WEBVTT - La Bamba (Pt. 2) with Taylor Hackford 0:00:01.000 --> 0:00:04.720 We saw a lot of people. There was a wide 0:00:05.360 --> 0:00:09.119 kind of location casting people around the United States, and 0:00:09.160 --> 0:00:11.680 out of Dallas. We got a picture of this guy. 0:00:12.200 --> 0:00:14.560 He walked in. It's lou Diamond Phillips. He's a big, 0:00:14.600 --> 0:00:19.600 tall guy and he starts reading Bob and you know, 0:00:19.680 --> 0:00:23.320 he just it didn't it didn't work, It didn't click. Louise, 0:00:23.680 --> 0:00:27.600 who's got a great nose, you know, He goes, you 0:00:27.640 --> 0:00:32.040 know what, I know this sounds crazy, but I think 0:00:32.080 --> 0:00:36.800 he could play Richie. So Louise calls him. He said, 0:00:36.840 --> 0:00:40.159 lou listen, this is a movie called Lababa about a 0:00:40.200 --> 0:00:42.839 guy named Richie Valence. We'd like you to read for 0:00:42.840 --> 0:00:47.240 that role. And lou goes, what, I'm Bob, I'm reading 0:00:47.320 --> 0:00:50.559 for Bob. He said, yeah, we know, come back tomorrow 0:00:51.280 --> 0:00:53.880 and let's see what you can do. And he came back. 0:00:53.960 --> 0:00:56.080 He read it and we looked at each other and 0:00:56.520 --> 0:01:04.960 Louis said, that's my Rigie. 0:01:06.000 --> 0:01:08.160 Welcome to More Than a Movie, a podcast that gives 0:01:08.200 --> 0:01:10.360 you a behind the scenes look at your favorite movies. 0:01:10.680 --> 0:01:13.880 I'm your host, Alex Fumero. Last season we did a 0:01:13.880 --> 0:01:16.800 deep dive on American met This season, I'll focus on 0:01:16.840 --> 0:01:20.880 a different movie each episode feature interviews with the biggest actors, directors, writers, 0:01:20.880 --> 0:01:23.480 and producers behind them and tap into the history of 0:01:23.520 --> 0:01:30.840 Latinos in film. There's a few schools of thought in 0:01:30.880 --> 0:01:33.520 Hollywood when it comes to improving diversity in front of 0:01:33.760 --> 0:01:37.959 and behind the camera. One school says who cares? Basically 0:01:38.480 --> 0:01:40.600 may the best man win the job, and in that 0:01:40.760 --> 0:01:44.280 case it usually is a man. They're usually white, straight, answis, 0:01:44.440 --> 0:01:46.679 and it's not because they're the best at the job. 0:01:47.160 --> 0:01:52.160 The second school says, only X people can tell X stories. 0:01:52.600 --> 0:01:55.480 If you're black, only you can tell black stories. If 0:01:55.520 --> 0:01:59.440 you're Latino, only you can. This strategy, which has been 0:01:59.440 --> 0:02:01.960 the dominant strategy for the last ten years or so, 0:02:02.320 --> 0:02:05.920 works some of the time as executives are terrified of 0:02:05.960 --> 0:02:09.880 being accused of prejudice, but it hasn't made the kind 0:02:09.919 --> 0:02:12.360 of impact on the numbers some had hoped for. 0:02:12.600 --> 0:02:13.280 Not only does that. 0:02:13.240 --> 0:02:15.519 Start to get into some weird territory when it comes 0:02:15.560 --> 0:02:18.560 to how people want to identify versus how they're seen, 0:02:18.720 --> 0:02:23.079 but it's also wholly impractical. Hollywood is first and foremost 0:02:23.240 --> 0:02:27.440 a business, and that business abores risk, So taking a 0:02:27.520 --> 0:02:30.560 chance on a first time filmmaker or an unknown actor 0:02:30.880 --> 0:02:34.240 scares the shit out of the powers that be, and unfortunately, 0:02:34.240 --> 0:02:37.560 the people with the most experience, the least risky people 0:02:38.080 --> 0:02:42.120 tend to not be marginalized people, so the cycle of 0:02:42.120 --> 0:02:46.760 white guys continues. There's a third school of thought, however, 0:02:47.120 --> 0:02:51.240 which I'll call the Ally model. The Ally model essentially 0:02:51.280 --> 0:02:55.519 requires a benevolent, white, straight male CIS person, usually who 0:02:55.520 --> 0:02:58.239 has clout and a desire to tell a good story 0:02:58.600 --> 0:03:01.720 that happens