WEBVTT - La Bamba (Pt. 1) with Lou Diamond Phillips 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:01.240 So then you fly out. 0:00:01.680 --> 0:00:06.360 So sure enough, they're flying me out. What's funny is 0:00:06.400 --> 0:00:09.000 that for the next two or three days they're using 0:00:09.000 --> 0:00:13.200 me as the reader because they're continuing to read Bob's 0:00:13.480 --> 0:00:15.120 and Richie's and Donna's. 0:00:16.079 --> 0:00:19.320 So you're reading, you're reading with other Bobs and other Richies. 0:00:19.640 --> 0:00:22.000 Uh huh, and all the Donnas. You know, they flew 0:00:22.000 --> 0:00:23.319 me out. I guess they wanted to get, you know, 0:00:23.520 --> 0:00:24.599 the best bag for their buck. 0:00:24.680 --> 0:00:26.200 Do you remember who any of those people were, where 0:00:26.200 --> 0:00:28.760 any did any of them pan out to have careers? 0:00:29.800 --> 0:00:33.360 Yes? Helen Hunt read four? No really get it? 0:00:33.760 --> 0:00:35.520 Yeah? Wow? Yeah, wow? 0:00:35.600 --> 0:00:38.240 Yeah. She was great. I will say, and this is 0:00:38.240 --> 0:00:40.239 one of a few times I've ever said this. When 0:00:40.280 --> 0:00:41.920 I walked in, I didn't think I had a shot 0:00:41.920 --> 0:00:42.360 at Richie. 0:00:42.520 --> 0:00:43.480 Huh. Why is that? 0:00:43.880 --> 0:00:46.280 Because John Stamuss's picture was already up on the wall. 0:00:54.000 --> 0:00:56.200 Welcome to More Than a Movie, a podcast that gives 0:00:56.240 --> 0:00:58.400 you a behind the scenes look at your favorite movies. 0:00:58.680 --> 0:01:01.880 I'm your host, Alex blumt. Last season, we did a 0:01:01.880 --> 0:01:04.800 deep dive on American met This season, I'll focus on 0:01:04.840 --> 0:01:08.880 a different movie. Each episode feature interviews with the biggest actors, directors, writers, 0:01:08.880 --> 0:01:11.480 and producers behind them and tap into the history of 0:01:11.560 --> 0:01:19.040 Latinos in film. In my house growing up, there were 0:01:19.040 --> 0:01:22.640 two types of music playing, Cuban music and rock and roll. 0:01:23.160 --> 0:01:27.360 The playlist was not uncommonly the Rolling Stones or Rare Earth, 0:01:27.520 --> 0:01:30.880 followed by Cacao and Celia Cruz. But there wasn't a 0:01:30.920 --> 0:01:33.560 lot of music out there that bridged the gap between 0:01:33.560 --> 0:01:36.160 these two worlds for me, my American side and my 0:01:36.240 --> 0:01:41.240 Latino one. Until I heard LaBamba. Little Alex would pull 0:01:41.240 --> 0:01:45.040 out the bongo drums. Yes we really had bongo drums, 0:01:45.440 --> 0:01:48.160 and I'd bang away at them, singing La bamba offbeat 0:01:48.320 --> 0:01:50.840 at the top of my lungs, or dancing around yelling 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:56.480 over and over again. While LaBamba is originally Mexican, not Cuban, 0:01:56.880 --> 0:01:59.400 it comes from Vera Cruz, where many of the songs 0:01:59.400 --> 0:02:02.160 had the same African influence his Cuban music had, so 0:02:02.240 --> 0:02:05.320 it sounded familiar, except the version I was singing was 0:02:05.320 --> 0:02:08.760 not the Verakrusian folk song. It was the version I'd 0:02:08.760 --> 0:02:11.919 seen in the nineteen eighty seven film by the same 0:02:12.040 --> 0:02:15.079 name about this rock and roll legend named Richie Vallens, 0:02:15.400 --> 0:02:18.600 who also felt caught between his American life and his 0:02:18.680 --> 0:02:22.240 Latino one, and the film starred this Latino kid whose 0:02:22.320 --> 0:02:26.200 name was weirdly Lou Diamond Phillips. As it turns out, 0:02:26.400 --> 0:02:30.120 Lou wasn't technically Latino. He's Filipino, Native