When Emilio Estevez had to cast the father figure in his new movie, “The Way,” there was one obvious choice. Estevez enlisted the help of his own father, Martin Sheen, to play the main character in the new father-son drama.
The independent movie, which focuses on Sheen’s character as he retraces the footsteps of his recently deceased son, is having a limited release starting today. In order to promote the movie Estevez and Sheen have been touring the country by bus.
Estevez said:
“We don’t have $40 million to bombard the airwaves and force people by submission to see the film. We believe the best weapon we have is ourselves and the film… Hollywood likes to call the center of the country ‘the fly over states.’ We call them the United States. There’s a lot going on here.”
Sheen also acknowledged the fact that if it wasn’t for the bus tour, no one would know about the movie. Sheen and Estevez started their tour in August and have made more than 30 stops around the country.
Sheen said:
“This is like an American pilgrimage. We knew if we didn’t carry the film ourselves to potential audiences, nobody else could do it. This is a deeply personal thing. Nobody else has this much invested.”
Here’s a trailer for “The Way.”
The Chicago Tribune reports that “The Way” is a “Wizard of Oz” inspired drama.
Estevez said:
“There’s an emotion tornado that happens in Tom’s (Sheen’s character’s) life that picks him up in California and deposits him in Spain. Our Emerald City is Santiago de Compostela.”
Sheen even meets three strangers along the way who are each traveling the road for different reasons.
Will you go see “The Way?” Emilio Estevez’ “The Way” currently has a 78% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