to feature a person or people who are 0:03:01.760 --> 0:03:05.359 not like them, to use their clout and influence not 0:03:05.400 --> 0:03:08.640 only to get that story made, but to help marginalize 0:03:08.639 --> 0:03:13.320 people get opportunities they otherwise wouldn't You've seen this model 0:03:13.360 --> 0:03:15.679 at work with people like Brad Pitt, who produced two 0:03:15.800 --> 0:03:18.920 Academy Award winning black films in Moonlight and Twelve Years 0:03:18.919 --> 0:03:22.680 of Slave, or even Steven Spielberg committing to casting actual 0:03:22.760 --> 0:03:26.200 latinos and not some Greek guy in brown face in 0:03:26.240 --> 0:03:31.120 the remake of West Side Story. Unfortunately, these examples are 0:03:31.160 --> 0:03:34.400 few and far between, but today I have with me 0:03:34.480 --> 0:03:38.080 someone who has done this multiple times over his career, 0:03:38.640 --> 0:03:42.040 producer and director Taylor Hackford, who, coming off of a 0:03:42.240 --> 0:03:45.120 massive box office hit in An Officer and a gentleman 0:03:45.520 --> 0:03:49.240 decided to use his heat, his political capital in Hollywood 0:03:49.400 --> 0:03:52.640 to make a film about a relatively forgotten, a critically 0:03:52.680 --> 0:03:56.960 important character in rock and roll and Latino history, Richie Allens, 0:03:57.480 --> 0:04:01.480 and instead of directing it himself, he act Luis Valdez, 0:04:01.800 --> 0:04:05.200 a Chicano legend in the theater world, but someone who 0:04:05.200 --> 0:04:07.760 the studios hesitated to give a big budget to. 0:04:08.240 --> 0:04:09.160 For the big screen. 0:04:10.800 --> 0:04:13.400 First of all, Taylor Hackford, thank you so much for 0:04:13.480 --> 0:04:18.400 being here with us. This is a podcast dedicated to 0:04:19.000 --> 0:04:23.839 Latino movies. You are not Latino, but a lot of 0:04:23.839 --> 0:04:27.240 people may not realize that you're a soul cowboy. You 0:04:27.240 --> 0:04:31.200 were born in Santa Barbara, California. I wonder if you 0:04:31.200 --> 0:04:33.640 could tell us a little bit about Taylor Hackford as 0:04:33.640 --> 0:04:34.400 a kid. 0:04:34.160 --> 0:04:35.880 And the kind of community he grew up around. 0:04:36.240 --> 0:04:39.560 Well, you know, my mother I was raised. I was 0:04:39.640 --> 0:04:42.359 a single mother. She was a waitress. She worked in 0:04:43.080 --> 0:04:45.760 you know, restaurants around Santa Barbara, and when I was 0:04:45.839 --> 0:04:48.760 really young, you know, she couldn't afford daycare, so I 0:04:48.839 --> 0:04:51.640 went and I would hang in the kitchen and you know, 0:04:51.760 --> 0:04:57.440 the the dishwashers, the bus boys, all the people were Latino, 0:04:57.560 --> 0:05:00.719 so they spoke Spanish all the time, so I somehow 0:05:00.760 --> 0:05:04.000 got this language in my head. And you know, when 0:05:04.040 --> 0:05:06.640 I grew up, I was working class. I know, my 0:05:06.680 --> 0:05:08.720 mother was a waitress and a lot of my friends 0:05:08.720 --> 0:05:12.680 were Chicanos, and that's just kind of my background. So 0:05:12.800 --> 0:05:15.440 I felt an affinity and that kind of came into 0:05:15.440 --> 0:05:18.000 FOURD later on when I went to La right. 0:05:18.040 --> 0:05:20.279 And a lot of people don't think about the fact 0:05:20.279 --> 0:05:22.920 that Santa Barbara has like a working class section because 0:05:22.920 --> 0:05:26.800 you just associated with these grand Spanish style mansions and 0:05:26.839 --> 0:05:29.039 all the rest of it. But a lot of your 0:05:29.120 --> 0:05:32.880 friends growing up were Chicano and I wonder, you know, 0:05:33.000 --> 0:05:35.159 we're here to talk about the movie La Bamba. I 0:05:35.160 --> 0:05:39.440 think you were about twelve thirteen when that song comes out. 0:05:39.480 --> 0:05:41.560 Do you remember when that song came out and the 0:05:41.640 --> 0:05:44.080 impact that it had on your friends and on you 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:45.200 and on that community. 