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The People versus Sean Young
Posted on 02/01/2008, 00:00
By Steven Stiefel
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Sean Young.
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Just a few days ago, the beautiful brunette actress was Hollywood’s star attraction train wreck, heckling from the audience at the esteemed Directors Guild of America awards.

Actress Sean Young must be thanking her lucky stars that most people are all-eyes on Britney Spears and her rendezvous with a mental health evaluation, and aren’t paying attention to neither Young, nor her long-serving accessory and adversary, alcohol.

Just a few days ago, the beautiful brunette actress was Hollywood’s star attraction train wreck, heckling from the audience at the esteemed Directors Guild of America awards.

Just imagine the scene: An auditorium full of Hollywood’s most powerful directors assembled in Century City on a Saturday night to honour their own. Julian Schnabel gets up to say a few words about his nominated film, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, before the top prize is announced. He’s a bit slow to start, looking down at the podium and running his hands through his wild, curly hair.

It’s now that Sean Young is heard throughout the room. She shouts at him to get on with it. He spots her and suggests she “have another cocktail.” He then suggests that perhaps she should finish his speech for him. He walks off the stage. Music plays as the audience urges him to stay and keep speaking. The actress, meanwhile, is physically removed from the ballroom. Yes, physically removed.

Her PR agency released a statement saying she has “voluntarily admitted herself to a rehabilitation centre for treatment related to alcoholism… (a disease which) she has struggled against for many years.”

No! For real? We never would have suspected she liked the sauce! Savvy sees how far she has fallen since stealing our hearts in Stripes, Blade Runner and No Way Out.

The People versus Sean Young

Sober or drunk, people have wondered for a while if Sean Young might be a little cuckoo for Coco Puffs. Let’s just take a look at the evidence, shall we...?

Exhibit A: She dressed up in a homemade cat suit (yes, homemade) and confronted director Tim Burton and star Michael Keaton in her quest to secure the role of Catwoman in the 1992 sequel Batman Returns, which went to Michelle Pfeiffer. We’re guessing Halle Berry would gladly let her play Catwoman if she could turn back the page on that stinker.

Exhibit B: Young also gained notoriety for trying to crash the Vanity Fair Oscar party in 2006. She entered, uninvited, on the heels of Jennifer Aniston. “It was degrading,” she admitted in an article last year. “But when you have nothing to lose, it’s really not that big of a deal.”

Exhibit C: James Woods (her co-star in The Boost) sued her for harassing him and his then-fiancée, alleging that she left a disfigured doll on his doorstep in addition to other disruptive behavior. Young denied the allegations and claimed that he filed the lawsuit out of spite. The suit was settled out of court in 1989.

Exhibit D: She was fired from the cast of the 1990 movie Dick Tracy for not appearing maternal in the role of Tess Trueheart. She later claimed she was fired because she rebuffed Warren Beatty’s advances (a claim he denies). If true, he was a busy boy back then (spending more than a little time with dear ol’ Mads).

Exhibit E:
Her role in Wall Street playing the wife of Michael Douglas’ character was reportedly trimmed down after clashes with director Oliver Stone – proof that you don’t piss off the director if you want screen time.

Is there any need for the jury to deliberate...?

The Verdict

Okay, the temptation is to look at Sean Young as a professional freak show, but in a world where celebrities are celebrated for not wearing panties rather than their talent this may have been a brilliantly calculated move to make good on that ever-elusive comeback.

Still, he-without-sin and all that, who among us has not gotten plowed drunk and dialed up old lovers for midnight confessionals?

Maybe this will be a turning point for Sean Young and we’ll see her return triumphantly sober? Then again, she’ll most likely be sober and unemployed -- she put the final nail in the coffin of her career by humiliating herself in front of a room full of Hollywood’s directors. She might as well continue drinking. Either way, it’s going to be interesting to see if she bounces back or rides off into the sunset of obscurity.

What She’s Working On

Sean Young has two films in production for this year, a thriller called Darkness Visible and a western called The Man Who Came Back.

Where You’ve Seen Her

The last decade or so hasn’t been that great for her film career. The last thing she did that we’d even heard of was 1995’s Dr. Jeckyll and Ms. Hyde opposite Tim Daly and Jeremy Piven, but she’s enjoyed a movie career that many the actress still envies, with memorable performances in Stripes (1981), Blade Runner (1982), Dune (1984) , No Way Out (1987), Wall Street (1987), A Kiss Before Dying (1991), and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994). She’s done several TV movies during the last few years, including appearances on One Tree Hill, E.R. and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

Don’t Miss Her In…

Dangerous Days: Making Blade Runner – This definitive three-and-a-half hour documentary about the troubled creation and enduring legacy of the science fiction classic Blade Runner includes lots of Sean Young footage from a time when she was a promising young star on the rise. The documentary is included in the HD DVD and Blu-Ray release of the ultimate Blade Runner collection.

Did You Know…?

She was born Nov. 20, 1959 in Louisville, Kentucky.

She was cast as Vicky Vale in Tim Burton’s 1989 version of Batman but was replaced with Kim Basinger after she was injured riding a horse.

She played the female alter ego of a man (Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde) and a man surgically altered into a woman (Ace Ventura: Pet Detective).

She is a trained dancer and studied at the school of American Ballet in New York. She recently made her professional stage debut in the production of Stardust.

She gave birth to sons in 1994 and 1998. She divorced her husband in 2002.

She’s a graduate of Cleveland Heights High School in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.

Quotables

“All right, I’m young, I’m beautiful – but you don’t have to hate me.”

“Being a blond makes you very ruthless, insane and self-centered.”

“(James Woods) was a crush being turned down, that’s all… So sue me! And he (Woods) did.”

_______

-- All information, images and quotes sourced from outside sources deemed to be within the public domain.

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1.
sean young
by pennwood on 06/11/2008, 08:57

She's a little flakey, but she still floats my boat.
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