Bullz-Eye: We met very briefly in person when you were at the TCA tour for the “Californication” panel.

Carla Gugino: Yes! Very good…and a totally different project! [Laughs.]

BE: To say the least. So how did you find your way into “The Mighty Macs”? Was the script pitched directly to you?

CG: Yeah, you know, my wonderful agent – his name’s Mike Nilon – he’s actually from Philly, so he kind of knew the story and said, “There’s this filmmaker, Tim Chambers, who wrote and is gonna direct this, and he’s really interested in meeting with you for the role of Cathy Rush.” And I was doing a play…I was doing “Suddenly Last Summer” off Broadway with Blythe Danner at that time, so Tim came to see the play and took me out to dinner afterwards, and he basically told me the story. And, of course, then I read the script, and we went on from there. But he was so passionate about this story and had done such extensive research and was just really galvanized to tell it. And I think that’s the thing for me: it’s always about looking for a person with a vision at the helm, and a character that I have not gotten to play yet. That sort of scares me in a great way. [Laughs.] And in this particular case, you know, Cathy’s a pretty phenomenal woman – she’s still alive and thriving – so to do justice to her story felt daunting in the most fantastic way.

BE: I know that she had been on the set while you were filming. I know that not everyone necessarily likes to meet the person they’re going to be playing, but did you relish the opportunity to be around her and kind of get a feel for her as a person?

CG: Yeah, you know, I have to say that I…I felt really  blessed to have her there. I think the thing is…it’s probably difficult if you have a real person around you if they’re really holding on to a particular way that they want you to play them or think you’re going to play them. But in terms of research, I think it’s a such a gift to have the real person around. And for me…I mean, it was never going to be about me imitating Cathy very much, just because I feel like when you do an imitation of a real person, that ends up being what people are looking at: how good or not is that imitation? In this particular case, what I really wanted to portray was her essence and the way that she was able to lead these girls into really unknown terrain at that time. So that was sort of the most important thing that I focused on, and I think that was the most important thing to her, too. So we really had a nice place to meet on that.

BE: So what was your background in basketball going into the film?

CG: You know what? Very little. [Laughs.] Just as an enjoyable experience. Like, I love watching it, and I got to sit on the floor of a Lakers game when I shot my first scene in “Entourage.” And that was basically about it for me. And that was also what was really daunting and really exciting. I came out of the movie certainly much more knowledgeable about basketball, because for me, I wanted to understand every play I was drawing out, I wanted to understand the game in a way that I would as a coach. So that was definitely challenging, and also very exciting. But it’s interesting, you know, because I guess in a way – and I don’t even know that I’ve said this before, but I’m realizing it as I’m speaking to you right now – it’s kind of a metaphor for this movie. This movie, bizarrely but in a great way, kind of has something for everybody…but not in that general way of [In a sing-song voice] “Oh, there’s something for everybody!” But, truly, if you love basketball, it’s a really cool and amazing story about how this tiny little Catholic girls college and its coach made it to the nationals and changed the face of women’s sports forever. If you are a religious person, it’s also amazing to see the support of and the state that these nuns at this school ultimately had in championing this team, and the fact that the team always felt that there was a sixth player. Sister Sunday sort of personifies that in this movie. And if you’re just a person who wants to see a really inspiring story right now about the fact that in the midst of…I mean, we live in a tough world, and it’s hard times right now, and I think it’s also important to have a story that’s not only incredibly entertaining but also makes you walk out of the theater making you feel better about your life, yourself, and humanity.

BE: You made a comment a minute ago about how “The Mighty Macs” is a decidedly different sort of project from “Californication.” This definitely wouldn’t be defined as one of your sexiest roles, per se. Do you relish the opportunity to mix it up and show different sides of yourself?

CG: For sure. I mean, for me, it’s always been about that. It’s really about…you know, I’m so thrilled that this is a G-rated family movie that everybody can go to, because that story is so appropriate for that. And I love that “Californication” is made for adults. It’s a totally different kind of humor and a different kind of…yeah, it’s a much sexier show and all those things. And then I’m about to go do an Athol Fugard play on Broadway with Rosemary Harris and Jim Dale, which is a decidedly different thing. So to me, aside from the people that I love, acting really is the love of my wife. I want to be able to play everything and be able to disappear into roles and have people accept and believe me in those. I’m much more interested in that than my image as an actor. So it is thrilling to be able to mix it up, and I’m appreciative that I get to do that.

BE: On the topic of “Californication,” how did you find your way into the series? Did David Duchovny approach you and ask you to be involved?

