Reunions aren’t always what they are cracked up to be.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So, like everyone else, I watchedThe West Wingreunion on HBO Max.
What was it like getting together withThe West Winggang again?
HBO Max
MARTIN SHEEN: It was sacramental, to coin a phrase.
So this was organized at a theater downtown under such strict COVID-19 protocol.
We have not played together in almost 15 years.
Well, that lasted about three minutes.
Everybody showed up knowing every single line.
And then, you know how important that is with Aaron Sorkin.
He writes like a composer composes a composition.
You had such a wonderful composite of players.
And so, that’s part of it.
We were back with our instruments in the orchestra.
Each of us had a moment to shine.
But together, it was just extraordinary.
I just wept with joy when it was done.
It took two days, and we filmed it in an empty theater.
And when we arrived, it was like a crime scene.
There were all these yellow tapes forbidding entrance into this section and that section.
You had to use that toilet.
You couldn’t hang out here.
You couldn’t leave that.
You couldn’t touch a cup of coffee.
And you had to go straightaway to be tested.
We were tested twice a day, once before we started, and then once afterwards.
So within three days, I had six tests.
All of us did.
They were so genuinely concerned about keeping everyone safe.
There were 84 people involved in the production, and there was not a single positive COVID test.
Everyone went through it safely.
I loved the staging of it.
As you said, it felt so natural, almost like it had always been a theater production.
What was it like doing it in that environment on a stage?
There were no trumpets.
There were no percussions.
It was just strange.
It was so soft.
It was like a memory.
But it was done with the dialogue, with the people, with the interplay between the characters.
That’s what worked.
And it was so satisfying that I went back and looked at the original episode.
I’d basically forgotten how powerful it was.
Everyone had kind of an equal part to contribute.
It was just amazing how it worked as a play.
You know, Aaron started as a playwright.
He wroteA Few Good Men,so he’s a very capable dramatist.
It’s interesting hearing how you went back and watched the episode.
Well, it’s like remembering a poem or Shakespeare.
Once you do a Shakespearian play, the lines come so well.
Whether they’re verse or poetry, they come so well.
And that was what this was like.
Each moment came through a chamber that responded naturally.
Oh, that’s the Oval Office!
That’s the front gate!"
It was the people.
It became like a deeply personal memoir.
Do you know what I mean?
I’m sure you’ve been getting that all the time over the past 20 years, right?
I’m an actor.
I’m playing a president.
I’ve played a lot of different characters.
it’s possible for you to’t blame us though.
I mean, It’s a pretty good fantasy, Martin.
And sometimes the fantasy is more appealing than the reality, if you know what I’m saying.
Yeah, but you know, a great many of the storylines came from real stories.
We had advisors going back as far as the Eisenhower administration.
There were stories pulled up from all these different administrations and couched in different characters in our show.
So they thought he was related, and they called him.
He ended up going to this man’s funeral at Arlington, and it was a Christmas story.
And we were organizing this military funeral at the Christmas season.
That’s a very powerful story, one of my favorites.
He’s not buried at Arlington, but we did have a military funeral for him.
He died in 1981.
But he was my oldest living brother who was one of my first heroes.
And so, I related it to him personally.
For me, it was a personal, emotional journey with that veteran story.
Years ago, I watchedHearts of Darkness,the fabulous documentary on the rocky production process for filmingApocalypse Now.
Can you just describe what making that movie was like, in both sickness and in health?
But it was our times, and I’m glad we got through it.
So it was tremendously valuable to me.
The film basically brought my career to the fore internationally.
So for that, and for Francis having put me in it, I’m always grateful.
So I was just as a comfortable having it happen as it did.
But again, I wouldn’t choose it.
Entertainment Weekly’sUltimate Guide to the West Wingis available now.