0:05:46.160 --> 0:05:49.279 Of course, it was on top forty radio. It was 0:05:49.320 --> 0:05:53.080 a rock and roll song. Richie Vallens basically took a 0:05:53.200 --> 0:05:57.920 traditional Mexican folk song and put a rock and roll 0:05:57.920 --> 0:06:03.279 beat to it and roll guitar. And it's his arrangement 0:06:03.440 --> 0:06:08.120 of La Bamba that's so important, because you know, you 0:06:08.240 --> 0:06:13.000 got a top forty radio. When do you have a 0:06:13.200 --> 0:06:17.120 song in Spanish get into the top ten? It doesn't happen. 0:06:17.520 --> 0:06:20.320 So it was groundbreaking. And it was not like, oh gee, 0:06:20.320 --> 0:06:23.320 I'm political, I'm you know, I know, man. It was 0:06:23.440 --> 0:06:26.479 just it was a great rock and roll song. It 0:06:26.560 --> 0:06:31.600 was part of your culture as a teenager in California. 0:06:32.000 --> 0:06:34.839 Yeah, and you didn't in those days. But you speak 0:06:34.880 --> 0:06:35.960 Spanish now right. 0:06:35.880 --> 0:06:40.000 You you did not, Okay, see glad ogay? See did 0:06:40.080 --> 0:06:42.599 that upbringing that experience. 0:06:42.080 --> 0:06:44.440 Inspire you to go to the Peace Corps, go to 0:06:44.480 --> 0:06:48.000 Bolivia and learn Spanish. You seem to have quite an 0:06:48.040 --> 0:06:51.200 affinity for Latin culture, and so I'm curious, you know 0:06:51.240 --> 0:06:52.760 what kind of fuels that for you? 0:06:52.760 --> 0:06:54.400 You know, when I went to college, I went to 0:06:55.520 --> 0:06:59.200 college in Los Angeles and I went to USC, but 0:06:59.720 --> 0:07:03.280 it was it's Vietnam. I graduated and I joined the 0:07:03.320 --> 0:07:05.480 Peace Corps. And if we're going to join the Peace Corps, 0:07:05.480 --> 0:07:09.080 the whole idea was, you know, why not go someplace 0:07:09.120 --> 0:07:12.120 where you could learn Spanish and use it later. My 0:07:12.200 --> 0:07:16.400 experience in Bolivia was fascinating, and you know, obviously I 0:07:16.440 --> 0:07:19.920 got much more out of it than the Bolivians. But 0:07:20.840 --> 0:07:24.800 as an American it's very, very valuable to kind of 0:07:25.000 --> 0:07:28.400 encounter and understand the way the majority of the world lives. 0:07:28.720 --> 0:07:31.320 So it was a big experience for me, and I 0:07:31.320 --> 0:07:35.160 did learn Spanish there. That whole experience was a life 0:07:35.200 --> 0:07:37.679 changer for me. You go live in the third world, 0:07:37.760 --> 0:07:41.680 you live with people who are not blessed with all 0:07:41.760 --> 0:07:43.800 the stuff that you had as somebody who grew up 0:07:43.840 --> 0:07:47.000 in America, and so now you can never think of 0:07:47.640 --> 0:07:48.880 the world in the same way. 0:07:49.480 --> 0:07:52.600 That's really interesting. It makes you sort of question what 0:07:52.760 --> 0:07:56.080 America is. And so this sort of redefines like the 0:07:56.120 --> 0:07:58.360 place that you grew up. And you come back and 0:07:58.400 --> 0:08:01.480 you work in public television and you start getting into 0:08:02.080 --> 0:08:06.000 the music scene, right, you start working on some music programming. 0:08:06.120 --> 0:08:09.200 No two things. Yeah, I'm a child of rock and roll, 0:08:09.720 --> 0:08:12.760 So I grew up with rock and roll, and I 0:08:12.800 --> 0:08:16.160 taught a history of rock and roll class at the university. 0:08:16.480 --> 0:08:20.080 At that time, there was no uninterrupted popular music or 0:08:20.120 --> 0:08:24.560 rock and roll on television anyway, going back to the sixties, 0:08:24.960 --> 0:08:29.720 I went in and started doing journalism and did you know, 0:08:29.960 --> 0:08:32.839 the public TV station we didn't have lots of money 0:08:32.920 --> 0:08:35.480 like the commercial stations, but we did have equipment and 0:08:35.520 --> 0:08:38.480 we went out and covered the community. So, you know, 0:08:38.720 --> 0:08:42.400 the guy who I worked for was Mexican. His name 0:08:43.040 --> 0:08:46.800 Eddie Moreno, and Eddie Moreno was a serious journalist. He 0:08:46.920 --> 0:08:50.840 really cared about a journalism and he imbued that in me. 0:08:51.360 --> 0:08:54.800 But also because he was Mexican and Latino, he was 0:08:54.960 --> 0:08:59.720 interested in what was happening in LA I came out. 