American and a 0:02:30.120 --> 0:02:32.679 couple other things mixed in. But as anybody who lives 0:02:32.720 --> 0:02:36.120 in La knows, Filipinos are just the Latinos of Asia. 0:02:36.240 --> 0:02:38.920 In fact, I learned to make my lazoonskin extra crispy 0:02:38.960 --> 0:02:42.080 watching a Filipino dude on YouTube. So I was psyched 0:02:42.200 --> 0:02:43.920 when Lou said he'd joined us on more than a 0:02:43.960 --> 0:02:46.840 movie to talk about how that iconic role changed his life. 0:02:47.320 --> 0:02:49.800 This whole episode is about how the coming together of 0:02:49.880 --> 0:02:56.880 cultures and of people can often produce the greatest work. Well, 0:02:56.960 --> 0:03:00.800 ladies and gentlemen, I am here with the most notable, 0:03:00.800 --> 0:03:06.320 honorary Latino in the history of cinema. In fact, I 0:03:06.360 --> 0:03:08.920 think there's still probably a fair share of the audience 0:03:08.960 --> 0:03:12.799 that believes he's Latino. He is a legendary actor. You've 0:03:12.800 --> 0:03:16.480 seen him in everything from LaBamba to Stand and Delivered 0:03:16.639 --> 0:03:19.600 Young Guns to I mean, his IMDb goes on and on. 0:03:20.080 --> 0:03:22.679 Mister Lou Diamond Phillips, thank you so much for being here. 0:03:23.440 --> 0:03:26.120 It is absolutely my you know, my honor and my pleasure. 0:03:26.800 --> 0:03:31.040 It has always been my privilege to represent Laarasa and 0:03:31.160 --> 0:03:33.160 you know, to be Latino adjacent. 0:03:34.639 --> 0:03:38.360 I know, technically you're on team Asian, and I understand 0:03:38.640 --> 0:03:43.720 geographically why, but we share so much in common, right DNA. 0:03:43.800 --> 0:03:45.360 I mean, it's you know, we are the Latinos of 0:03:45.440 --> 0:03:48.560 the Pacific, and I think that's been one of the 0:03:48.600 --> 0:03:54.840 most interesting conundrums of categorizing Filipinos. And in this day 0:03:54.880 --> 0:03:59.160 and age when people are hyper focused on DNA and 0:03:59.240 --> 0:04:03.600 categorization and labels and whatnot, you know, the Philippines has 0:04:03.600 --> 0:04:06.280 always been a crossroads. And yes, you know, we are 0:04:06.320 --> 0:04:10.800 Asian influenced, we are Pacific Islander influenced, we are Indonesian influenced. 0:04:11.240 --> 0:04:16.360 But there's also a long centuries long tradition of Spanish influence, 0:04:17.120 --> 0:04:20.560 you know. So it's it's an interesting, you know, place 0:04:20.640 --> 0:04:23.480 to be. But it's also been you know, one of 0:04:23.600 --> 0:04:25.159 one of the things that I taken a heart in 0:04:25.240 --> 0:04:28.159 representing the Latino culture and doing it with pride and 0:04:28.200 --> 0:04:31.400 with respect. You know the fact that I am at 0:04:31.480 --> 0:04:35.159 least physically, for lack of a better word, approvable in 0:04:35.200 --> 0:04:38.680 those roles, you know, and that the Latino directors and 0:04:38.720 --> 0:04:41.320 writers were the ones who chose me. You know, I've 0:04:41.320 --> 0:04:43.359 always feel justified in playing those roles. 0:04:43.760 --> 0:04:46.960 So was the acting bug always there from a really 0:04:47.000 --> 0:04:49.400 young age? Or when was the moment that you were like, hey, 0:04:49.480 --> 0:04:51.360 I might actually I want to do this. 0:04:52.080 --> 0:04:54.080 Well, you know, in sixth grade. I was still in 0:04:54.080 --> 0:04:56.320 the Philippines at the time, on the Naval Air station. 