{"id":790,"date":"2011-09-01T13:33:27","date_gmt":"2011-09-01T19:33:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/santafefilmfestival.com\/index\/?p=790"},"modified":"2011-09-01T13:33:27","modified_gmt":"2011-09-01T19:33:27","slug":"emilio-estevez-martin-sheen-in-santa-fe-for-the-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/santafefilmfestival.com\/index\/emilio-estevez-martin-sheen-in-santa-fe-for-the-way\/","title":{"rendered":"Emilio Estevez, Martin Sheen in Santa Fe for “The Way”"},"content":{"rendered":"

If this evening\u2019s event at the Screen hosted by the Santa Fe Film Festival is any indication, we\u2019re in for a great time at the movies this October.<\/p>\n

I was treated\u2014along with a couple hundred other movie lovers\u2014to an advanced viewing of The Way<\/em><\/a>, written, directed by, and featuring Emilio Estevez. His real life father, Martin Sheen, plays Tom, a grieving doctor making his way on a thousand-year-old Spanish pilgrim route where his son\u2019s life suddenly ended.<\/p>\n

Both stars were present for a Q&A afterwards, which remained full to capacity with a diverse Santa Fe audience including local celebs Ali MacGraw, Wes and Maura\u00a0 Studi, Repo Man<\/em><\/a> producer, Peter McCarthy, college students, and a few locals who had walked Camino de Santiago themselves.<\/p>\n

It could sound like a vanity project; a well-known father and son from the movies shoot a film in sunny Spain then go across America by bus to promote it. It turns out to be a superb collaboration between a couple of gifted artists who created something unforgettable with a valuable lesson woven in about the difference between choosing life and living it.<\/p>\n

All good stories have transformations in them. The Way<\/em> is als<\/em>o about transformation. A quartet of gifted actors drives it. Over the course of his journey Tom unwittingly attracts three companions. Joost is a jolly Falstaff from Amsterdam. Lonely Sarah, the lanky blonde nicotine junkie, is a jaded Canadian. A bit later, they encounter Irishman Jack, the blocked writer stuck in a revolving metaphor.<\/p>\n

Sound familiar?<\/p>\n

When asked about the cast in our Q&A, the writer\/director referred to his father, who plays his dad, as his \u201cDorothy on the yellow brick road.\u201d This device was so well integrated I did not catch on until Emilio revealed it. I immediately recognized the parallel and applauded his creative choice. The Wizard of Oz<\/em> is one of the most widely embraced pieces of popular entertainment of all time, a gold standard for good storytelling, and it was released at a period in our past that has many parallels with our present. I predict The Way<\/em>, will be universally embraced like Oz<\/em>, because we are all in the mood for some good soul food.<\/p>\n

Now, don\u2019t get the idea that you\u2019re going to see fantasy when you watch The Way<\/em>. It concerns the lives of familiar people in real world predicaments.\u00a0 There are very light touches of magical realism which are, actually, ingeniously laid-in flashbacks revealing Tom\u2019s regret over lost opportunities with his son.<\/p>\n

The Way<\/em> is also packed with exquisite scenery lovingly framed, but the ever-changing landscape is never depended upon to convey the characters\u2019 progressive transformations. The actor\u2019s finely directed performances achieve that, so the landscape is free to glorify nature and, if you wish, furnish evidence of a benevolent Creator.<\/p>\n

Yes, the views on the Camino de Santiago are unforgettable. Thanks to superb cinematography, I\u2019ve all but breathed the air now and glimpsed its history. Those same 500 miles were trekked by St. Francis and El Cid, to mention just a few, yet religion is not the point. In this story, it is treated as neither all good nor all bad.<\/p>\n

Santa Fe Film Festival Executive Director Diane Schneier Perrin<\/a> tipped her hat to SFFF founder Jon Bowman who introduced Estevez and Sheen and The Way<\/em> producer David Alexanian before the Q&A.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the end, everyone learns they are OK the way they are,\u201d said Martin to the audience. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to change anything about yourself. You\u2019re fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sometimes you want to change but you have to do your best with what you have been given. This became a theme for their movie-making process as well. Emilio explained how they overcame technical and budgetary challenges. For example, the movie was shot on Super 16mm, a low-budget film stock, using mostly natural light, with a minimal crew, but the end result is excellent.\u00a0 Regardless of what they spent to make it, no one calls work this good \u201clow-budget.\u201d It\u2019s clear that this father and son both love the project, and are proud of the final product with good reason.<\/p>\n

Martin told us if he never made another movie, this would be a great one to cap off his career. I sat there and nodded my head. Silly me,\u00a0 what was I agreeing to?\u00a0 No one that just gave one of the best performances of his life should be talking like that.<\/p>\n

But don\u2019t worry. Judging from how he looked, with his brilliant kid standing next to him, getting some of their first feedback on the fine film they just made, both Martin and Emilio were looking more bitten by the bug than ever. All they could say was, \u201cThanks for loving it.\u00a0 Please spread the word.\u201d<\/p>\n

Above photos: <\/em>The Way producer\u00a0David Alexanian with Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez outside their tour bus; Wes and Maura Studi with Martin Sheen at the Q&A.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If this evening\u2019s event at the Screen hosted by the Santa Fe Film Festival is any indication, we\u2019re in for a great time at the movies this October. I was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"festival_year":[3],"class_list":["post-790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","festival_year-3"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":6}},"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/santafefilmfestival.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/santafefilmfestival.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/santafefilmfestival.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/santafefilmfestival.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/santafefilmfestival.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/santafefilmfestival.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/santafefilmfestival.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/santafefilmfestival.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/santafefilmfestival.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=790"},{"taxonomy":"festival_year","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/santafefilmfestival.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/festival_year?post=790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}