Chuck Lorre has revealed he had to battle CBS executives to cast Jon Cryer in his hit sitcom Two and a Half Men.
Lorre, 73, has been nicknamed the “King of Sitcoms” thanks to a successful multi-decade career helping to create hit shows including Dharma & Greg,The Big Bang Theory and Mom.
In his new memoir, Sitcom, he looks back at some of the challenges he faced, including the well-publicized spat with Charlie Sheen that almost derailed Two and a Half Men in 2011.
However, he also explains that it was originally Sheen’s co-star Jon Cryer who concerned CBS bosses.
In his book, per USA Today, Lorre writes that when putting the sitcom together in 2003 he was told by Peter Golden, CBS's head of casting: “Just be warned, we don't want to hear the words ‘Jon Cryer.’”
Cryer had made his name with the cult 1986 film Pretty in Pink, but had subsequently been attached to a string of failed sitcoms.
As Lorre writes: “I was told ... yep, you know where this is going ... (Cryer) was the death of comedy. He’d been cast on several failed pilots and series, ergo he must be to blame. All by himself. Jon Cryer, the beloved Duckie in Pretty in Pink, was the death of comedy.”
However, Lorre had worked with Cryer on an episode of Dharma & Greg and chose to push back against the network. He secured the actor an audition alongside Sheen, in front of “grim” network chairman and CEO Les Moonves.
Cryer’s performance was so impressive that Lorre clapped when he was done, leading a grumpy Moonves to respond: “Really? Applause?”
Lorre replied: “You saw what I saw, he was great.”
Cryer was ultimately cast in the show, and went on to win two Emmys for the role of Alan Harper as Two and a Half Men became one of the biggest television shows of its era.
Elsewhere in his memoir, Lorre writes that Hugh Grant was at one point offered the chance to replace Sheen in the hit series.
However, Lorre told E! News that Grant ultimately passed, recalling: “When it came time to sign a contract and proceed, he bailed. He just bailed. I've never spoken with him since that time. Just some agent or manager called and said, ‘Mr. Grant doesn't want to do this.’”
After Sheen’s departure, he was replaced by Ashton Kutcher who co-starred with Cryer for four seasons from 2011 to 2015.
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