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:02.280 I came back from the Peace Corps sixty nine. I 0:09:02.320 --> 0:09:05.880 started working in the mail room of KCET. Eddie gave 0:09:05.920 --> 0:09:09.520 me a shot and so we started covering East Los Angeles. 0:09:09.760 --> 0:09:12.319 I was a reporter. I was covering it. I covered 0:09:12.320 --> 0:09:15.400 some really interesting things. The thing about great it was 0:09:15.440 --> 0:09:18.480 great for me about KCET, the Public Televitis station, is 0:09:18.520 --> 0:09:21.720 that it was my film school. I didn't go to Philmo. 0:09:22.320 --> 0:09:24.440 I didn't go I went to Peace Corps, came out, 0:09:24.600 --> 0:09:27.560 and the great thing that I had is airdates. You know, 0:09:27.600 --> 0:09:29.800 I had to get something done and put it on 0:09:29.840 --> 0:09:31.920 the air. It's like in film school you got one 0:09:31.960 --> 0:09:34.360 project a semester. I had it every week, three times, 0:09:34.360 --> 0:09:37.080 four times a week. So in the daytime I worked 0:09:37.080 --> 0:09:40.720 as a journalist. At that night I would do music shows. 0:09:41.440 --> 0:09:42.800 It was great, how So. 0:09:43.200 --> 0:09:45.360 Once I got out of the mail room and I 0:09:45.400 --> 0:09:49.080 started being a producer and a reporter. There was a 0:09:49.120 --> 0:09:53.280 friend named Heyesustravigno. He was a producer there and a 0:09:53.320 --> 0:09:58.080 really smart guy, and he was Chicano. He was doing reporting. 0:09:58.640 --> 0:10:00.880 I mean, Eddie Marina and I were going out and 0:10:00.880 --> 0:10:04.560 doing this, but Hazeus was doing his own thing, and 0:10:05.360 --> 0:10:08.080 you know, we became really good friends, and I started 0:10:08.440 --> 0:10:12.040 hanging with him and seeing he did a show. It's 0:10:12.080 --> 0:10:14.360 one thing that I think is important, which is to 0:10:14.360 --> 0:10:16.920 do with lebamba. We're talking about when I was training 0:10:16.960 --> 0:10:20.960 for the Peace Corps, training at Fresno State up in 0:10:20.960 --> 0:10:23.960 the middle of California, and we went out for a 0:10:24.000 --> 0:10:27.280 field trip and we went to a place called Del 0:10:27.400 --> 0:10:32.920 Rey where Caesar Chavez was organizing the farm workers and 0:10:32.960 --> 0:10:37.959 the political arm. Theater political arm of Caesar Chabas's movement 0:10:38.040 --> 0:10:41.200 was that Diatto compesino, that's right, And I went there. 0:10:41.440 --> 0:10:45.000 I spent two days there and I met Luis Valdez 0:10:45.160 --> 0:10:47.560 when I was like twenty two. 0:10:49.360 --> 0:10:52.360 Luis Valdez, for those who don't know, as I mentioned earlier, 0:10:52.880 --> 0:10:55.560 was and is a legend in the world of Latino theater. 0:10:56.080 --> 0:10:58.920 Aside from being an organizer in the fields with Caesar Chavis. 0:10:58.920 --> 0:11:01.560 He also created a place called zut Suit that launched 0:11:01.600 --> 0:11:04.520 or inspired the careers of dozens of Latino and Chicano 0:11:04.600 --> 0:11:08.200 actors that are still working today, including the subject of 0:11:08.240 --> 0:11:11.760 our entire season one, Edward James. Almost so it's a 0:11:11.800 --> 0:11:14.360 big deal and shows that he's a real motherfucker that 0:11:14.440 --> 0:11:17.000 Taylor was even fucking with Louise to begin with. 0:11:18.960 --> 0:11:22.040 And I was training for the Peace Corps and here's 0:11:22.080 --> 0:11:25.080 this guy who you know, it was tough. I mean, 0:11:25.160 --> 0:11:28.320 Luis is tough, and he was taking his love of 0:11:28.440 --> 0:11:32.800 theater and did doing at Jet Prop Theater in the 0:11:32.840 --> 0:11:37.760 fields with farm workers and against the growers. And listen, 0:11:38.480 --> 0:11:41.319 you know, the growers were not taking it nicely. At night. 