‘I’m terribly proud of him’

The mighty ducks of a feather flock together. Weekly entertainment recently revealed that an upcoming episode of The mighty ducks: game changers – the new Disney + series based on the beloved ’90s franchise – will reunite trainer Gordan Bombay (Emilio Estevez) with several members of his then-peewee hockey league, including executor Fulton Reed ( Elden Henson), forward Connie Moreau (Marguerite Moreau) and the frequently injured, Lester Averman (Matt Doherty). But at least one duck won’t attend the reunion: Goalkeeper Greg Goldberg, played by Shaun Weiss, has not been invited to return. In real life, Weiss struggled with drug addiction and multiple arrests, before recovering in early 2020. The 42-year-old actor is said to have celebrated a year of sobriety last January, and recent images show it more. happy and healthier. .

This news thrills Weiss’s former on-screen coach. “I’m terribly proud of him,” Estevez told Yahoo Entertainment, adding that he felt a personal connection to his co-star. “As everyone knows, my family is not immune to this kind of scrutiny.” (Estvez’s brother Charlie Sheen has struggled publicly with his own addictions.) Estvez also says he did not contact Weiss while the actor was on his “very personal journey” back to recovery. “I hold him in high regard and know that getting sober for him is obviously a big deal. The first leg of the journey is now under his belt and in the last photo I saw he looks fabulous. am encouraged and hopeful. ”(Watch our interview above.)

Growing up in the industry as the son of two prominent actors – Martin and Janet Sheen – Estevez knows all too well the difficult path that child actors like Weiss must travel to reach adulthood. “It’s an almost impossible trip,” he says. “The business is tough for everyone, and it’s especially tough for young people.” And although Weiss was not invited to join the first season of Game changers, Estevez suggests fans never say never to a Goldberg cameo. “Steve Brill, the original creator of The mighty ducks, and I like to say the door is always open for any of the Original Ducks to join us, ”the actor said, lifting his own vintage jersey from the franchise-starter from 1992.“ Once an OD still an OD. The Original Ducks are certainly welcome. “

The story continues

But Game changers does not focus only on the past: it is also on the present. Takeover 25 years after the third and last Mighty ducks film, the 10-episode series turns the story around by making the Mighty Ducks the villains and a new team of misfits the courageous underdogs. This new team is led by Lauren Graham’s single mother Alex Marrow, whose hockey-obsessed son Evan (Brady Noon from the hit comedy R Good boys) is cut from the Ducks and becomes a founding member of Don’t Bothers, an inventive name. Unable to book training time at one of the large facilities, Alex finds a dilapidated ice rink run by none other than Coach Bombay – the guy who piloted the Ducks to greatness all those years ago. But it’s not the Bombay we remember: instead, he vowed to quit hockey and made a new habit of eating leftover food for birthday parties.

Estevez says Bombay’s appetite for discarded cakes and pizza reflects his overall unhealthy state of mind. “He eats leftover food and sleeps on the couch in his office and he doesn’t shower it seems. He doesn’t have any friends, wives or girlfriends and has never had one. kids. It’s like, “What’s up with this guy? “Well, over the course of these 10 episodes we’ll find out what happened, where he went and how he got to this unflattering place.” In an attempt to part ways with the character, the actor insisted on a healthier alternative to stale cake. “I didn’t want to eat a bunch of sweet cake for this scene, so I was like … ‘Can we do this with cornbread?’ But cornbread, unless it’s soaked in sauce and beans, is really dry. So I eat it and try to deliver my lines and the cornbread falls out of my mouth! It was such a mistake in my insistence on being healthier. “

A recurring theme in Game changers This is how the current generation of parents have allowed themselves to be too involved in the lives of their children. After Evan is cut off from the Ducks, Alex offloads the coach and other parents, accusing them of treating youth sports as work rather than games. “It’s something I’m really connected to,” Graham says. “Everything she says, I agree. What are we doing to these children? Also, that day Brady told me that after that speech he thought I was as funny as Sarah Silverman. I will always treasure this! Estevez, meanwhile, says he has observed similar behavior from “showbiz parents” during his decades of experience in the business. “Over-parenting and over-training is something you don’t just see in sports, but also in entertainment. We didn’t have these issues on this show, but I’ve run into them before.”

But Estevez also believes parents and kids can find common ground with the Mighty Ducks’ late return, which he describes as a “full circle” moment for him. “The last time I acted in a mainstream film was the year I shot Mighty Ducks 3 and the first installment of Impossible mission franchise, “he recalls.” Of course we all know how it ended with Impossible mission – not good! I left and did 25 years of independent filmmaking … and it was fun, but I feel like now is an opportunity to get back to more traditional dishes. It feels like we’re at a point where people feel nostalgic for different reasons. The country has suffered incredible and painful losses, and I think people want to eat something that looks like comfort food. “

The mighty ducks: game changers premieres on Friday March 26 Disney +.

Learn more about Yahoo Entertainment: