Passion projects, directing opportunities, and supporting his family through personal challenges — '90s kids will forever remember Emilio Estevez from The Mighty Ducks, but you might be surprised to see what he's been up to since.
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00:00Passion projects, directing opportunities, and supporting his family through personal
00:04challenges. 90s kids will forever remember Emilio Estevez from The Mighty Ducks, but
00:09you might be surprised to see what he's been up to since.
00:13Emilio Estevez's turn as hockey coach Gordon Bombay in 1992's The Mighty Ducks was by no
00:17means his first role. He'd already made a name for himself as a member of the Brat Pack
00:21in the 80s. But it is one of his most popular, and something an entire generation recognizes
00:26him for.
00:27Estevez continued acting throughout the 90s, appearing mostly on TV. In 1998, he played
00:32the lead in Dollar for the Dead on TNT. The following year, he appeared as the lead character
00:36Dan, a lawyer enjoying a night out in Late Last Night. In 2000, he directed and starred
00:42in Raided X, a Showtime original film about the pornography industry, opposite his brother
00:46Charlie Sheen.
00:47But Estevez also had his fair share of big-screen films. That same year, he appeared in the
00:52black comedy crime film Sand with Norman Reedus, and in 2005, starred as Lawrence Powell in
00:57the L.A. Riot Spectacular.
00:58These ain't Vegas times.
00:59Estevez began to turn his attention to writing and directing projects in the early 2000s.
01:05He had intermittently directed throughout his career, from his first directed feature
01:08Wisdom in 1986. But the 2000s saw Estevez push himself from actor to director and writer.
01:15He directed episodes for several popular crime TV series, like CSI New York, Cold Case, and
01:20Numbers. He continued to work with CBS specifically, directing episodes of The Guardian and appearing
01:25in an episode of Two and a Half Men alongside his brother. Many of his directorial projects,
01:29like Raided X and The War at Home, star his family members.
01:33In addition to television, Estevez worked behind the camera on films, moving from comedy
01:37thrillers like Men at Work to more dramatic projects. He directed the 2005 documentary
01:42Culture Clash in America, a little-seen feature with a variety of skits about immigrants.
01:47Estevez's 2006 film Bobby was his biggest directorial project to date. Centered around
01:52the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, the film focuses on the hours leading up to
01:56his death, as seen from the perspectives of a variety of characters.
02:00You don't know what the heck's going on.
02:02Senator Kennedy's been shot.
02:03Estevez has a major role, and his father has a supporting role in the film as well.
02:07Although Bobby received mixed reviews from critics, it did well on the festival circuit
02:11and with industry professionals. At the Hollywood Film Awards in 2006, Bobby won awards for
02:16Lindsay Lohan's performance and its ensemble. The movie received Golden Globe nominations
02:20for Best Motion Picture in the Drama category and Best Original Song, and it scored a Screen
02:24Actors Guild nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.
02:29Bobby screened at the Venice Film Festival, earning Estevez an important award for his
02:33career. He was nominated for The Golden Lion, the highest prize given to a film, and won
02:37the Beograd Film Award. The award also marked Estevez's first, and so far only, major accolade
02:43as a director.
02:45After Bobby, Estevez's next film as a writer and director was The Way. A self-described
02:49passion project, the movie follows Tom, a father coming to terms with the death of his
02:53son Daniel. Daniel was doing the Camino de Santiago, a pilgrimage through France and
02:58Spain, when he died, and Tom decides to complete the journey himself to work through his grief.
03:03The Way was well-received by critics and audiences alike. Bruce DeMara praised the film for the
03:08Toronto star, writing that its director, quote,
03:10"...takes full advantage of the beautiful mountain scenery, dramatic skies, and ancient
03:14architecture to give us moments of quiet wonder."
03:16In the years since its release in 2010, Estevez has opened up about what making The Way meant
03:21to him. He told UPI in 2023,
03:23"...between wanting to reconnect with my Spanish roots and wanting to honor my grandfather
03:27and my son, this film was really born out of that."
03:30The movie is dedicated to his grandfather, Francisco Estevez, and marks one of the first
03:36times Martin Sheen was credited by his birth name, Ramon Gerard Estevez. Estevez and Sheen
03:41also published a dual memoir with help from Hope Edelman, Along the Way, Their Journey
03:46of a Father and Son, in 2012, describing their time in Spain and their lives over the years.
03:52In addition to acting with his family members, Emilio Estevez has also prioritized them in
03:56their times of need. In 2015, two major events rocked the director's life. The first came
04:02in November, when his brother, Charlie Sheen, announced his HIV-positive status on the Today
04:06Show.
04:07"...I'm here to admit that I am, in fact, HIV-positive."
04:10Sheen said he opened up about his diagnosis because people were extorting him to keep
04:14his status a secret. But he also said he was embarking on a path to sobriety, which Estevez
04:18and the rest of the family had been supportive of.
04:20"...The family's enormously proud of him."
04:23The following month, Estevez announced in a Facebook post that his father had a quadruple
04:27bypass. He noted that it was not an emergency and that the patriarch was surrounded by family.
04:32At the time, the actor stated his father would be home for the holidays and would make a
04:35full recovery before going back to film the next season of his Netflix series Grace and
04:39Frankie in the new year.
04:42Like many actors, Emilio Estevez became an entrepreneur. He started a winery, Casa Dumet's
04:46Wine, based out of Malibu, California. Planting the first vines was what he and his then-partner
04:51Sonia Magdesky did on their first date. The actor planted Pinot Noir vines across a half-acre
04:57of his property in 2004, which later turned into a wine label. It wasn't an intentional
05:01decision, but it turned from a simple fun pastime to a legitimate business. Magdesky
05:06continues to be the front-facing party for Casa Dumet's Wines, which is now called Clementine
05:10Carter Wines.
