The Many Deaths and Resurrections of Emilio Estevez

After we flipped past the opening credits of Young Guns on TV yesterday, Steve wondered aloud what had become of Emilio Estevez. This reminded me of the time some years ago when a friend and I killed off Mr. Estevez, all as part of a sociology experiment gone too far.

We were in a univeristy residence room (where so many bizarre ideas are born) and we began discussing the nature of gossip. We decided to monitor the lifespan and migrations of a common rumour by creating our own and seeing how long it took to get back to us.

After much discussion we chose to fake the death of Emilio Estevez, mainly because he was well-liked but had been off the map for a few years. We devised a mildly interesting but plausible demise and set our plan in motion that night in the bar - my friend announcing to a table full of drunken students that he'd heard said news on the radio and I confirming independently that I'd caught the same snippet on TV. The rule was neither one of us would mention it again and then we'd see what happened.

We were impressed by the results, hearing it many times that night and over the next few weeks. Soon we made a point of correcting anyone we heard espousing this totally fabricated bit of "No, seriously, it's true".

We talked to everyone we knew and a few weeks later we were sure the rumour of Emilio's passing was as dead as he had supposedly been. About five months later, my friend was at a party at another university a three hour drive away. Somehow, Mr. Estevez came up and immediately the air was filled with cries of "Did you hear, he died, eh?" and "Yeah, yeah, he drowned in his pool or something, right?"

I hope that by now everyone in Southern Ontario who heard of the end of Emilio Estevez back in the late nineties has figured out that the rumour wasn't true. If they haven't though, they should figure it out soon. Steve's query led me to the IMDB, which reveals that Mr. Estevez is in post production on Bobby, a film he has written and directed about the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy.

It's not the first movie he's directed, but with a cast that includes Anthony Hopkins, Demi Moore and Elijah Wood I don't think this one will slip past the mainstream unnoticed.

Congratulations, Mr. Estevez. I've always been rooting for you, and in more than just a "wouldn't it suck if he were dead" kind of way.