According to Emilio Estevez, things weren’t as friendly on the set of St. Elmo’s Fire as they appeared on screen.
“What’s the worst note a director has ever given you?” host Josh Horowitz asked the actor, 62, on the Thursday, April 17, episode of the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast. Estevez threw shade at the director of St. Elmo’s Fire in his response, stating, “‘Have a good f***ing time.’ Screaming at the top of his lungs. Here’s looking at you, Joel Schumacher.”
St. Elmo’s Fire hit theaters in 1985, just a few months after another of Estevez’s iconic films, The Breakfast Club, premiered. “To go from [The Breakfast Club director] John Hughes, who was collaborative, who was a mentor in many ways, who was calm [and] listened, to Joel, who was wildly insecure and was a nightmare on set and was a bully,” he claimed.
Estevez said Schumacher’s alleged treatment of him on set inspired his own behavior behind the camera. “I vowed never to speak to my actors that way, if I ever got a chance to direct,” he shared. “In 1984, I thought, ‘This is the best lesson a young actor who wants to direct could ever get.’ Thank you, Joel.”
St. Elmo’s Fire followed a group of recent college graduates as they navigated friendships and romantic relationships while transitioning into adulthood. The beloved ‘80s flick starred many members of the Brat Pack, including Rob Lowe, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, Andrew McCarthy and Demi Moore.
The movie marked one of Schumacher’s earliest directing credits. He went on to direct a number of memorable projects over the years, such as The Lost Boys, Flatliners, Batman Forever, Batman & Robin, The Phantom of the Opera, The Number 23 and Trespass. He directed two episodes of Netflix’s House of Cards before his death at age 80 in June 2020.
Earlier in Thursday’s podcast, Estevez teased plans for an upcoming St. Elmo’s Fire sequel, revealing that Sony Pictures is “fast-tracking” the project written by Stuart Blumberg and produced by Will Gluck. A director has not been attached to the movie.
“I know Rob [Lowe] is keen on it. He’s very quick to talk about it. Every time he gets on a red carpet, Rob talks about St. Elmo’s Fire,” Estevez quipped. “It will really depend on the script. But I know the studio’s keen on it.”
Lowe, 61, revealed that a follow-up film was in the works last year. “We’ve met with the studio and I have been talking about doing it for about four months,” he told Entertainment Tonight in July 2024. “But it’s very, very, very, very, very early stages. So we will see.”
Lowe gave an update on the project on his “Literally with Rob Lowe” podcast last month, revealing, “The script has to come in and we all have to like it but everybody wants to do it. Everybody’s on board.”
He also credited the 2024 documentary about the Brat Pack, aptly titled Brats, for helping to garner interest in a sequel. “Brats helped it and it was just, like, ‘Yes we are doing it,’” he explained. “The script is being written.”
