How Emilio Estevez's journey to Spain for the movie 'The Way' led him to Cincinnati

To promote his movie "The Way" in 2011, Emilio Estevez traveled the country in a tour bus bringing screenings to various cities. The final stop was Cincinnati.

After a tour of Cincinnati from Film Cincinnati Executive Director Kristen Schlotman, Estevez fell in love with the Queen City's charm, so much so he filmed the movie "The Public" here in 2017 and in 2019 moved to Over-the-Rhine.

"I bought a building in OTR, and I've been rehabbing it ever since," Estevez said. "So I'm a Cincinnati resident. This is my adopted city. In many ways, I owe a debt of gratitude to the movie. I probably would not have gotten an opportunity to see the city in the same way."

"The Way," directed by Estevez and starring his father Martin Sheen, centers on the Camino de Santiago, a pilgrimage to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Spain.

It returns to theaters for a one-day-only showing May 16, with bonus content from travel icon Rick Steves.

“The Way” was not a Hollywood blockbuster, but over the last decade, it has garnered millions of fans and inspired people to make their own Camino pilgrimages.

Estevez said he's hoping to give 'The Way' more publicity as a way to get people to stream it and ultimately so he can raise money for a sequel.

Estevez sat down with The Enquirer's "That's So Cincinnati" podcast this week to talk about the movie, his career and how he ended up in Cincinnati, a place he calls "the Paris of the Midwest."

"It's an extraordinary city," Estevez said. He enjoys being able to know his neighbors and walk to James Beard-nominated restaurants and having his pick of three professional sports to watch live.

Estevez may have grown up "Hollywood" traveling the world with his celebrity father and becoming famous himself at a young age, but in a way his roots were always here. His mother was born in Cincinnati and spent her early childhood in Kentucky; his father is from Dayton.

"We want to bring industry here. We want to bring movies here," Estevez said. "We want to put eyeballs on the city. Because, you know, as I said in Vanity Fair, 'This is the Paris of the Midwest.' I believe that it's just an extraordinarily beautiful city. When I'm talking to people in L.A. and New York, they're like, 'Oh, Cincinnati.' But it's like, 'No dude, you got to check it out.'"