Emilio Estevez was saved from drowning by Laurence Fishburne
Emilio Estevez and Laurence Fishburne were on the set of Apocalypse Now when Estevez found himself in grave danger
Emilio Estevez has revealed that his life was saved by Laurence Fishburne after he fell off a boat and got stuck in some ‘quicksand mud’. Here he is explaining the story:
The pair of actors were both just 14-years-old at the time of the incident, with Estevez out in the Philippines with his father, Martin Sheen, for the filming of Apocalypse Now.
Fishburne was starring in the film himself, having lied about his age in order to get the part.
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Francis Ford Coppola, the director of the epic war movie, believed that he was at least 16-years-old, though he was only 14 and his character was supposed to be 18.
Anyway, whilst they were in Asia for the filming, Estevez – who wasn’t in the movie – fell off a boat and got stuck in quicksand mud, requiring the young Fishburne to offer and hand and pull him back on board.
Speaking on The Jennifer Hudson Show this past Tuesday, Estevez explained: “We’d only known each other a couple of days and he says, ‘Hey there’s this little boat, let’s go out on it.’
“I said, ‘Sure.’
“We were both 14 at the time, So we were out on this boat together, and we started getting too close to the shore, and I said, ‘Well, let me jump out, I’ll push us offshore.’
“I jumped out, and it was like quicksand mud.”
Estevez – who is now 60 years old – continued: “I was just sinking, and I just saw Fishburne just looking at me going, ‘Grab my hand!’ and he pulled me back onto the boat.
“We were bonded ever since.”
To be fair, you would be after an incident like that.
Sheen, who appeared on the show alongside his son, explained that he was unaware of what happened that day until way after the fact, when he read about it in his son’s memoir.
Decades later, he made a call to Fishburne to thank him for his actions that day, which he credits with saving Emilio’s life.
Sheen said: “I called Mr. Fishburne to thank him for saving my son’s life.”
It’s a good job he did, too.
Emilio went on to star in movies himself, notably The Breakfast Club, The Outsiders, and Mission: Impossible.
Fishburne has had a stellar career too, starring as Morpheus in The Matrix, as well as receiving an Oscar nomination for his part in What’s Love Got to Do With It?
More recently, he has played the role of the Bowery King in the John Wick series.
Topics: Celebrity, Film and TV
Tom Wood