Emilio Estevez and Martin Sheen on THE WAY
I think the movie reminds us that we each have to embrace our brokenness. We live at a time when we are supposedly supremely connected by technology, but I don’t see it. This is a film about very different people walking together who find a way to connect with each other.
Emilio, on Spirituality
For me, I’m a work in progress, and I really feel that I’m on a journey. I have yet to declare myself. I’m on a spiritual journey and am very much in touch with that. There was a point in the production process where I stopped calling what happened along the way coincidences and began calling them miracles. Things like that happened daily – things that were just supposed to be.
What do you see as the film’s key message?
Emilio: We live in a culture that’s dominated by a media which tells us we need to be richer, thinner and prettier. What I love about this film is that these characters reach land’s end, and they are fine being who they are. They are imperfect and broken, but God loves them exactly as they are.
Martin: The genius of God is to dwell in the deepest recesses of our being. When we realize that we are loved and belong to this community and understand that we are truly loved exactly as we are, then we’ll discover fire the second time – only we’ll own the fire.
On the Making of THE WAY
Emilio Estevez knew that THE WAY would not be a conventional production – by necessity, it would have to be an unpredictable journey in and of itself. He wanted to shoot on the Camino de Santiago with all its live dynamics, mercurial weather and teeming pilgrims, and have his cast completely immersed in the experience of the trail just like their characters.
To do all this, he and producer David Alexanian decided to set out for the Pyrenees Mountains with a minimal crew, numbering just over 50 people, cast included, most of them locals. Meanwhile, Estevez and Spanish cinematographer Juan Miguel Azpiroz made the decision to shoot the film on 16mm to allow for maximum flexibility. Their visual aim was to capture the lyrical landscape that has caused so many modern pilgrims to fall in love with the Camino, but at the same time, give the film’s visual design an inward focus that compels the audience to plunge into the
questions lingering in their own consciences and souls.
Once on the Camino for the six-week shoot, however, it all became about being ready to follow what was happening in the moment. “We shot the film very much in a guerilla style, using many real pilgrims,” notes Estevez. “There could be chaos, but there was also a lot of providence along the way. Suddenly, just the right pilgrim would wander into our shot. And then there was the fact that it rained only twice in 40 days, in a part of Northern Spain where it’s famous for raining every day.”