0:04:56.720 --> 0:04:59.680 I was born there, left, traveled around quite a bit, 0:04:59.760 --> 0:05:02.360 and then went back from seventeen to seventy four, and 0:05:02.839 --> 0:05:06.520 I had a bunch of rambunctious, you know, young friends, 0:05:06.560 --> 0:05:09.359 and we were, you know, all a little precocious, and 0:05:09.440 --> 0:05:12.640 the teachers, I remember to the Statemus Greenberg and Ms 0:05:12.720 --> 0:05:15.520 McGain made us ride our own play. So we ripped 0:05:15.520 --> 0:05:17.680 off Charlie Brown. You know, I think the statute of 0:05:17.680 --> 0:05:20.800 limitations is you know, used up by this point. But 0:05:22.279 --> 0:05:24.200 you know I wrote, I wrote myself all the best 0:05:24.279 --> 0:05:26.279 lines as Linus and I got laughs, and you know 0:05:26.360 --> 0:05:28.440 that was when the bug bit. But then when I 0:05:28.480 --> 0:05:31.440 got down to Corpus Christie discovered something called the University 0:05:31.440 --> 0:05:36.760 Interscholastical League, which you know in Texas we actually compete 0:05:36.839 --> 0:05:40.159 in drama very much like you know, you would compete, 0:05:40.240 --> 0:05:42.480 you know, compete in track or you know, basketball or 0:05:42.520 --> 0:05:45.640 something like that. And so through junior high and high school, 0:05:45.680 --> 0:05:49.120 I was winning awards and you know, nothing like positive 0:05:49.120 --> 0:05:52.680 reinforcement to go okay, you're good at something. And I 0:05:52.720 --> 0:05:54.599 fell in love with it and decided this is what 0:05:54.640 --> 0:05:56.080 I was going to do for the rest of my life, 0:05:56.560 --> 0:05:58.640 much to the chagrin of my you know, high school 0:05:58.680 --> 0:06:01.039 counselor my drama teacher tried to talk me out of it. 0:06:01.240 --> 0:06:05.440 Really certainly parents. Yeah, no, they're like, what are you kidding. 0:06:05.960 --> 0:06:08.440 You're a kid from a small town in Texas and 0:06:08.640 --> 0:06:10.400 you think you're going to be in the movies. And 0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:12.520 I was like, well, yeah, you know, and so I 0:06:12.520 --> 0:06:14.680 would not be interred. And I majored in theater at 0:06:14.680 --> 0:06:17.480 the University of Texas at Arlington, and you know, one 0:06:17.480 --> 0:06:20.480 thing led to another, and yeah, it all worked out. Okay. 0:06:21.000 --> 0:06:24.560 I'm curious, like, you know, before LaBamba hits and we'll 0:06:24.600 --> 0:06:27.640 get to talking about Labama obviously, but like you know, 0:06:27.880 --> 0:06:31.240 I know, you did a film called Trespasses right before LaBamba. 0:06:31.720 --> 0:06:33.320 You were behind the camera as well. 0:06:33.920 --> 0:06:37.240 Yeah it was okay, So the little tiny Christian film 0:06:37.240 --> 0:06:39.600 is called Angel Alley. For the next few years, I 0:06:39.640 --> 0:06:42.080 supported myself as an actor, not only with theater, but 0:06:42.120 --> 0:06:44.680 with a comedy troupe called The Zero Hour, which would 0:06:44.680 --> 0:06:47.680 do midnight shows on Fridays and Saturdays. I hooked up 0:06:47.680 --> 0:06:51.200 with a man named Adam Rourke who became my film mentor, 0:06:51.640 --> 0:06:53.640 and so he opened up something called the Film Actors 0:06:53.760 --> 0:06:56.200 Lab in Dallas, and I was one of his first students, 0:06:56.640 --> 0:07:00.400 trained specifically for film. The whole philosophy of of the 0:07:00.400 --> 0:07:03.040 Film Actor's Lab was take what you've learned in college 0:07:03.160 --> 0:07:07.000 or in other acting classes, whether it's your Meisner, your Stella, Adler, 0:07:07.080 --> 0:07:09.080 or you know, any of this stuff, and applied to 0:07:09.320 --> 0:07:11.160 how do you hitch marks, how do you match how 0:07:11.160 --> 0:07:13.360 do you play it close up versus a master? How 0:07:13.360 --> 0:07:15.800 do you tell a story out of order? You know, 0:07:15.920 --> 0:07:17.920 because an employe you get to go from beginning to end. 0:07:18.280 --> 0:07:21.600 So it was all of the the brass tacks of 0:07:22.040 --> 0:07:23.080 being an actor on film. 0:07:23.240 --> 0:07:24.760 And you were doing this in college. 