Issue Date: November 12, 2006
Believing in Bobby
Huge Hollywood stars turn out (some for free!) to take part in Emilio Estevez's new film about Robert F. Kennedy.
By Matt Hurwitz
"Demi didn't have to be a siren. Sharon didn't have to sex it up."
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"Ya gotta come in here and hear this," Emilio Estevez says excitedly, after introducing himself in the lobby of the West Los Angeles studio where a giant image of Lindsay Lohan and Elijah Wood is projected on a screen.
No wonder he sounds excited. Estevez is mixing sound for his new movie, "Bobby," which he wrote, directed and co-stars in. Its story unfolds at L.A.'s Ambassador Hotel the day Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated there in the summer of 1968. The film, opening nationwide Nov. 23, already has attracted lots of positive buzz and with it the chance at a comeback, Hollywood style, for Estevez, 44. Once a household name as a member of the Brat Pack, the dubiously dubbed group of young actors from the '80s, he began liquidating his assets and wondering whether another career besides acting might be more profitable in 2000. Meanwhile, his TV-president dad, Martin Sheen (The West Wing), and high-paid TV-star brother Charlie (Two and a Half Men) were bigger stars than ever.
For "Bobby," Estevez managed to assemble an all-star cast that, in addition to Lohan and Wood, includes Anthony Hopkins, Sharon Stone, Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher (no, he and wife Moore never appear together), William H. Macy, Helen Hunt, Christian Slater, Laurence Fishburne and Martin Sheen.
How Estevez got all those Hollywood hotshots together still amazes him. Particularly when those stars got paid a great deal less than they're used to getting, and some even did it for free.
"They're all believers" in the slain liberal icon, Estevez says. (In a rare show of support, even the Kennedy family has publicly endorsed the movie.)
Their willingness to participate also might have something to do with Estevez himself. His cast includes his father (Sheen), ex-girlfriend (Moore), her spouse (Kutcher) and Estevez's Oscar-winning neighbor (Hopkins), who was the first one to sign on.
Plus, they got to do one thing that most no longer get to do: not be stars.
"Demi didn't have to be a siren, and Sharon didn't have to sex it up," Estevez says. "They could let their hair down and play outside of what the expected norm is for them."
Besides, he adds, "Bobby is the star."
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Who are their American idols?
With the new movie "Bobby" opening next Friday, reminding us of Robert F. Kennedy's place in history, we asked some of the film's stars about which great American they would like to make a movie about. Their picks:
Sharon Stone: "My high school art teacher, Mrs. Virginia Kluz. She would bring back recorded sounds from her travels and have us paint what we heard. She expanded the possibility of possibility. Then she had a stroke from a brain tumor. She came back to school paralyzed on one side of her body. When I had my stroke [in 2001], her courage was a big inspiration. Though she has since passed away, she inspires me still."
Elijah Wood: "Miles Davis was such an incredibly influential artist. He has had a kind of influence over music at large because he dipped into areas of music that a lot of others didn't explore. He messed around with rock, soul, funk -- and his music became a much wider palette as opposed to free-form jazz."
Christian Slater: "There was a group of college students back in the '60s who joined the Freedom Riders in a bus ride across America for the fight against segregation. Their willingness to put their lives at such risk by mixing races on the bus was inspiring. [I'd also pick] Rosa Parks, because I support people who stand up for their rights."
-- Gayle Jo Carter
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