Charlie Sheen admits 'betrayal' behind losing iconic Vietnam film role to Tom Cruise

Charlie Sheen recalled how his brother, Emilio Estevez, broke the news to him that he would not play the lead role in Oliver Stone's 1989 war drama, "Born of the Fourth of July."

Prior to the filming of "Born of the Fourth of July," Sheen had starred back-to-back in two of Stone's most iconic movies, 1986's "Platoon" and 1987's "Wall Street."

During Thursday's episode of "In Depth with Graham Bensinger," the 60-year-old actor said be believed that he and Stone, 79, had agreed that he would portray real-life Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic in the film, and he was surprised when he learned that the director had cast Tom Cruise instead.

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Charlie Sheen reflected on how he learned that Tom Cruise had replaced him in "Born on the Fourth of July."  (Arturo Holmes/Getty Images; Jamie McCarthy/WireImage)

"Emilio, he calls me. He says, 'Hey, man. You sitting down?' And I think somebody died, right?" Sheen said. "I'm like, ‘No, what's going on?" He says, ‘Cruise is doing 'Born on the Fourth.’"

At the time, Sheen and Cruise knew each other as they were both part of the same young Hollywood circle.

The two had mutual friends, and they were often mentioned together in the media as rising stars of their generation. In addition, Cruise stayed at Sheen and Estevez's father Martin Sheen’s house in Malibu for a short time when he first arrived in Los Angeles.

Sheen told Bensinger that he was amused Estevez had been worried about a stronger reaction from him upon being informed that Cruise had won the part.

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"I love that Emilio thought that I needed to be seated to get news he thought was going to make me faint," he said. "I mean, what are we doing here? It's a movie."

Sheen's brother Emilio Estevez broke the news to him.  (Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)

However, Sheen admitted that losing the role was "a big deal" at the time.

"It was also the betrayal factor of it, you know," he said. "So I was like, 'OK, all right.' You know, Oliver's been a fan of Tom's for a long time. It's a different movie if Tom does it than if I do it."

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"And I was like, you know, ‘What are you going to do?’" Sheen added. "You can't lose something you never had."

Sheen did acknowledge that he was confident he had secured the role based on conversations he had with Stone.

"The thing that was weird is he said, ‘I want you to do Born on the Fourth’ and we had meetings about it, and we had a dinner with Ron Kovic," the "Two and a Half Men" star recalled.

"And then I stopped hearing from him," he continued. "We stopped talking about it, and I reach out to Oliver, and I'm told that he's in Cuba. Whatever. This is like 1988 or '89, right? I'm like, 'OK, well, tell him I'm looking for him.'"

Tom Cruise speaking out for the military veterans in a scene from the film "Born On The Fourth Of July." (Universal Pictures/Getty Images)

However, Sheen admitted that he and Stone only had an informal agreement.

"I didn't sign a contract," he explained. "There was a handshake."

"We were far enough down the road to feel like this was our next thing," Sheen added. "So my word was honored between us, but it's fine."

Charlie Sheen and Michael Douglas on the set of "Wall Street," written and directed by Oliver Stone. (Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images)

Sheen recalled that he once confronted Stone about what had happened with the casting when they ran into each other at a bar.

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"I stopped in and he was there, and I was drunk enough, and he was drunk enough for that thing to finally be brought up," Sheen said. "And he was like, 'I just felt like you didn't have any passion for it. I felt like you lost interest.' I was like, ‘Well, I didn't see you. How do you know how much passion I lost or interest that evaporated if we never talked about it again?'"

Sheen explained that though he was disappointed, he admired Cruise's performance in the movie, which earned the "Top Gun" star his first Academy Award nomination.

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Sheen also starred in "Major League" and "Major League II."  (Diamond Images/Getty Images)

"It wasn't like a thing where I'm going to talk s--- about him, because then you see the movie and you're like, 'Oh, OK. All right. He turned it into that,'" Sheen said.

"When someone gets a job and does that with it, you're just like, of course," he continued. "You don't sit there and dissect it and like, 'I'd have done that better.' No, go f--- yourself. That's a brilliant — and you should have won the freaking Oscar."

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Looking back, Sheen noted the timing worked out since it allowed him to make one of his own biggest films, 1989's "Major League."

"I don't know if ‘Major League’ happens if I do ‘Born on the Fourth,’" Sheen said. "I'm just pretty sure that one would have gotten in the way of the other, and if it's not true, that's what I'm going with."