"The movie celebrates misfits. It celebrates outcasts. It celebrates those who don't see themselves represented on-screen, if ever," Estevez told The Hollywood Reporter.
00:00Hey everyone! Welcome to InStudio and we have Emilio Estevez here with us today. How's it going?
00:09It's going great. Yeah, no complaints.
00:11So you're here to talk about your latest project, The Public, a film that you wrote, directed, produced, starred in.
00:19Can you set it up for the viewers at home?
00:22Sure. So this began, the journey is really a 12 year journey. This began 2007, April 1st.
00:31The LA Times arrived at my door. I opened it up. There was an essay written by a former Salt Lake City librarian named Chip Ward.
00:41And the thesis was about how libraries had become de facto homeless shelters
00:48and how librarians had become de facto social workers and first responders.
00:53And I was really moved by it. It was a very touching, very intense piece.
00:59And I had done the bulk of my research for Bobby at the downtown LAPL here in LA.
01:06And so I knew kind of what Chip Ward was talking about. I didn't understand the degree in which he was describing the piece.
01:15But he said this is an epidemic and we need to all be aware of it.
01:19So went back down to LAPL, started doing the research, started to imagine this idea of what would it look like if the patrons,
01:27mostly whom are experiencing homelessness, decided not to leave on one of the coldest nights of the year.
01:35What would that look like? How would the press respond? How would the police respond?
01:40In the middle of what is really a humanitarian crisis, would they force these people out into the cold?
01:47And so that was the beginning of how this thing all came together.
01:53So you mentioned 12 years in the making.
01:55That's right.
01:56And then now people are starting to see the film.
01:58And you've been screening the film around the country to different groups of people.
02:01That's right. That's right.
02:02So what is the reaction then?
02:03It's been amazing. I feel a little less crazy because, you know, I would go on these hikes and I would imagine what the movie would look like.
02:11And I would write a scene in my head or I have already written the scene.
02:14And I said, when this person says that, the audience is going to laugh.
02:17When this person does that, the audience is going to react and they're going to cry at this point.
02:21And again, if you never make the movie, you'll never know.
02:23So to this day, I still stand in the back of the theater and watch the reactions because as my worst fears are dismissed, the movie is actually landing.
02:38And those jokes do land.
02:40I feel less crazy.
02:42And I feel like my instincts were right.
02:45But we've been on this cross-country tour.
02:48I'm in the middle of it now.
02:50We're going to do about 30 cities.
02:52Wow.
02:53We screen at libraries.
02:55We screen a couple of film festivals.
02:57We screen for social workers, homeless advocate groups.
03:04And so they have seen themselves on screen.
03:09The movie celebrates misfits.
03:12It celebrates outcasts.
03:13It celebrates those who don't see themselves represented on screen, if ever.
03:18And so to see it in a group of individuals who are experiencing homelessness and have them yelling and cheering at the screen and seeing themselves in an empowered position on screen, it's pretty special.
03:34Now, you've been in this business a really long time.
03:39Hey!
03:40Hey!
03:41Hey!
03:42Hey!
03:43Hey!
03:44Now, do you think, I mean I have seen some of those movies from your earlier career.
03:48Do you think you would have been able to make a movie like this, of this caliber, with this cast, you have a great cast, earlier, maybe in the 90s?
03:58I think this would have been an easier sell in the 90s.
04:01I think that the business, you can look at the business and say, well, it's really expanded with all of the outlets and the streaming and the cable and all that.
04:09But it's also contracted.
04:11And there are more of us.
04:12There are more artists.
04:13There are more people who want to tell their stories.
04:15And there's some extraordinary storytellers out there.
04:18There's only room for so many.
04:22This is an independent film that I do, to your point, I believe would have been a lot easier to get made 20 years ago.
04:31Yeah.
04:32So you think films today are a lot harder to make, or do you think filmmaking in the 80s and 90s was easier?
04:39Well, I think what you're forced to do now is get super creative with your schedule.
04:44We shot this film in 22 days.
04:46Wow.
04:47You know, Bobby was shot in 40 days.
04:49The Way was shot in 40 days.
04:51So just in that 10-year time period, 12-year time period, you just feel the dollars contracting towards being spent on an independent film.
05:03And if you want to stay truly independent.
05:05On this picture, we didn't sell any of our foreign territories.
05:08We kept the picture intact, which puts a different sort of demand on the overall production.
05:15Yeah.
05:16You wear many hats in this film.
05:17Do you find that easier or harder?
05:19You know, you get to control it, but then you're also doing all the work.
05:23Well, the good news is you don't have anybody to talk to.
05:26The bad news is you don't have anybody to talk to.
05:29Yeah.
05:30And so I find often that you're leaning into people that have been your associates, your friends for years.
