For the last couple of days, it has seemed like actor Michael Sheen's time left on the big screen has been limited. After all, it was widely reported on Friday that the Frost/Nixon actor would be stepping away from his acting career in favor of focusing himself more on political activism. It was surprising news to learn... but that's partially because it's not entirely true.
The story of Michael Sheen's possibly retirement spread around this weekend due to an interview that the actor did with The Times in promotion of his upcoming movie Passengers, but it seems that the truth got a bit bent when going from his words to print. In an attempt to clarify things, Sheen started by hitting his personal Twitter account to explain that he is merely thinking about acting less, not leaving the business entirely:
Following up - probably because 140 characters is rather limiting - Michael Sheen then moved over to his personal Tumblr blog, where he had a bit more room to explain exactly what is currently going on with him re: political activism and possible retirement. Clarifying that his moves have nothing specifically to do with either Brexit or Donald Trump's presidential election win, he noted that he mostly is just concerned about the rise of anti-democratic forces in the world, and feels a personal responsibility to help stand up against it. In a post titled "WHAT I DID NOT SAY," Sheen wrote:
In the actual original interview I said I have become more involved with community issues back at home over the last few years and because of the political situation it's something I would like to focus on more. The interviewer asked me what that meant for my career and I said it might mean I work less as an actor and maybe even stop for a while AT SOME POINT. But I don't really know yet.
That post from Michael Sheen was followed by a much longer piece called "So..." that can be read right here.
While it's certainly not hard to understand the pull of political activism when you have a face familiar to millions, we can selfishly say that we're happy Michael Sheen isn't ready to just drop out of the industry. As an actor, he has proven himself time and time again to be an incredibly talented performer, and he is really a welcomed addition to any project of which he becomes a part. Hopefully he can continue to balance his life so that he can continue his impressive work, while also standing up to causes in which he believes.
Michael Sheen's next work, the sci-fi feature Passengers, will be in theaters this Wednesday, December 21st.