0:11:41.400 --> 0:11:44.280 There were people, you know, coming by and shooting. You know, 0:11:44.679 --> 0:11:48.920 Luis's was toughened by the politics of the fields and 0:11:48.960 --> 0:11:52.120 he was very close to Caesar Chavez. So I met. 0:11:52.280 --> 0:11:54.400 It wasn't for very long, you know, a couple of 0:11:54.480 --> 0:11:56.600 days that I hung there, but I met this guy 0:11:56.640 --> 0:12:00.840 and I went, wow, this is a smart, dedicated, committed 0:12:01.840 --> 0:12:05.920 political guy and also an artist. So that was an 0:12:05.960 --> 0:12:10.319 important part. Then when I was at KCT. Later he Sustavignho. 0:12:11.520 --> 0:12:14.240 He was a journalist and of a documentary filmmaker, but 0:12:14.280 --> 0:12:16.680 he wanted to do a music show with a young 0:12:16.800 --> 0:12:22.520 artist named Danny Valdez. Danielle Valdez. He was the younger 0:12:22.559 --> 0:12:26.840 brother of Luis, and he did this show called America 0:12:26.920 --> 0:12:30.720 de los Indios and he wrote these songs. He's a singer, 0:12:30.760 --> 0:12:35.720 guitar player and unbelievably talented. And I saw this show 0:12:35.800 --> 0:12:39.520 and I went, she WHOA, this guy is great. And 0:12:39.640 --> 0:12:44.840 Danny and I, you know, became really close friends. I mean, 0:12:44.960 --> 0:12:49.400 Danny and I bonded and we were like ermanos and 0:12:49.480 --> 0:12:52.280 we just hung and you know, would talk about things 0:12:52.320 --> 0:12:55.160 and on, and Danny was so talented. I remember one 0:12:55.240 --> 0:12:57.320 night we were over to friend's house and we were 0:12:57.480 --> 0:13:00.920 drinking beers and talking and said, you know, we should 0:13:00.960 --> 0:13:04.360 do a film about Richie Vallence. You know, because Richie 0:13:04.440 --> 0:13:07.719 Valence is Chicano. He had this great voice. You got 0:13:07.720 --> 0:13:11.040 a voice as good as his, and this whole story 0:13:11.040 --> 0:13:14.360 could be really cool. So Danny and I are like, 0:13:14.400 --> 0:13:16.520 I'm going to be the filmmaker, You're going to be 0:13:16.520 --> 0:13:19.240 the star, and we're going to do this film. Of course, 0:13:19.679 --> 0:13:21.480 neither one of us had a pot to piss him. 0:13:22.720 --> 0:13:26.480 We're like nobody's right, and nothing came of it. But 0:13:27.440 --> 0:13:30.560 there was a desire and a sense that Danny was 0:13:30.600 --> 0:13:33.480 inspiring me and had all the talent to do it. Well. 0:13:33.840 --> 0:13:37.920 Cut ten years later, all right, I go and I 0:13:37.960 --> 0:13:40.080 make my first feature called The Idol Maker, and then 0:13:40.280 --> 0:13:42.800 made my second feature called An Officer and a Gentleman, 0:13:43.200 --> 0:13:46.599 which was a huge international hit, and all of a 0:13:46.640 --> 0:13:49.360 sudden my stock in Hollywood, because when you do a 0:13:49.440 --> 0:13:53.760 hit movie, people go Taylor, who, yeah, that kind of thing. 0:13:54.000 --> 0:13:57.920 I get a phone call, it's Danny, and Danny says, hey, 0:13:58.600 --> 0:14:04.040 I got two words for you, Richie Valens. Now's the time. 0:14:04.600 --> 0:14:07.480 And he was right. But the problem is, when I 0:14:07.520 --> 0:14:09.920 first met Danny, he was a young punk like I was. 0:14:10.400 --> 0:14:12.680 You know, ten years later he's in his thirties. He's 0:14:12.720 --> 0:14:16.719 not really right for Richie anymore. Right, But it was 0:14:17.160 --> 0:14:22.560 Danny beldas an e who developed LaBamba. We went to 0:14:22.640 --> 0:14:27.840 Hollister and then we went to Watsonville and we met 0:14:28.040 --> 0:14:32.920 Connie Valezuela and we got the rights to Richie's life. 0:14:33.640 --> 0:14:35.760 That talk about an interesting thing, you know. 0:14:38.880 --> 0:14:42.360 The other thing that's super interesting. Is this commercial you're 0:14:42.400 --> 0:14:45.160 about to hear. I have no idea what it is, 0:14:45.560 --> 0:14:49.479 and they put it in after, but trust me, it's interesting. 