0:07:25.000 --> 0:07:27.480 I was, Yes, I was. I was doing concurrently while 0:07:27.480 --> 0:07:29.920 I was in college, still doing Paul's play, still doing 0:07:29.920 --> 0:07:32.960 professional plays, and you know, landing things, you know, like 0:07:33.360 --> 0:07:36.880 on the Dallas Show at the time, Texas was a 0:07:36.960 --> 0:07:39.560 right to work state, so they were doing. My second 0:07:39.640 --> 0:07:43.120 job was literally a really really bad TV movie called 0:07:43.120 --> 0:07:45.520 time Bomb that we called stink Bomb. But I've been 0:07:45.520 --> 0:07:49.000 friends with Billy D Williams and Morgan Fairchild ever since. Wow, 0:07:49.400 --> 0:07:52.040 And yeah, I mean it was It was an incredibly 0:07:52.080 --> 0:07:54.920 formative period, you know, in my life. And that the 0:07:54.960 --> 0:07:59.360 Trespasses credit actually came about because right after Tender Mercies 0:07:59.400 --> 0:08:05.000 there was a rancher who, like many people you know, 0:08:05.120 --> 0:08:09.000 saw devalse performances, said well he's not doing anything, you know, 0:08:09.400 --> 0:08:13.440 and then they go, well I can do that. Yeah. Yeah, 0:08:13.560 --> 0:08:15.960 he mortgaged his ranch. He made this really really bad 0:08:16.160 --> 0:08:19.160 film and couldn't sell it. You know, he was out 0:08:19.160 --> 0:08:22.120 a million bucks. And you know I had heard about me, 0:08:22.520 --> 0:08:23.920 you know, I had heard about Adam in the film 0:08:23.960 --> 0:08:26.239 actor's lab in Dallas. Came to us, showed us the movie, 0:08:26.560 --> 0:08:28.920 said I have a distributor who will actually give me 0:08:28.960 --> 0:08:32.280 the money back for this and distribute it. Get this 0:08:32.679 --> 0:08:34.360 if I can put in two fight scenes in a raight? 0:08:35.280 --> 0:08:39.559 Was I Wow? And I was writing all of the. 0:08:40.880 --> 0:08:44.120 Is that just like treading on old Western tropes? Like 0:08:44.160 --> 0:08:45.520 what was that about? 0:08:46.800 --> 0:08:50.280 You know? And so literally, it was my first and greatest, 0:08:50.480 --> 0:08:53.880 one of my greatest exercises in a post mortim and 0:08:53.920 --> 0:08:56.680 how to make a movie work. Because I saw the 0:08:56.720 --> 0:08:59.520 original film. I got to see all the outtakes obviously 0:08:59.559 --> 0:09:02.840 the script, and this is two years later, and you know, 0:09:03.040 --> 0:09:06.200 things like, oh my goodness, the girl who was nine 0:09:06.280 --> 0:09:10.240 then is now eleven and has sprouted six inches. We 0:09:10.320 --> 0:09:11.800 have to put her in a car accident and a 0:09:11.800 --> 0:09:15.640 full body chat. You know, so literally coming up with 0:09:15.720 --> 0:09:19.320 really really practical ways to make the movie work. And 0:09:19.440 --> 0:09:22.679 it's still not a good movie, but you know, it 0:09:22.720 --> 0:09:25.480 got sold, and you know, I appeared in it, Adam 0:09:25.520 --> 0:09:28.400 appeared in it. I'm credited as a you know, as 0:09:28.440 --> 0:09:29.920 a screenwriter in it's. 0:09:30.080 --> 0:09:31.600 And it sounds like it was it was a little 0:09:31.600 --> 0:09:33.679 bit of your film school. I mean, I've heard people say, 0:09:33.760 --> 0:09:36.080 like the best film school is making a bad movie. 0:09:36.400 --> 0:09:38.840 You know, yeah, making a movie, but they just usually 0:09:38.840 --> 0:09:42.480 turn out bad when it's when it's your first exactly. 