05:39I was fortunate enough to have my son work with me on this picture.
05:44He's a man.
05:46He's 35 years old now.
05:48But he's somebody who I really leaned into.
05:51When you are wearing so many hats, he would pull me aside.
05:56He'd watch from the shadows and he'd say, you know, I don't think the character is that cool.
06:00I think you're a little too cool, Dad.
06:02Oh.
06:03Right?
06:04Okay.
06:05Yeah.
06:06He would school me.
06:07Okay.
06:08You know, Stuart's a nerd.
06:09You've got to remember that.
06:10You're an outcast.
06:11You're a misfit.
06:12You're not Emilio here.
06:13Yeah.
06:14And so he was that guy that I really leaned into during production.
06:19That's great.
06:20Who was the first one cast?
06:21Well, I was.
06:22Oh, of course.
06:23After you.
06:24Number two.
06:25Alec Baldwin came aboard.
06:26Okay.
06:27Almost immediately.
06:28He read the script.
06:29And, you know, not somebody who I was friends with.
06:34We knew each other 30 years ago.
06:36Christian and Jacob were the only two that I had previously worked with.
06:41But this was a whole new experience for me.
06:44Jeffrey Wright, first time.
06:45Yeah.
06:46Michael K. Williams, first time.
06:47Taylor Schilling.
06:48Gabrielle Union.
06:49Jenna Mulan.
06:50I didn't know any of them.
06:51And they all responded to the material.
06:53And also, they responded to the fact that they were only needed for four, five, six days.
06:58So they could come and play in our sandbox and not have this protracted commitment.
07:04Yeah.
07:05Because, of course, with a film like this, there wasn't a lot of money to pay people.
07:09Yeah.
07:10I bet.
07:11And you shot this in Cincinnati.
07:12We shot in Cincinnati.
07:13We were supposed to shoot here in L.A.
07:14Okay.
07:15It was designed as an L.A. shoot.
07:17If you know, it's very difficult to get the California tax incentive here.
07:24There was a moment where we were going to shoot here, where I was spending some time
07:28in the downtown branch of the L.A. library, the central library.
07:33And I was walking around with the then head librarian.
07:37And she was just kind of shaking her head and looking at the floor and looking at me.
07:42And I was doing my two-hour pitch.
07:43Yeah.
07:44About how important it was.
07:45And how we were not going to impinge on the patron's right to access the information.
07:50And I understood.
07:51And blah, blah, blah.
07:52And she just finally, she said, look, you can't.
07:55And I said, why?
07:56And she says, we had a film crew here before.
07:59And they put their lights on and the lights triggered the sprinklers.
08:03They got hot.
08:04I know.
08:05And the sprinklers went on and they soaked a number of books.
08:08And we just, I'm just, I'm so against it.
08:11You'll never, you'll never be allowed to shoot.
08:13And I said, well, wow, who are those amateurs?
08:16And she said, it was a show called The West Wing.
08:18Oh, man.
08:19So, I was like, yeah, okay.
08:22I know nothing about that.
08:23Right?
08:24Yeah.
08:25So that was that.
08:26So I have to ask, when are we going to get the Brat Pack together back on screen?
08:32I don't even have any of their numbers.
08:34Oh, no.
08:35No, I don't, I have no, no contact with really anyone.
08:41I became a father at 22 years old.
08:45I mean, I was kind of, and then I, you know, I chose this path of being a filmmaker.
08:51And it kind of put me in a, just a different head space.
08:55Yeah.
08:56And I, listen, I adore everyone from there.
08:59Yeah, there's no animosity.
09:00No.
09:01It's just moved on.
09:02No, Demi and I worked together on Bobby.
09:03Yeah.
09:04So, so certainly there's no, no, no animosity.
09:07Yeah.
09:08So, you grew up in a showbiz family.
09:11Had you not grew up in the family that you did, do you think you would have still pursued a career in show business?
09:17Hard to know.
09:18Hard to know.
09:19It's, I, I love, I love writing.
09:22I wrote for the school paper in junior high as well as high school.
09:27And so I, I may have chosen the life of a journalist.
09:32I like to think of myself as, you know, in some, as a foreign war correspondent, you know, something really glamorous and wildly dangerous.
09:40But, but I, I don't know.
09:43It's hard to say.
09:44Yeah.
09:45Maybe for your next film.
09:46Yeah.
09:47Anderson Cooper.
09:48Yeah.
09:49There you go.
09:50Do his life story.
09:51I don't know.
09:52Just putting it out there.
09:53Whatever's next.
09:54Well, we're really excited about your new film.
09:55I personally saw it.
09:56It's definitely a must see.
09:58Thank you so much for stopping by.
09:59Great.
10:00Great to be here.
10:01And be sure to check out The Public coming out on April 5th.
Be the first to comment