0:15:00.760 --> 0:15:02.360 Welcome back to More Than a Movie. I'm your host, 0:15:02.360 --> 0:15:05.080 Alex Fumeto. In a later episode this season, you'll hear 0:15:05.080 --> 0:15:07.880 our interview with Louis Valdez about his work on LaBamba 0:15:07.920 --> 0:15:10.080 and zoot Suit. And when we spoke to him, he 0:15:10.080 --> 0:15:13.040 told us about meeting Taylor Hackford for the first time. 0:15:13.200 --> 0:15:14.680 Here's Taylor's version. 0:15:14.520 --> 0:15:15.200 Of that story. 0:15:17.800 --> 0:15:21.240 So we spoke to Luis Valdez for a while and 0:15:21.320 --> 0:15:22.880 he told us, you know, we talked to him about 0:15:22.880 --> 0:15:26.120 suit Suit and obviously developing that. He talked about meeting 0:15:26.200 --> 0:15:30.720 you when you came to visit the United farm Workers 0:15:30.760 --> 0:15:34.000 and Detre Cambecino, and he talked about how he and 0:15:34.080 --> 0:15:36.760 Danny would talk about La Bamba also, and you know, 0:15:36.840 --> 0:15:39.480 this is like a common thing. Everybody always wonders how 0:15:39.520 --> 0:15:41.760 projects come to be, and like, you know, people just 0:15:41.840 --> 0:15:44.240 like you know, it's kind of circulates or whatever. 0:15:44.320 --> 0:15:46.160 But well, the important. 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:50.280 Thing here is you understand, and I understand Luis Valdez 0:15:50.480 --> 0:15:56.720 is a great artist. Yeah, Luis Feldez is La Bamba, right, Yeah, 0:15:56.760 --> 0:16:00.280 But in terms of the chronology. Danny and I talked 0:16:00.280 --> 0:16:03.520 about it a long time before. This is an intellectual 0:16:03.760 --> 0:16:06.520 he's international theater, He's this and that. He's a he's 0:16:06.560 --> 0:16:09.280 a heavyweight. So Danny and I were talking. We got 0:16:09.280 --> 0:16:13.280 the rights from Connie, and now it's a question of 0:16:13.320 --> 0:16:15.640 all right, we got the rights, but we're going to 0:16:15.720 --> 0:16:18.200 do the film. I said, we should go to your brother, Yeah, 0:16:18.200 --> 0:16:21.520 because I mean fun he did zutsuit. I mean, Louise 0:16:21.600 --> 0:16:28.560 defined Chicano theater in California. He's an important, I think, 0:16:28.600 --> 0:16:32.520 intellectual mind. Yeah, so Danny goes, but see it's the 0:16:32.560 --> 0:16:35.360 younger brother, older brother. Danny goes, oh no, no, Luise 0:16:35.440 --> 0:16:38.840 is never going to do this. So why he goes, no, 0:16:38.960 --> 0:16:41.600 it's not going to do it because he's too elevated. 0:16:41.640 --> 0:16:43.360 You know, he's got his head in the clouds. He 0:16:43.400 --> 0:16:47.280 does he's in I said, Luis Valdeza spent his life 0:16:47.840 --> 0:16:52.680 defining the Chicano experience on the stage in California. This 0:16:52.800 --> 0:16:55.800 is Richie Valence man. This is a kid, a working 0:16:55.840 --> 0:16:58.520 class kid who has a number one hit in America. 0:16:58.640 --> 0:17:02.120 So we go to Louise and he kind of goes, 0:17:02.160 --> 0:17:04.080 I don't know. I mean I know about Richie, and 0:17:04.320 --> 0:17:07.560 I mean, you know, the point is that we convince 0:17:07.680 --> 0:17:10.600 Louise to write the screenplay. 0:17:10.240 --> 0:17:12.560 And how do you go about that? This is more 0:17:12.600 --> 0:17:15.240 of a producer question, right, Your career is unique, and 0:17:15.280 --> 0:17:18.639 you are unique in that you know, some projects you're like, 0:17:18.720 --> 0:17:21.920 this is mine to direct, and then other projects you're like, no, 0:17:22.400 --> 0:17:24.520 I really am passionate about this. I want to produce it, 0:17:24.560 --> 0:17:26.720 but there's other folks who are the right kind of 0:17:26.800 --> 0:17:28.000 voice or vehicle for it. 0:17:28.359 --> 0:17:30.400 So you go to a guy like Louis Feldez. 