When Sean Penn faked the drive-by shooting death of Emilio Estevez: “That guy has never been the same”
Two-time Academy Award winner and very serious man, Sean Penn, has been in trouble with the law a few times throughout his career. However, he didn’t face any repercussions for faking the death of close friend Emilio Estevez, mainly because it was done for no other reason than shits and giggles.
At the time, they probably thought it was hilarious, but the poor soul on the receiving end of their prank, which also included kidnapping, death threats, and a staged immolation, had every right to be traumatised after being put through the emotional wringer by the soon-to-be ‘Brat Pack’ pair.
Penn and Estevez had been friends since they were kids, and they started making films together as children with the latter’s brother, Charlie Sheen. They lived close together, and along with the former’s brother, Chris, they attended the same high school as Rob Lowe and Robert Downey Jr, and the group remained close as they embarked on their respective Hollywood careers.
That flair for creativity was apparent from an early age, although not always necessarily for the best. As Penn explained in 1983, when he was fresh from his breakthrough role as Jeff Spicoli in the cult classic comedy Fast Times at Ridgemont High, he and Estevez concocted a master plan that was hilarious to them, but not so much for the person on the receiving end.
“This guy, Kelly, always got off the school bus with Emilio,” he told Rolling Stone. “So one day, I was around the corner with another buddy in my car. We had .22-calibre machine guns with blanks. And Emilio had a blood squib, a big bag of fake blood. So he coaxed this guy, Kelly, into walking down to the ice-cream parlour with him.”
“We drive by, and we open fire,” he continued. “Emilio does this great stuff. He squeezes the blood bag, and it bursts all over his front. He hits the ground. Kelly has a skateboard, and he’s freaking out. He starts to walk away in shock.” That’s bad enough, but was Penn done there? Nope, not by a long shot.
He and his cohort grabbed poor Kelly, stuffed him into the back of their car, drove into the wilderness, dragged him out of the vehicle, and told him, “We’re not going to hurt you, but we’re gonna tie you to this tree, and then we’re gonna take off.” He still wasn’t done, though, pouring a gas canister full of water all over the guy and then lighting a match to make him think he was about to be burned to a crisp.
At that point, Penn decided it was the right time to reveal the ruse. Estevez showed up to prove that he hadn’t been gunned down in a drive-by shooting, and they sat down for what he called “a little picnic.” Completely understandably, “That guy has never been the same since,” which is the least anyone would imagine for a high school student who thought they’d seen their friend get riddled with bullets and was then kidnapped and told they were going to be set on fire.
