Following “The Way” | A Catholic World Report with actor Martin Sheen | By Matthew A. Rarey
Once again a pro-Catholic movie has been produced without Hollywood backing, following the independently produced path pioneered by Mel Gibson in The Passion of the Christ. This new movie, The Way, stars another Catholic, Martin Sheen.
Sheen prides himself on being a family man, with four children and seven grandchildren. And although never awarded an Oscar, he holds an even higher—and far rarer—honor among Hollywood screen legends: this year Sheen, 71, celebrated 50 years of marriage to his one and only wife.
The Way is a family affair, too: Sheen’s son, Emilio Estevez, wrote and directed it. Together father and son created something beautiful for God: a sensitively crafted, visually stunning, and deeply human work that treats the Church respectfully, appealing to Catholics as well as all men of good will journeying toward the truth.
It tells the story of a father, played by Sheen, who takes the Camino de Santiago (the “Way of St. James”), the famous 500-mile walking pilgrimage from St. Jean Pied de Port, France, to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. He does so in honor of his estranged son, played by Estevez, who stumbled to his death along the way. It is also a journey of faith, with the father, an emotionally distant and lapsed Catholic, returning to the faith with the help of three pilgrims he grudgingly befriends. Shot on location with the cooperation of local and Church authorities, The Way also marks a movie milestone: never before was a movie crew allowed to film inside the resting place of the Apostle James, the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela—let alone film during Mass there.
This writer saw a screening of the film in Chicago and later spoke with Sheen over the phone when the movie’s promotional tour was in Miami.
Why did Hollywood turn you down, leading you to produce The Way independently?
Martin Sheen: They couldn’t see producing a movie with four people walking across Spain. There was no car chase, no overt sexuality, no foul language. It didn’t appeal to their sense of business. When Hollywood makes a film today, they have to have certain assurances that they’ll get their money back. So our film and the whole story really did not offer what they thought would be a sure-fire hit at the box office.
We understood that. If we wanted to make that kind of movie, we would have done it. But you know, the Camino has been there for a thousand years and Hollywood has been there for a hundred years, and it’s had that long to make a picture about [the Camino] and it’s never done it. We realized very quickly that we were wasting our time trying to get anybody in Hollywood interested in it. So we went to Spain and got a Spanish partner.
Who financed the movie, and how much did it cost to make?
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