CG: No, actually, you know, David and I had a lot of mutual friends, but we’d hadn’t met before that. The creator of the show, Tom Kapinos…I just got a call from my agent, saying, “there’s a role that they would really love you to play in that season. Would you sit down and talk to him?” And he kind of pitched me what the character was like, and I…was only able to read the first episode was in, maybe the first two, but I really liked where they were going with it. And he said, “I really want someone really formidable, because he’s going to have kind of a different relationship with her than he has with any other woman besides Natascha McElhone’s character.” And she’s obviously such a strong and beautiful woman that they really needed a great kind of full woman to embody that role. Basically, everything I said that was important to me for the role, he absolutely incorporated it into the part. So it was an amazing experience. I really loved working with all of those guys.

BE: Talking about various projects you’ve done over the years, you actually started in sitcom work, which “Californication” is, at least to a certain extent, an extension of that. Do you have any particular anecdotes from those days that still stick with you that were particularly educational?

CG: Well, it was amazing, you know, to work with Michael J. Fox (on “Spin City”), who’s so brilliant in that medium. So that was, in and of itself, fantastic. You know, I think it’s interesting, because I think sitcoms are such a cool kind of hybrid of television or film meets theater, because you do have a live audience, and you really are working with that comic timing in a very specific way because of that. So I don’t even know that I have any anecdotes, other than that doing “Spin City” was just such an amazing kind of thing, because I met my best friend, Connie Britton, on that show. So that was a huge thing. And then also I was able to, as a very young person, live in New York and film an amazing sitcom there. I never really saw myself in a sitcom, and then I really had such a great time doing it. I find myself in a lot of dramatic fare, which I love, but I also do love doing comedy. So that’s always a great opportunity when I’m able to do that.

BE: Would you say there’s a favorite project over the years that you’ve done that didn’t get the love you thought it deserved?

CG: Oh, gosh, a lot of them. [Laughs.] Let’s see… I mean, honestly, it happens so often, because so often you make movies that sort of go under the radar. I did a movie called “Judas Kiss” quite a number of years back, with Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Hal Holbrook, and Simon Baker. That movie did really well around the world, but it just didn’t really get a lot of play in this country. “Miami Rhapsody,” which was David Frankel’s first movie, that’s another one. It was with Sarah Jessica Parker and Antonio Banderas – that’s where Antonio and I met – and Mia Farrow, Paul Mazursky, and Jeremy Piven. That’s also where Jeremy and I first met. That movie could’ve been a huge runaway comedy hit, and it has a real cult following. People who have seen it love that movie, but not that many people have seen it, relatively speaking. So throughout time there’s a lot of that. I think that as an actor you just kind of get used to it. You kind of give your gift, you give whatever you give, and you move forward, because the rest of it’s out of your control.

BE: As far as your TV work that’s kind of underrated, I’m a huge fan of “Threshold,” but I really wish they’d release “Karen Sisco” on DVD.

CG: I know! You know, it’s so funny, “Karen Sisco,” I have to say…well, first of all, thank you for “Threshold,” too, but with “Karen Sisco,” what’s really fun is that, right now, I’m working on “Justified,” and that’s our old “Karen Sisco” team, and it’s also Elmore Leonard, so that’s a really fun world to revisit. I have a really soft spot for “Karen Sisco” as well, and…interestingly enough, if you’re an Elmore Leonard fan, you can get this on iTunes,  but Joseph Gordon Levitt directed a short film which I produced with him that Elmore is also in support of. It’s with Eric Stoltz and myself, it’s called “Sparks,” and it’s based on a short story Elmore wrote called “Sparks.” You can get it on iTunes, and it’s only about 15 or 20 minutes long, but it’s a really cool short film. But, yeah, “Karen Sisco,” we only did 10 episodes, but people still always come up to be about that show. Because of the timing and because of all sorts of networks and studios behind the scenes, it just didn’t have as long a life as it should have. But it was certainly a special show.

If you’ve paid any attention whatsoever to the entertainment news coming out of Hollywood in the past few weeks, then you can’t help but be aware of Charlie Sheen’s increasingly strange shenanigans and how they’ve directly affected the rest of the cast and crew of CBS’s long-running and ridiculously-successful sitcom, “Two and a Half Men.” Who would’ve thought that the infamous hotel incident in October 2010 would’ve proven to be one of the lesser moments on the actor’s ever-lengthening list of embarrassing incidents?

Now, after making the decision to bypass traditional rehab in favor of curing his drug and alcohol issues with his mind, Sheen has been running off at the mouth so much that CBS has pulled the plug and decided to call off the remainder of the episodes that had been planned for this season.

But what of next season? More importantly, given all of the nasty remarks that Sheen’s made toward series creator Chuck Lorre, will there even be a next season?

We know that CBS, Warner Brothers Television, and Lorre have ostensibly ruled out continuing “Two and a Half Men” without Sheen, but if we’re to be honest, it seems like the better tactic would be for the whole lot of them to say, “Hey, Charlie, read our lips: one monkey don’t stop no show,” then find a new man to join Jon Cryer and Angus T. Jones and keep the title intact. We know things are kind of crazy over there at the moment, though, so we thought we’d at least try to help them a bit with the casting process.

