'Bobby' Revives Emilio Estevez

ByABC News via logo
November 13, 2006, 9:56 AM

Nov. 13, 2006 — -- "Bobby" isn't in theaters yet, but it's already one of the most talked about movies of the year.

With an all-star cast featuring Anthony Hopkins, Demi Moore and Lindsay Lohan, "Bobby" tells the story of 22 fictional characters whose lives intersect at the assassination of then-presidential candidate Robert Kennedy on June 5, 1968.

The film is the vision of director, writer and star Emilio Estevez, who has come a long way in a career that has spanned more than 20 years.

At the beginning of his Hollywood career, Estevez -- whose father is Martin Sheen and brother is Charlie Sheen -- starred in cult classics "The Breakfast Club" and "St. Elmo's Fire."

However, he's been off the radar for the last 10 years.

"I was lost careerwise," Estevez told "Good Morning America." "The phone stopped ringing. My confidence really took a beating."

Yet, Estevez remained optimistic with the help of his friends and family.

"It's cruel. It's very unforgiving," he said about the movie industry. "But I think if there's something in your heart that you want to do, you hang in there."

"Bobby" is the project that's propelling Estevez back into bigwig status in Hollywood. It's generating buzz with its A-list cast and poignant story.

Estevez was able to get stars that normally command millions to act for relatively next-to-nothing salaries.

He said "actor magnets" helped him accomplish the feat -- having acclaimed actor Anthony Hopkins sign onto the movie made other stars flock to the set.

Estevez said he had wanted to make a movie about Bobby Kennedy for a long time. As a child, he visited the site of the assassination, the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, with his father.

"I remember my father telling me, this was where the music died," he said.