0:09:43.040 --> 0:09:45.679 And so with Labama, I've heard you say, you know, 0:09:45.960 --> 0:09:47.720 it sort of shot you out of a cannon. But 0:09:47.800 --> 0:09:50.199 what I'm hearing is there was, you know, as there 0:09:50.320 --> 0:09:53.320 usually is, like all these years of sort of invisible 0:09:53.360 --> 0:09:58.920 preparation that gets you ready for that moment when LaBamba. 0:09:58.400 --> 0:10:01.840 Calls one hundred percent. And I have said this to 0:10:02.360 --> 0:10:04.240 young acting students. A matter of fact, I just went 0:10:04.320 --> 0:10:07.760 back to my alma mater, the University of Texas at Arlington, 0:10:07.800 --> 0:10:09.960 and I taught a week long residency there, not only 0:10:09.960 --> 0:10:12.120 to the theater students, but the musical theater students and 0:10:12.160 --> 0:10:14.520 the film students. And once again, it's like you can't 0:10:14.640 --> 0:10:17.360 sort of look at what happened to me out of 0:10:17.400 --> 0:10:19.800 context and go, oh, my gosh, he's an overnight success, 0:10:20.160 --> 0:10:22.440 because as you said, I was working in the film 0:10:22.480 --> 0:10:26.120 business and teaching for four years and writing prior to 0:10:26.640 --> 0:10:30.960 you know, Levamba coming along, and there is an inordinate 0:10:30.960 --> 0:10:32.960 amount of luck that has to happen to you in 0:10:33.000 --> 0:10:35.080 your career. You have to be in the right place 0:10:35.120 --> 0:10:37.840 at the right time. But as you said, when that 0:10:37.960 --> 0:10:41.319 moment comes, you have to be prepared because if you're 0:10:41.360 --> 0:10:43.880 with that opportunity, it's going to be a while before 0:10:43.920 --> 0:10:44.800 it comes back around. 0:10:47.080 --> 0:11:00.400 We'll be back after the break, Welcome back more than 0:11:00.400 --> 0:11:02.120 a movie. I'm your host, Alex Fumado, and we are 0:11:02.120 --> 0:11:05.040 talking to lou Diamond Phillips about how exactly. He landed 0:11:05.040 --> 0:11:09.079 the role that would change his life forever. So I'm curious, 0:11:09.200 --> 0:11:14.319 you know, leading into La Bamba, you initially auditioned for 0:11:14.360 --> 0:11:17.160 the part of Bob, which eventually goes to Issim Morales. 0:11:17.320 --> 0:11:21.440 Do you remember getting that call those sides? What is like? 0:11:21.520 --> 0:11:24.840 You know, what's the kind of earliest moment that you remember, Like, hey, 0:11:24.960 --> 0:11:27.800 they're doing a movie about this guy, Richie Vallens is 0:11:27.840 --> 0:11:31.480 not quite as famous as Buddy Holly, He's not quite Elvis, right, Like, 0:11:31.679 --> 0:11:34.840 you know what was that first like huh moment? 0:11:35.320 --> 0:11:40.800 Well, it was totally It's a mistake. It wasn't It 0:11:40.840 --> 0:11:43.840 did not happen that kind of way. I mean back 0:11:43.840 --> 0:11:46.800 in the day, man, you know, you used to not 0:11:46.880 --> 0:11:49.400 get the sides until you got to the audition is 0:11:49.480 --> 0:11:52.920 cold reading. It was a cold reading, you know, if 0:11:52.920 --> 0:11:54.360 you were smart and you got there half an early 0:11:54.600 --> 0:11:56.480 hour early and you would sit and review them before 0:11:56.520 --> 0:11:58.000 you had to go in, you know what I mean. 0:11:58.280 --> 0:11:58.559 Yep. 0:11:59.000 --> 0:12:01.240 So I'm teaching at the Film Actors Lab. I get 0:12:01.240 --> 0:12:04.280 a call from my agency. Ah, they know I also 0:12:04.320 --> 0:12:05.440 do Legit Theater, which was. 0:12:05.440 --> 0:12:09.200 An agency based in Dallas at that time. So we're 0:12:09.200 --> 0:12:11.760 talking about a regional talent agency. 