Emilio Estevez expresses regret starring in Stephen King’s Maximum Overdrive

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Every actor probably has at least one film role they regret and Emilio Estevez is being pretty candid about his. While starring in a Stephen King adaptation may seem like a dream come true if you appeared in the likes of Carrie or The Shining, there is no denying that some adaptations of his work have been clunkers and Estevez had the misfortune of appearing in one.

During a recent interview with "Vanity Fair", Estevez was asked if he regrets any roles and he was quick to call out 1986's Maximum Overdrive, a Stephen King adaptation that has a bit of a cult classic status now for being a bit terrible. Here is what Estevez had to say:

"Oh, God, yeah. I'm not speaking out of class because he knows it's a terrible movie, but Stephen King often talks about his one directorial experience on Maximum Overdrive, which I was in. The few times that I've connected with him over the years, he's like, 'Can you forgive me for that?'"

Maximum Overdrive is based on King's short story "Trucks" and it follows a group of diners at a truck stop that realize that the surrounding trucks have come to life as they mercilessly destroy cars and kill bystanders. The film follows a similar premise but deviates in a key aspect. Instead of specifically exploring a world with killer trucks, the movie sees all machines coming to life which includes homicidal lawnmowers and very angry vending machines. Details about how the machines and trucks are coming to life are vague at best but it is somehow connected to the Earth passing through the tail of a comet for three days.

Estevez isn't the only one that seems to regret his experience in the film. His very own mother even asked him why he chose to do the movie:

"I think at one point my mom said, 'Why'd you do that movie?' I said, I wanted to work with Stephen King.' And she said, 'Couldn't you have helped him paint his house?'"

Maximum Overdrive was nominated for two Razzie Awards including Worst Director for Stephen King and Worst Actor for Estevez but they both lost out to Prince for his follow-up to Purple Rain, Under the Cherry Moon. Rotten Tomatoes has the film clocking in at a very rotten 15% and it bombed in theaters, grossing $7.4 million on a $9 million budget. The experience on the movie made King never want to direct again but, of course, many more of his works would be adapted for the big and small screen to great success and it only shows that you simply can't win them all.

Are YOU a fan of Maximum Overdrive?