Emilio Estevez Biography

On challenge:

“It’s been very difficult and I’ve been doing everything to make money and trying not to essentially lose my house, from selling artwork, I had a wine collection which I sold, I was signing trading cards to make a house payment, and directing television to keep health insurance alive for me and my kids. I was really doing whatever I needed to do short of pornography to not keep the wolves from the door.”

“It would be unfair for me to say that I wasn’t grateful for all of the wonderful things that happened to me in the early part of my career because I certainly was grateful. I think that where we end up in our lives is the sum total of our choices and I made some bad ones, and for whatever reason I was made to walk the plank for those choices more often than others who also made bad choices but for whatever reason were forgiven. For instance, I was saddled with the responsibility of the failure of a movie called Judgment Night, yet Mighty Ducks succeeds and I wasn’t given any credit for that.”

Having perspective:

“I’ve got two extraordinary children. My son is 22, my daughter is 20, they’re functioning human beings in the world and so that was part of my life’s work. I planted a vineyard on my property and I grow pinot noir. So I make wine and I grow vegetables. My fiancé and I were in Venice and I mean we were literally overwhelmed by the response there of Bobby and not three days earlier we were picking caterpillars off our tomatoes, you know? So I have a life outside of this and I think that’s part of my strength.”

Recollections from the Brat Pack Days:

“I mean there were some terrific movies that came out of that period, movies that are still thought of and regarded 20 years later, and how often do you get an opportunity to do a Repo Man, Breakfast Club or something that people still talk about.”

On Success:

"What's the level of compromise for making that kind of money? How far do I have to sell my soul? What's the price of that? And I don't know if I want to make those kind of compromises any more. I think I'm a different person. I think I've matured to a great extent. I think that I want different things now. That it's not about the celebrity status that you receive because you're doing the next hot movie. It's about doing good work."

"I used to Google my name to see what came up - it hurt."