0:12:11.760 --> 0:12:15.320 A regional talent agency, a regional casting director Rody Kent, 0:12:15.640 --> 0:12:17.840 who was wonderful who put me in the Dallas series 0:12:17.880 --> 0:12:20.480 and also a couple of other television movies and whatnot. 0:12:20.640 --> 0:12:22.079 You know, there weren't a whole lot of guys that 0:12:22.160 --> 0:12:25.400 looked like me, right, you know. So, yeah, so I'm 0:12:25.400 --> 0:12:28.280 an ethnic guy in a sea of you know, good looking, 0:12:28.320 --> 0:12:30.040 young white guys who you know, end up on the 0:12:30.080 --> 0:12:32.280 Dallas series. You know, I used to joke that I'd 0:12:32.320 --> 0:12:34.120 keep a red Dan Danna and a switchblade in my 0:12:34.160 --> 0:12:36.719 car for auditions, because that's usually what I got called for. 0:12:37.040 --> 0:12:39.319 You know, hey, want to cut you, you know. 0:12:39.520 --> 0:12:42.480 The unfortunate story of almost every brown actor. 0:12:42.559 --> 0:12:45.319 I feel like exactly, you know, but I got a 0:12:45.360 --> 0:12:48.199 lot of work, and once again, that's a training route. 0:12:48.440 --> 0:12:51.600 So now I get this call from my agency and 0:12:52.080 --> 0:12:55.719 it's the agency assistant. She goes, yeah, it's a musical 0:12:56.080 --> 0:13:04.959 about Frankie Valley, right, and you know, and now, now, 0:13:04.960 --> 0:13:06.920 of course there's Jersey Boys, which makes all the sense 0:13:06.920 --> 0:13:08.680 in the world, but at the time there wasn't. 0:13:08.720 --> 0:13:12.600 You're like, how do I fit into how does my 0:13:12.800 --> 0:13:22.079 ex filipino looking in this film? Yeah right, yeah. 0:13:22.080 --> 0:13:25.319 So you know, screw it. You know, I'm auditioned for 0:13:26.640 --> 0:13:29.199 and so to make matters worse what sort of I 0:13:29.240 --> 0:13:31.080 don't know. It seemed to justify that was that the 0:13:31.080 --> 0:13:34.079 actual audition was in a legit theater in downtown Dallas. 0:13:34.559 --> 0:13:34.760 You know. 0:13:35.320 --> 0:13:36.439 So I get there. 0:13:36.400 --> 0:13:38.560 Which is lucky because you're very comfortable on the stage 0:13:38.559 --> 0:13:41.080 at this point because you've been doing local theater productions 0:13:41.559 --> 0:13:42.640 exactly tons. 0:13:42.800 --> 0:13:45.280 So it's all good. So I go to this audition 0:13:45.800 --> 0:13:48.959 and I walk in the door and there are these 0:13:48.960 --> 0:13:54.360 people I've never seen before. Phylisparza, the associate producer, Judy Lowry, 0:13:55.080 --> 0:13:58.360 l a casting director, and a couple of other people. 0:13:58.760 --> 0:14:02.840 Was Taylor Hackford there, No, neither Taylor was there. Louis 0:14:02.920 --> 0:14:06.640 val was not there, nor Danny Valdez. But coming to 0:14:06.679 --> 0:14:10.920 Texas with Standy Valdez's idea because they'd already done La, Chicago, 0:14:10.960 --> 0:14:11.640 New York. 0:14:11.840 --> 0:14:13.560 And Miamis I understand it. 0:14:13.520 --> 0:14:16.600 I believe. So when all was said and done, they 0:14:16.640 --> 0:14:20.520 saw six hundred people. So they hand me the sides 0:14:20.560 --> 0:14:24.200 and immediately I'm going, this is a movie, and I'm 0:14:24.240 --> 0:14:26.760 looking at this, and then Phil and JUNI explain that 0:14:27.160 --> 0:14:34.320 this is a biopic about Richie Vallens, And I'm like, oh. 0:14:32.520 --> 0:14:36.280 You know you did you you knew who Richie Allens 0:14:36.320 --> 0:14:37.040 was at the very. 0:14:36.960 --> 0:14:40.760 Least, yes, yes, in broad Strucks. 0:14:40.560 --> 0:14:42.920 Right, like the guy who did Labomba probably like. 0:14:43.600 --> 0:14:46.760 Right exactly and died in the plane crash with Buddy Holly. 