don’t hire her!” vibe. Sean Young recently spoke to The Daily Beast about this. She describes that time in her career as a “sexist” time in Hollywood, and assumes that she was targeted because she challenged men and made them “nervous“:

“I feel I was always down to earth and straightforward with people, and I didn’t realize until later that that may have been perceived as offensive. That was not my intention. I only got offensive later because I started getting pissed off, like, ‘This is serious. This is my career. You don’t just blacklist me.’ It’s terrible.”

Sean went on to talk about Ridley Scott, who directed her in Blade Runner, or rather, her lack of relationship because he never hired her again (save for a 30-second cameo in Blade Runner 2049). Sean believes Ridley refused to work with her again because she would not date Harrison Ford, which is something he encouraged:

“Ridley [Scott] wanted me to date him. He tried very hard in the beginning of the show to date him, and I never would. I was like, nah. And then he started dating the actress who played Zhora, Joanna Cassidy, and I felt relieved. And then we do this [love] scene, and I think it was Ridley. I think Ridley was like, fuck you. I was thinking, ‘Why did this have to be like that? What was the point of that?’ and I think it was Ridley’s none-too-subtle message that he was getting even with me.

He never hired me again, and that was weird. What the fuck? You hire Russell Crowe a gazillion times and you’re not gonna hire me again? And I was very nice to Ridley over the years. I never badmouthed him. It didn’t occur to me until later that I guess I’d offended him.”

The Daily Beast notes that the late Carl Reiner previously came to Sean’s defense, saying that her reputation as “trouble” was unearned and that a famous director had launched a smear campaign against her. Which director was that, you ask? All of them, according to Sean:

“Warren was definitely one of them. Steven Spielberg was another. And Tim Burton didn’t have a sense of humor when I wanted to go for the part of Catwoman. This should have been funny, saying, ‘Who’s in the limo?’ and then going onto the Warner Bros. lot dressed as Catwoman. But they didn’t see it that way.

Steven has enough power to cancel you. He canceled Megan Fox.”

Sean added that Steven Spielberg blacklisted her after she saw him at a party and asked him why he didn’t cast her in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Steven allegedly took great offense to Sean speaking up and advocating for herself. Sean didn’t name-drop Oliver Stone in her list of crappy vindictive directors, and that’s possibly because he deserved his own personal mention:

“Oh god, what a bastard [Oliver Stone] was. Michael Douglas was wonderful but Oliver and Charlie [Sheen] were awful. And Charlie was on a lot of coke on that show, and that’s what coke does to you.”

When Sean advocated for herself and Daryl Hannah on set, he fired her for speaking up and had a driver dump her at a bus station:

“Oliver’s put Daryl [Hannah] in this white dress that she ends up wearing in the big party scene, and Daryl let me hang out in her trailer. Daryl didn’t want to wear the dress because it’s backless, and I look at Oliver and say, ‘Oliver, why would you want her to wear a dress she doesn’t feel comfortable in?’ He says, ‘Could you excuse us for a minute?’ and I get up and leave the trailer. So we’re doing the rehearsal and he takes my only line in the scene and he gives my line to Daryl. And I go up Oliver and say, ‘I don’t understand? I have no lines now. What’s the point of me being in this scene?’ And he goes, ‘You’re right. You’re fired.’ I went to the trailer, got my stuff, and then they told me to get in this car. And this driver, who I thought was going to take me back to Manhattan, drops me off at the bus station.”

Sean alleged that during the filming of Wall Street, Charlie Sheen wrote the word “cunt” on a piece of paper and stuck it to her back:

“Michael [Douglas] tore it off without me knowing what it said. I said, ‘What was that?’ and he said, ‘Forget it.’ Then the art dealer who was there guarding the paintings, he told me what Charlie had done. I spoke with Charlie the next day and said, ‘Your dad was a pro. Writing ‘cunt’ on a piece of tape and sticking it to my back? Not pro. It’s just stupid. What are you doing?'”

Sean’s career is clearly full of assholes. But she stresses there was one decent guy she worked with, and that’s Jim Carrey (on Ace Ventura: Pet Detective), who she claims fought for her to be cast, and told everything that what they heard about her was “bullshit.

Sean’s stories aren’t really that surprising. Especially since they took place in the late 80s, which is like the Super Bowl for sexism and coke. But I am shocked at that Charlie Sheen story. He knew how to spell “cunt“? Correctly? That’s four whole letters! I would think that was beyond his brain’s processing power.

Pic: Wenn.com

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