Hollywood gets the call

Spiritual 'Way' is a family affair

Estevez's fourth feature stars father, Martin Sheen

By MARTIN DALE

HIGH ART: 'The Way's' helmer and scribe Emilio Estevez pauses along the Camino de Santiago, which becomes a character of sorts in his film, about a journey of self-discovery. More Articles:

"The Way," Emilio Estevez's fourth feature as a writer-director, begins at the Camino de Santiago's start, in St.-Jean-Pied-de-Port, below the often-snowbound Route de Napoleon over the Pyrenees.

Starring Martin Sheen, Estevez's father, it takes in Galicia's improbable-looking Santiago de Compostela, a huge piece of medieval real estate topped by a jaw-dropping cathedral.

"The Way" ends near the Camino's end, at Muxia, on the Atlantic seaboard near Finisterre, which the Romans thought was the end of the world.

"Way" is about family, inspired by the Estevez-Sheen clan. As Galicians, the story is close to their hearts.

"My father said: 'How about going to Santiago? You take a couple of cameras, we'll just roll.' " Estevez recalls. "But I'm not a documentary filmmaker. I'm not good on the fly. I need a playbook."

Sheen plays Tom, an American widower who's in St.-Jean to reclaim the body of his estranged son, who died, lost on the Route de Napoleon. Tom cremates the remains, puts them in his son's backpack and starts off to complete the young man's journey.

"The Camino's a place of healing, of getting to the spiritual center of who we are, and ultimately how much we need," Estevez says. "The (current) downturn's not just an economic crisis. It's spiritual. We've been taught to want more: two cars, better clothing. But aren't relationships with others -- isn't family -- more important?"

The $5 million "Way" rolls Sept. 28.

Julio and Carlos Fernandez's Filmax Entertainment will produce "Way" out of Spain, with producers Estevez and Elixir Films' David Alexanian, who produced-directed road trip docu "The Long Way Down," with Ewan McGregor. They'll use entirely Spanish crew, Alexanian says.

That typifies the film's spirit.

"'Way's' a modern-day Yellow Brick Road, a four-hander: An American meets a Canadian woman, a Dutch man and a British writer. And off to Santiago they go," Estevez says. "America's built a wall around itself. Tom's emblematic of Americans becoming citizens of the world once again."

He hopes "Way" can work in Spain, so he has to get details right. He laces his conversation with Spanish, talking enthusiastically about his son, Taylor, living in Madrid.

"He's completely, how you say, Madrileno."

Estevez rolls the word in his mouth, as if savoring a good Rioja wine.