0:17:30.119 --> 0:17:32.959 Is immensely talented, who is, like you said, that's kind 0:17:33.000 --> 0:17:36.280 of the definitive voice of Latino theater. And then you 0:17:36.320 --> 0:17:39.600 know who has made this kind of foray into film 0:17:40.040 --> 0:17:42.399 through Zootsuit, which was kind of like a mix between 0:17:42.400 --> 0:17:44.920 a feature and the filming of a live stage production. 0:17:45.200 --> 0:17:48.240 Right, and how do you go h This is a 0:17:48.280 --> 0:17:50.200 two part question. We'll start with the first part, which 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:50.760 is how. 0:17:50.600 --> 0:17:53.320 Do you convince Louise and then later how do you 0:17:53.400 --> 0:17:58.280 convince the studio system that's typically very conservative that this 0:17:58.359 --> 0:18:00.840 guy is the right guy this movie? 0:18:01.040 --> 0:18:03.800 Well, this is how it came about. I mean, once 0:18:04.040 --> 0:18:06.960 I kind of said to Luis one you got the 0:18:07.000 --> 0:18:09.960 freedom to tell this story. I mean, it's a great story, 0:18:10.400 --> 0:18:13.119 and it's what you've been doing your whole life after 0:18:13.280 --> 0:18:16.560 Santase State and going through talking about Latinos busting into 0:18:17.000 --> 0:18:21.480 the American culture. Lucie Valence did it, so he got it. 0:18:22.040 --> 0:18:24.680 But then you know, we realized I had a deal 0:18:24.800 --> 0:18:28.520 at Columbia Pictures. They wanted me after an officer and gentlemen, 0:18:28.560 --> 0:18:30.760 I went there. I made against all odds, I was 0:18:30.880 --> 0:18:32.240 doing films for them. 0:18:32.640 --> 0:18:35.320 What does that mean? You have a deal in those days? Right, Like, 0:18:35.400 --> 0:18:37.520 does that mean you have green light power? 0:18:37.720 --> 0:18:38.439 Or like what is it? 0:18:38.440 --> 0:18:41.119 Well? No, right, no, you don't have green light power. 0:18:41.160 --> 0:18:43.320 But what you do is that they give you money 0:18:43.359 --> 0:18:46.440 to have an office and you hire development people and 0:18:46.520 --> 0:18:50.560 you go out and you develop material. Because that's the 0:18:50.600 --> 0:18:52.520 way it used to work. You would go out and 0:18:52.600 --> 0:18:56.119 you would if you were inspired by something and you 0:18:56.160 --> 0:18:58.840 had had success, they said, well, I'll take a roll 0:18:58.880 --> 0:18:59.600 of the dice. 0:18:59.400 --> 0:18:59.920 With this guy. 0:19:00.440 --> 0:19:03.600 And I went out and I developed La Bamba, and 0:19:03.960 --> 0:19:06.200 the guy who ran it was really important. The guy 0:19:06.240 --> 0:19:09.600 who ran Columbia Pictures was a guy named Guy Macawin, 0:19:10.240 --> 0:19:13.120 and he was the president of production. He had grown 0:19:13.240 --> 0:19:17.840 up as a minor league baseball pitcher. He was from California. 0:19:18.240 --> 0:19:20.760 He grew up he remembered LaBamba and I had a 0:19:20.760 --> 0:19:22.639 good relationship with him. I said, I'm going to develop 0:19:22.680 --> 0:19:25.240 this film about LaBamba. I remember that song. Oh yeah, man, 0:19:25.359 --> 0:19:27.560 that was a great idea. I said, well, it's going 0:19:27.600 --> 0:19:31.840 to be two things. It's going to be inexpensive. Two, 0:19:31.880 --> 0:19:34.120 it's going to be a Latino film, which a whole 0:19:34.160 --> 0:19:38.000 Hollywood doesn't deal with. I said, there's a huge population 0:19:38.119 --> 0:19:42.080 out there, gigantic, and Hollywood is interested in going out 0:19:42.119 --> 0:19:45.919 and selling tickets. And I said, this whole audience you're missing. 