Sure, they say they won’t continue without Charlie…but, then, they haven’t seen our suggestions yet.

First, let’s get the jokes out of our system, shall we? Yes, we chuckled at the thought of having Martin Sheen step into his son’s shoes, and we also had a laugh over the idea of Emilio Estevez taking over, since, really, what else has he got going on? We considered the possibility of Michael J. Fox getting a little bit of “Spin City” payback by having him replace Charlie, and at one point we also said, “Hey, how about Randy Quaid? If anyone can make Charlie Sheen look like the sane one…”

The following folks, however, are men that we think really would help keep “Two and a Half Men” on the air without having the number of laughs per minute fall below acceptable levels.

Woody Harrelson

Why he’d be a perfect fit: Harrelson got his first big break in television, thanks to playing dim-bulb bartender Woody Boyd on “Cheers,” but even though he eased into a perfectly reasonable feature-film career during the late ’90s, he wasn’t afraid to step back onto the small screen for a recurring role (seven episodes) on “Will & Grace” in 2001. These days, Harrelson’s mostly been pulling supporting-role parts, and although “Zombieland” was a pleasant exception, we can still see him accepting another sitcom gig, especially since the reality of the situation is that he’d pick up a decent chunk of change for a job that A) would be relatively short-term, and B) he could pretty much do in his sleep.

Jamie Kennedy

Why he’d be a perfect fit: Although your personal mileage may vary on his effectiveness, mainstream America has embraced Kennedy’s comedy on several occasions over the past decade. Between his self-titled “Experiment” running for three seasons on The WB and the continued cult success of his films “Malibu’s Most Wanted” and “Kickin’ It Old School” on DVD, he definitely qualifies as a proven comedic commodity for the “Two and a Half Men” crowd. Plus, he’s got at least a little bit of sitcom street cred behind the scenes as well, having co-created and written for The WB’s “Living with Fran,” Fran Drescher’s short-lived post-”Nanny” series. Most importantly, though, Kennedy secured honest dramatic work from 2008 to 2010 as part of the “Ghost Whisperer” cast, which means that he has a recent history as a member of the CBS family.

D.B. Sweeney

Why he’d be a perfect fit: Well, for one thing, we’d be willing to bet that most guys still think first and foremost of Sweeney for the work he did alongside the man he’d be replacing, in “Eight Men Out.” The ladies, however, tend to think of him…and still swoon over him…in conjunction with a different sport: hockey. Indeed, I am assured that any woman whose heart doesn’t go pitter-pat at the mere thought of “The Cutting Edge” should officially consider themselves to be a disgrace to their gender. Sweeney’s never really gotten a fair shake on television – none of the shows on which he’s been a full-fledged regular (“Strange Luck,” “C-16: FBI,” “Harsh Realm,” and “Life as We Know It”) have survived beyond their first season – but given that he’s capable of playing the bad boy and getting both girls and laughs, he strikes us as a highly viable candidate.

Seann William Scott

Why he’d be a perfect fit: Do we really need to spell it out for you? Scott may not be thrilled that he’s gotten more than a little bit typecast as his “American Pie” character, but a Stifler-esque type is exactly what “Two and a Half Men” needs to fill the vacuum that would be left by Charlie Sheen’s departure. Given Scott’s decreasing returns on the big screen in recent years, we’re a little surprised he hasn’t shown up in a sitcom yet, anyway, but this would be a perfect opportunity to revive his declining star power by playing up the comedic attributes that made him hot in the first place.

Matthew McConaughey

Why he’d be a perfect fit: What, you mean besides the fact that the female demos for “Two and a Half Men” would shoot into the stratosphere? I don’t think anyone will deny that McConaughey is still a proven box-office draw when he’s playing against an equally pretty leading lady in a vapid romantic comedy, but the last time he tried to step outside that mold, we got “Surfer, Dude,” a film which might as well have gone straight to video, given how few theaters cared enough to screen it. Not that the movie jobs aren’t continuing to roll in, anyway, but we know how badly McConaughey wants to make “The Grackle,” a film which he describes variously as “the funniest script I’ve ever, ever read,” “a game-breaker,” and “a rule-changing role and movie.” Taking a high-profile sitcom gig would help raise his stock in Hollywood and might well put him in the position to finally make “The Grackle” come to fruition.