05:12Estevez sold his Malibu property, which was also home to the vineyard, in 2016 for $6.35
05:17million. This hasn't stopped the production of wine, as the winery still offers wine tastings
05:22in both the Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and more. The company also supports a variety of organizations,
05:27from the NAACP to local organizations in Santa Maria, California, and Los Alamos, New Mexico.
05:33With the rise of Disney's streaming platform came the return of favorite nostalgic franchises.
05:38This included the return of Mighty Ducks, with the two-season series The Mighty Ducks
05:42Game Changers.
05:43Estevez returned as Gordon Bombay, but instead of coaching hockey, Gordon now owns an ice
05:47rink that has seen better days. Estevez only appeared in the first season. In a statement
05:51to Deadline, the actor said he didn't return for the second season due to a contract dispute
05:56and creative differences. The Mighty Ducks Game Changers has since been removed from
06:00Disney Plus as a cost-saving measure.
06:03Before The Mighty Ducks, Estevez portrayed Billy the Kid in Young Guns and Young Guns
06:072.
06:08"'Ere, Billy, what'd you kill him for?"
06:11"'He was hackin' on me.'"
06:14The original movies came out in 1988 and 1990, respectively, but that hasn't stopped the
06:18cast from trying to turn the franchise into a trilogy. In an interview with Collider in
06:232021, Estevez confirmed a third installment is in the works, saying,
06:26"'The Kid' is a fun character to play. There's a lot of speculation about what happened that
06:30night in 1881 in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. Did he die? Did he not? And so there's a lot
06:35of mythical, historical, and actually some factual things that we can examine, if we're
06:39serious about going back to that franchise as well."
06:42Estevez isn't the only member of the original cast who's commented on the chance of a third
06:45movie. Lou Diamond Phillips, who played José Chávez y Chávez, told Entertainment Weekly
06:50in 2023,
06:51"'It's in limbo right now. It's not dead, but it's not happening right now.'"
06:55Estevez will write and direct the film, and Phillips said he has read a wonderful script.
07:00IMDb noted in late 2024 that the movie was in its pre-production phase, and no release
07:04date had been announced.
07:06The term Brat Pack was coined by writer David Bloom in 1985, and referred to the wave of
07:11young actors who appeared in films like Young Guns, St. Elmo's Fire, Pretty in Pink, and
07:15The Breakfast Club. Bloom considered Estevez the unofficial president of the pack. Andrew
07:20McCarthy, a fellow member of the Brat Pack known for his work in St. Elmo's Fire and
07:24Pretty in Pink, is the mind behind Brats, a documentary about the infamous pack. The
07:29intention is to look at where the Brat Pack is today and how the label transformed their
07:33careers.
07:34"'I've never talked to anybody about what that was like.'"
07:37Molly Ringwald and Judd Nelson declined to participate, but Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, and
07:41others all appeared in the documentary. Speaking in a Television Critics Association press
07:45tour in 2024, McCarthy said,
07:47"...I hadn't seen Rob in 30 years. I hadn't seen Emilio since the premiere of St. Elmo's
07:52Fire. I was surprised how much affection we all have for each other."
07:55Getting back together to work on Brats, McCarthy said, helped him realize he needed and wanted
07:59to stay in contact with these individuals and shouldn't have waited so long.
08:03Over a decade after its initial release, The Way returned to theaters in 2023. The original
08:08distributor of the movie had gone bankrupt, leaving the rights to the film in a courtroom
08:12in Delaware. Estevez told Salon,
08:14"...I got a call from a small independent distribution company, said, Hey, your movie's
08:18sitting in this courtroom. Do you need help rescuing it? I said, Sure. So I set about
08:22trying to get the rights back to it."
08:24The director was successful, ensuring he had control over what happened to The Way next.
08:28Fathom Events re-released the movie in over 800 theaters on May 16, 2023. The showing
08:33included added footage of an interview with a talk between Estevez Sheen and travel writer
08:38Rick Stevens. Estevez told Deadline,
08:40"...This has grown from a passion project into something else."
08:43That something else is a continuation of Tom's story. Estevez shared with Salon that in the
08:48next chapter of the story, which he was researching at the time of the first film's re-release,
08:52Tom is working with Doctors Without Borders in Nigeria. He's sent on a new adventure when
08:56he finds a book with some absolutely horrifying revelations in a supply drop, which causes
09:00Tom to leave to find the author behind it.
09:03As of December 2024, the sequel to The Way is in pre-production, according to IMDb. No
09:08release date has been announced.
09:10Emilio Estevez and Martin Sheen continue to make public appearances together, talking
09:14about their projects and sharing their creative processes. With the re-release of The Way,
09:19the father-son duo gave a variety of interviews, discussing the movie's impact and giving an
09:23inside look into their lives over the years. On The Jennifer Hudson Show, the two shared
09:27that it was important for them to be near family while working.
09:30My folks believed that for the family to actually stay together, we had to actually
09:34stay together.
09:35They told Hudson that Sheen worked out in his contract that his family would travel
09:38with him wherever his work took him, including far-flung locales like Mexico and Rome. The
09:43pair also give talks at festivals, and appeared at the Over the Rhine International Film Festival
09:47in 2023.
09:48Estevez moved to the Cincinnati area in 2019 and now supports filming movies in the state
09:53of Ohio. He filmed a recent directorial project, The Public, in Cincinnati.