0:19:46.000 --> 0:19:48.920 He said what I said, Latinos they go to movies 0:19:48.960 --> 0:19:52.639 all the time. Nothing is made for them. This is 0:19:52.680 --> 0:19:55.840 the story of their life, Richie Vallence. So he said, 0:19:55.920 --> 0:19:58.199 go ahead and develop it. So when I went to 0:19:58.280 --> 0:20:01.920 Louise and I convinced him. I said, hey, man, I'm 0:20:01.920 --> 0:20:05.640 going to be the trojan horse here. You know, we're 0:20:05.640 --> 0:20:08.280 going to go in and we're going to get this 0:20:08.359 --> 0:20:11.760 film made because I've got a deal, and you're going 0:20:11.840 --> 0:20:14.199 to do the script. I didn't promise him that he 0:20:14.280 --> 0:20:16.240 was going to direct. I said, I want you to 0:20:16.240 --> 0:20:18.960 write the script. But I'm not going to tell you 0:20:19.040 --> 0:20:22.399 what to write. I have huge respect for you. I 0:20:22.480 --> 0:20:25.960 know that this means something to you. You know, go write. 0:20:26.080 --> 0:20:30.520 And Louise said, yes, nothing can get done unless you 0:20:30.520 --> 0:20:33.960 write a good script. Louise killed it. He did this 0:20:34.320 --> 0:20:38.520 great story because he knew he's writing about his life. Yeah, 0:20:38.600 --> 0:20:42.320 he wrote this script about Richie and Richie's family and 0:20:42.359 --> 0:20:46.360 about Bob, his brother, an important role because he's the oldest. 0:20:46.680 --> 0:20:49.320 He's the guy, but he's really talented artist, but he's 0:20:49.359 --> 0:20:52.960 bashing up against white culture and you know, he's a biker. 0:20:53.160 --> 0:20:56.600 He's thrown in jail. Bob. When I met him, it 0:20:56.720 --> 0:20:59.960 was like, you know, you had this beautiful story about Richie, 0:21:00.200 --> 0:21:03.360 but he's Everybody that talked about Richie was like, Richie's 0:21:03.400 --> 0:21:07.320 so wonderful. His mother had this altar for him in 0:21:07.359 --> 0:21:10.520 her living room. It's like, you know, he's the perfect guy. 0:21:11.080 --> 0:21:14.159 Then we met Bob and go, oh, okay, now we're 0:21:14.200 --> 0:21:16.639 in good shape because you got the good brother and 0:21:16.680 --> 0:21:19.840 the bad brother. And that always says an interesting story 0:21:19.840 --> 0:21:21.800 with a mother trying to keep him, you know, in 0:21:21.840 --> 0:21:25.200 the middle. And Louise saw that and he wrote a 0:21:25.240 --> 0:21:29.240 fabulous script. Well, people in the movie business understand a 0:21:29.280 --> 0:21:31.679 good script when they see it. So I turned the 0:21:31.680 --> 0:21:35.480 script in Louise has done it, and they go, wow, 0:21:35.560 --> 0:21:37.600 this is great. Who's going to direct it? I said, 0:21:38.200 --> 0:21:40.560 Luis Valdez is going to direct it. They said, what 0:21:40.760 --> 0:21:43.240 you didn't tell us that. I said, listen, the guy's 0:21:43.280 --> 0:21:48.680 a director. He did zuit suit. He is a substantial guy, 0:21:49.960 --> 0:21:52.199 and I think he needs a shot. And let me 0:21:52.240 --> 0:21:55.679 say this. You see that you like this script. You 0:21:55.720 --> 0:21:58.560 know why you like it. It's really beautifully done, but 0:21:58.640 --> 0:22:01.280 it also is a voice in and the voices of 0:22:01.440 --> 0:22:07.040 Chicano culture, and you need a director who understands what's 0:22:07.080 --> 0:22:10.399 on the page and even more. And I said, you know, 0:22:10.560 --> 0:22:13.439 I'll produce the movie and I'll back Louis up, but 0:22:13.480 --> 0:22:15.399 that doesn't mean I'm going to direct the movie. I'm not. 0:22:15.600 --> 0:22:18.480 He's got to direct it, and believe me, he's that strong. 0:22:18.920 --> 0:22:22.280 So we made this partnership and Guy Macawayne at Columbia said, 0:22:22.600 --> 0:22:25.920 you're right, okay, go We've had three and a half 0:22:26.000 --> 0:22:30.919 million dollars that we made LaBamba with and at the 0:22:30.960 --> 0:22:33.840 time it was you know, that's still a lot more 0:22:33.840 --> 0:22:37.560 money than most people had. Yeah. Yeah, Anyway, my point 0:22:37.720 --> 0:22:41.360 at that point was just to back Louise up. When 0:22:41.400 --> 0:22:43.479