John C. McGinley

Why he’d be a perfect fit: Although McGinley might not immediately come to mind when considering someone to step into Sheen’s shoes, the actors have actually shared the screen before, albeit in a slightly more dramatic capacity. (After all those years of seeing him as Dr. Cox, you’re forgiven if you’d forgotten that McGinley was in both “Platoon” and “Wall Street.”) Admittedly, we wouldn’t be surprised if he wasn’t interested in taking on another sitcom gig so soon after wrapping “Scrubs,” especially if he has any desire whatsoever to make a significant play for more feature-film work, but he was so darned good at berating Zach Braff that we’d be lying if we didn’t admit to being kind of excited at the thought of pitting him against Cryer and Jones.

Joe Rogan

Why he’d be a perfect fit: Although he was seen by far more eyes as the host of “Fear Factor” than he ever was as a cast member of the late, great “NewsRadio,” the latter gig demonstrated how well Rogan could work in an ensemble-comedy setting. In recent years, he’s been splitting his time between stand-up, podcasting, and – oddly enough – serving as the UFC’s go-to interviewer, but we think the time could be right for Rogan to return to the sitcom world.

Michael Madsen

Why he’d be a perfect fit: Not to undercut anyone else’s reputation, but given that IMDb would have us believe that Madsen currently has twenty goddamned film projects in various stages of production (along with another two on which he’s merely rumored), with James Brown no longer with us, we have no qualms about declaring him to be The Hardest Working Man in Show Business. Isn’t it about time the guy got a chance to sit back and relax – relatively speaking – with a sitcom gig? He cuts a figure that’s the complete antithesis of Cryer’s character, and although he doesn’t necessarily have a longstanding history in comedy, the man knows his way around a deadpan remark. Plus, you know you want to see him go head-to-head with Holland Taylor and Conchata Ferrell…

Bronson Pinchot

Why he’d be a perfect fit: As recently as six months ago, this would’ve seemed like a completely left-field suggestion (and we’re willing to concede that you may still consider it one), but damned if Pinchot hasn’t turned up on Monday nights on two different occasions this season, first on “Chuck,” then on “Hawaii Five-0.” To our way of thinking, the time couldn’t be more right for him to have a career renaissance. I mean, the dude was kicking some serious comedy ass in the late ’80s, what with stealing scenes from Eddie Murphy in “Beverly Hills Cop” and picking up an Emmy nod for his work as Balki Bartokomous on “Perfect Strangers,” but aside from a nice – if small – role in “True Romance,” the ’90s weren’t over kind to him, and although the ’00s gave him a few nice guest roles, his only regular TV role during the decade involved spending a season on “The Surreal Life.” After an experience like that, surely anyone would have earned a chance to step out of the limelight and into a proper spotlight. Pinchot’s been playing more dramatic roles in recent years, and successfully at that, but we miss seeing him get the chance to be funny. This could be that chance. (Hey, if nothing else, give us some credit for thinking outside the box, huh?)

Andrew McCarthy

Why he’d be a perfect fit: Um…because this photo proves that he can cut down on the show’s outrageous bowling-shirt budget by bringing his own wardrobe to the table?

Oh, okay, we admit it: this is the least serious suggestion we’re bringing to the table, but, seriously, how awesome would it be to see McCarthy and Cryer together again? ‘Cause, like, what if there was an episode where they ended up vying for the same girl’s affections? And then on the same episode, McCarthy’s character had a complete douche of a best friend who came to visit?

Can you smell the pink and pretty concoction that Bullz-Eye’s cooking up…? If so, please make sure that the scent wafts its way over to CBS, because even if they blow the show’s entire guest-star budget for the 2011 – 2012 season to bring in Molly Ringwald and James Spader, I’m telling you, this is Sweeps Week magic just waiting to happen.

Here endeth Bullz-Eye’s list of suggestions for possible Charlie Sheen replacements…but rather than simply throwing a list of names into Chuck Lorre’s lap and saying, “Okay, now you guys go do the heavy lifting,” we’d like to close the proceedings by letting our resident “Two and a Half Men” fan, Ross Ruediger, offer up a few fully-formed (well, mostly, anyway) ideas for how the series can move forward without stepping outside the show’s existing cast of characters…which, come to think of it, is probably what actual devotees would prefer, anyway.

A Modest Proposal

by Ross Ruediger

Given the sheer amount of time that Jon Cryer has put into “Two and a Half Men,” there’s really no question that he’s just as much of a lead as Charlie Sheen is on that show. Sure, Sheen gets the girls and gets to do all the fun shit, but not only has Cryer done his time, he’s actually won an Emmy while doing it.

“Two and a Half Men” gets a lot of shit, and, okay, so it’s not the best show in the world, but it’s still funny, and God knows it’s popular. Still, we’ve all seen that Charlie Sheen has aged quite visibly this season, and it’s probably no coincidence that the character of Charlie Harper has been going downhill, too. I feel like it could really give the show a jolt of energy if Chuck Lorre and the writers just said, “Fuck it, we’re moving on. Charlie’s gone, someone else has got his money…now let’s see what happens.”