OUTSIDERS' INSIDER
Emilio Estevez loves his dad, Martin Sheen but... (US Magazine article. February 14, 1983)

Last May's TV movie In the Custody of Strangers seemed somewhat mistitled. Its two stars, Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez are "strangers" with brooding stares, sensual features and slick haricuts. And why not? The two who played father and son ARE father and son.

"People are going to compare us all our lives," says Estevez, 20, co-star of the Tex and The Outsiders. "I know my mannerism and facial expressions are similar to his, but you can't live with someone for 20 years and not be like him."

The parallels don't particularly please Estevez. "I'm trying to develop my own style," he says. "anything I can consciously do to make a separation from my father, I will do." His first decision was to use his Spanish name, Estevez, onscreen. His father, 42, son of a Spanish immigrant and an Irish woman, was born Ramon Estevez. However, he borrowed the last name of the famed Jesuit Fulton Sheen when he took up acting in New York City in the late 1950's.

Young Estevez was tetantive about using his real name. Afraid of sounding almost un- American with competition like Matt Dillon and Timothy Hutton, the aspiring actor planned to use Emilio Sheen. "It's hard enough for a young actor without having a difficult name." worried Estevez. But he changed his mind when he saw his real name on a videotape. "It sounds more romantic, anyway," he says.

Estevez's "rebellion" against his father is more sound that substance. In his son's eyes, Sheen shines. Like his father, Estevez dreamed of being a professional athlete, but he decided to pursue acting. Like his father, he rejected professional acting classes because the results were "schooled and methodical, I've been in acting all my life," he says. "having an actor father is more valuable than anything that can be taught." Estevez's learning experiences include journeying with mother Janet, brothers Ramon, 19, Carlos, 17, and sister Renee, 15, to the set of his father's movies, including Gandhi and Apocalypse Now.

Estevez's four murky months with Apocalypse in the Philippines helped bring him to the glare of klieg lights in the States. Although his brief scene as a messenger boy was cut, director Francis Coppola was impressed and tested him for his latest film, The Outsiders. "I never thought I'd be working with Coppola," says Estevez. "It's like a dream. I can't believe everything happened so fast." He won the roll of Two-Bit, a well- heeled gang member who hangs around with tough greasers. "Two-Bit and I don't have much in common," he says. "He's tall, red-haired, poor and pretty dumb."

Before Two-Bit, Estevez played Johnny in Tex, based on the novel by The Outsiders' author, S.E. Hinton. Although in the film much time is spent at Outsider co-star Matt Dillon's side, Estevez doesn't mind sharing the spotlight. "If you get too much too soon, you burn out," he says carefully. "Once people tire of seeing your face, they're ready to move on to the next person."

Not true of Carey Salley, the Wilhelmina model whom the young actor has dated for over a year. We both feel very secure about our relationship, " he says.

Estevez, however, is ready to move on to his next project, one involving Shankowitz Productions the family production company. While filming The Outsiders last summer, Estevez fell in love with another Hinton novel, That was Then, This is Now, Shankowitz quickly optioned it and bought the rights. Then Estevez and Outsiders co-star Tom Cruise, the future stars, penned a first draft of the script, which Estevez fine-tuned. he's also writing an original screenplay about a young boy who kills his family in a childish squabble.

Estevez claims this is not a story inspired by his own household. His father is known as the ultimate family man. A friend once said, "If I ever come back in another life, I want to be a Sheen kid."

Sheen's also known as a highly skilled actor's actor with a professional resolve that son Estevez clearly admires. "I'm an actor first, he already says. "Everything else is secondary."

(Article by Gretchen Kroll) Typed by Amy for Presenting...Emilio