Emilio Estevez Reveals Laurence Fishburne Saved Him From Drowning

Laurence Fishburne isn't just a powerhouse performer of the stage and screen (The Matrix, Marvel, and John Wick franchises); he's also apparently a real-life hero. So says Fishburne's fellow actor and personal friend, Emilio Estevez. 

Estevez and Fishburne both got started early in show business (as teenagers in the 1970s/80s). Their lives crossed when Fishburne landed a role in the infamous movie Apocalypse Now, which starred Estevez's father, Martin Sheen. Estevez accompanied his father to set in the Philippines where he was quickly drawn to Fishburne as another teen hanging around the set. One of the first outings the pair went on together almost resulted in the Estevez drowning – if Laurence Fishburne had not saved him:

"We'd only known each other a couple of days," Estevez revealed while on The Jennifer Hudson Show. "And this was in the Philippines. And he says, 'Hey there's this little boat. Let's go out on it.' I said, 'Sure,' and 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. 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."

It's wild to hear that Estevez was almost lost on that outing – especially since Apocalypse Now has a long and storied history of controversies while the film was being made. Writer/director Francis Ford Coppola suffered serious health issues and blew tons of his own money completing the film; Martin Sheen suffered a major heart attack while filming and had to be taken half a mile before he could receive help; a real animal (water buffalo) was shown on film being slaughtered with a machete, sparking outrage; and a graverobber sold actual human corpses to the production for use in one scene – sparking even more outrage. Plus, the movie filmed years longer than it was supposed and went far over budget, and tried several cuts over the years before Coppola finally released his definitive director's cut. 

While Laurence Fishburne has been a major screen icon for decades now, Emilio Estevez largely stepped back from acting in the 2000s, after being an 80s/90s star and heartthrob. He did fans a solid by returning to his role as Gordon Bombay in Disney's The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers TV series in 2021. You can watch it on Disney+.