Emilio Estevez Talks About His Latest Film, The Public

You were inspired for this film by an essay that Chip Ward wrote that really resonated with you. It mirrored some of what you witnessed yourself spending time during your research for Bobby in the LA Public Library. During that time, was this something that, after your experience, that it lingered in your consciousness daily? or was it kind of shelved a little bit in the back of your mind until this essay came about?

The essay was really what sort of pushed me over the edge to go back to the public library, dig in, and try to figure out what was going to be next in terms of a film for me and what I would need to research. And I kind of fell in love again with the library during that period of time. This was April, May of 2007. So I began to imagine a story of, well, what would it look like if the patrons staged an old-fashioned '60s-type sit-in?

And how would law enforcement react now? How would the media react? How would they spin it for ratings? How would a politician shift the narrative for his own political gain? And we're talking about 2007. Before now, we see all of these things actually playing out in real time almost every day. Now throw in the polar vortex, which most of America, especially in the Midwest, experienced just several weeks ago, and this movie just starts to feel way more relevant on the daily.

And it's sad on one hand, but on the other hand, it's like, okay, maybe the movie will land with audiences in a different way now than it would have had we made it 10 years ago. Very, very much so. And you've spoken about the moral obligation, the moral imperative versus the obligation to keep these institutions open and the public access to them. In the film, you also give us all the various gatekeepers to this, be it Christian Slater's Josh Davis in his very unempathetic role.

Yes. Which we see. Very much so. We see encampments getting moved out of certain neighborhoods where the residents don't want them, and they've lobbied their politicians to move them out. We saw that in Cincinnati happen recently. But I'm sorry I interrupted you. No, no, no, no. That's very much down the track. It's just I wanted to hear more about how you did touch on the different gatekeepers, the different levels, how we all feel.

Myra has a great quote about where she's, a line where she speaks of the biggest struggle is knowing which side of right we're walking on. - That's right. - And you kind of see, you know, Stuart, yes, he's been there, so he knows, so he stands up to do the right thing. Myra, who's always about that, is struggling with it. - That's right, she is. - Anderson-- - She's a bit of a couch-- She's a bit of a couch person, right?

She's not a real active, but she gets woke by the end of the movie. - Very much so, yes. - And she has, she understands what service looks like. - As does Anderson. as does Anderson, right? I always likened Jeffrey's character to, sort of his parents were in the civil rights, and active in the civil rights movement. He watched them. And as the movie unfolds, he's seeing a lot of those same issues, the criminalization of the poor, happening here in his library.

And when he crosses over, I don't wanna give too much away, but his activism is reignited by the end of the film as well. - Very much so, and you spoke of how all of this comes to light, especially in this day and age, in our culture today. The film could have very easily, the content could have easily been, organically reached a more mature level, if you will, but the rating is PG.

- That's right. - Was that intentional to reach a broader and younger audience? - Absolutely, we originally were hit with an R rating, and I wanted to make sure that this was a film that could be used in libraries and public schools and screened at homeless advocacy groups and not have anybody be embarrassed by the content that would feel free to screen it for whomever.

The R rating, I think, turns people off. It can threaten and frighten people away from the movie. And we need people to lean in to the film, not pull back. So we did some recutting, got the PG-13 rating, and as a producer of the movie, I think it was an important move on our part. - Very much so. You mentioned bringing people in, and you do that in the film.

You tackle, it could almost, when you dissect all the issues that are brought up, it could almost seem ambitious. - Right. - Yet it's not. It's, as you mentioned, the public library system is the intersectionality of everything. - Of everything. - It is. - Of everything, and you very much show that in the film and you bring in the comedy, sorry. - For sure, no, not at all.

- How you make it more, I think, relatable, or bring people in. - It's so important. We try to humanize each and every one of these characters and when we use humor to do it, and I think that that's the surprising thing about the film that people don't expect is how funny it is. 'Cause you could look at this and say, "Well, it's about the library, "and it's dealing with homelessness issues, "and opioid addiction, and mental health issues." but then it's like, wow, okay, these people are just like me.

These people are, you know, we're all connected by, nobody walks the earth pain-free. Everybody's got a certain amount of trauma, and it's how we deal with it. And it's by its degrees. You've got trauma in your life, so do I. But how we deal with it may be vastly different. How we process it may be wildly different. So we, what I hope to do with the film really connect everybody and do it underneath the roof of the public library, which as you mentioned is the intersectionality, that place where all of the issues of our day are colliding under this roof here.

Very much so. And I won't take too much more of your time, but I do want to bring up just based on what we talk, it actually also reflects a line in the movie that I just loved and I just had to bring it up. Alec Baldwin has a line where he says that, "Your intellectual vanity is breathtaking." And that was a fabulous line, the line itself, its delivery, I mean, everything from how you can relate it to the film to your part in bringing this film to life.

- Well, and he's pushed to clobber Stuart with that line because Stuart has just weaponized "Grapes of Wrath." You know, he's weaponized one of the great pieces of literature of our time. And if you weaponize literature, we see what happens. Only bad things happen to you when you weaponize literature. And so Alec has that great moment where he kind of turns Stewart's weapon into a water pistol.

Right? Very much so. Well, thank you so much. And I wish you great success. The film is excellent. [Music]