When The Hollywood News caught up Martin Sheen, he was quick to announce: ‘I have a tendency to be a bit of a windbag.’ And there’s no doubt – Martin Sheen can talk. Fortunately for us, this incessant chatter comes in the form of absolute passion for THE WAY, his latest collaboration with director-son Emilio Estevez. Sheen’s enthusiasm for the project is obvious, and he is mostly preoccupied with the spiritual aspect of the story, and in particular, the notion of pilgrimage.
The film follows Sheen’s character Tom, who, in an effort to make peace with his dead estranged son, walks the Camino de Santiago, a journey traveled by pilgrims for thousands of years.
‘The idea of pilgrimage was something I was familiar with because of my Catholic background,’ Sheen tells THN. ‘It is an effort to touch the sacred.’
And Sheen reiterates the importance of such a journey on the human spirit.
‘Everyone’s seeking a transcendent experience,’ he continues. ‘We need to explore our inner journey, and that’s why we go on pilgrimage.
‘We all yearn for the divine. People that take drugs and alcohol and abuse them – how often have you met someone that said they met God? And I don’t doubt it. But it doesn’t belong to them – it belongs to the substance. I know because I’m an old drunk. They need to take it again and again to get back to the apparition. The idea of pilgrimage is that we go it alone. We must and it’s a long and arduous journey, but it must be… anything worthwhile has to cost you something otherwise you have to question its value.’
Sheen also puts great emphasis on the notion of love, and how crucial that is for our own personal journey.
‘We need to be loved,’ Sheen tells THN. ‘Our lives are never ever the same once we discover we are loved.’
This is easily identified in THE WAY, which is filled with characters looking for some connection to absolve themselves of life’s problems. And the biggest connection of all seems to be the one between Sheen and Estevez, who are collaborating here for the fourth time.
‘I adore him,’ says Sheen of his son. ‘Working with him is the best… honest to God.’
The veteran actor also considers that without Estevez he would struggle to bag such desirable parts at seventy years old.
‘Had that been a Hollywood company, there isn’t a chance in Hell I’d have gotten that part,’ says Sheen. ‘Can you imagine how many guys would have loved to play that part? I’d never have gotten it if it hadn’t been written for me and if he hadn’t directed it.’
Despite this, Sheen has apparently nabbed the role of Uncle Ben in the upcoming SPIDER-MAN reboot. Though as Sheen quips: ‘I’ve heard it said that actors my age do small parts in big pictures to make a living, and do big parts in small pictures to stay alive.’
That being the case, THE WAY is most certainly a film to keep Sheen alive. It’s undoubtedly a small project, one that Sheen claims would have been easily funded by the catering budget for the new SPIDER-MAN.
Regardless of the size of the movie, the important thing is how personal it seems to Sheen. He speaks with nothing but enthusiasm for THE WAY and the Camino itself, elevating him far above your typical actor who merely jobs to pay the bills. He genuinely cares about this film and the message within it. And for that sort of enthusiasm, The Hollywood News would happily listen to Martin Sheen chatter on all day long…