0:14:47.400 --> 0:14:50.080 So now they start filling in the blanks. So I 0:14:50.240 --> 0:14:53.600 actually go on tape. Well, here's the thing. You come 0:14:53.600 --> 0:14:56.400 in and you read first. Okay, they had me read 0:14:56.440 --> 0:14:59.520 for both roles. There's about a dozen guys there from 0:14:59.720 --> 0:15:02.440 you know, swore the Caucasians to you know, real Latino 0:15:02.560 --> 0:15:05.880 you know dudes, and maybe light skinned African American or two. 0:15:06.000 --> 0:15:08.160 All right, right, so you know, I mean it's dolls. 0:15:08.720 --> 0:15:12.080 So they read me for Bob first, you know, maybe 0:15:12.120 --> 0:15:14.280 because of my resume, I don't know. Then they read 0:15:14.280 --> 0:15:16.840 me for Richie, and Junie came out she goes, I'm 0:15:16.840 --> 0:15:19.440 not supposed to do this, but can you wait until 0:15:19.440 --> 0:15:23.120 the end of the rest of the auditions. And I'm like, oh, okay, 0:15:23.840 --> 0:15:27.400 sure of course, you know. So I'm hanging out, you know, 0:15:27.440 --> 0:15:29.200 for like four hours looking at all these things, and 0:15:29.320 --> 0:15:31.840 you know, I actually get a chance to memorize the stuff, 0:15:32.200 --> 0:15:34.040 and the reason they asked me to wait is to 0:15:34.040 --> 0:15:36.080 put me on tape at the end of the day. 0:15:36.840 --> 0:15:38.400 So they put I think me and one other guy 0:15:38.520 --> 0:15:40.880 on videotape at the end of that day after seeing 0:15:40.920 --> 0:15:45.120 like a dozen people for both roles, and Junie at 0:15:45.120 --> 0:15:47.200 the end of the day says, I'm not supposed to 0:15:47.200 --> 0:15:50.960 do this either. Here's the full script. Who you're probably 0:15:50.960 --> 0:15:54.880 going to be hearing from us, you know. So she 0:15:54.960 --> 0:15:56.800 gives me the full script. I go home that night 0:15:57.240 --> 0:16:01.160 and now there are very few opportunity in life where 0:16:01.200 --> 0:16:03.200 you go, this is the big one. 0:16:03.440 --> 0:16:04.600 Yeah. 0:16:04.680 --> 0:16:07.480 I read that, and I went, this is the big one. 0:16:08.720 --> 0:16:09.800 This is the big one. 0:16:09.960 --> 0:16:13.000 When you said that to yourself, are you thinking I'm 0:16:13.000 --> 0:16:16.200 auditioning for Richie or are you thinking I'm auditioning for me? 0:16:16.240 --> 0:16:16.760 Either one? 0:16:17.040 --> 0:16:19.120 Either one. So you don't you don't know the part. 0:16:19.160 --> 0:16:21.040 You're just looking at the movie and going, this is 0:16:21.080 --> 0:16:21.480 the break. 0:16:22.320 --> 0:16:23.360 Yeah, this is the break. 0:16:23.880 --> 0:16:26.720 And that casting director must have loved you to say that, 0:16:26.760 --> 0:16:29.200 because she hadn't even really you know, the other the 0:16:29.200 --> 0:16:31.920 main producers hadn't even seen you. So she's saying, I'm 0:16:31.920 --> 0:16:33.840 gonna go to bat is what she's saying. 0:16:34.280 --> 0:16:37.000 That's exactly so at any rate, I get the call, 0:16:37.320 --> 0:16:39.880 and the funny thing is Rody Kent calls me. She goes, Okay, 0:16:39.880 --> 0:16:42.040 you got a problem. I said, what's that? I had 0:16:42.200 --> 0:16:45.400 landed a TV movie with Dabney Coleman, like three or 0:16:45.400 --> 0:16:49.680 four scenes, really good scenes, right, that would cover my rent? Yeah, 0:16:49.720 --> 0:16:52.000 all right, she goes, but they want you to go 0:16:52.040 --> 0:16:56.360 to la to continue to audition for La Amba during 0:16:56.400 --> 0:16:59.960 the same time. So to go to La you can, 0:17:00.040 --> 0:17:02.720 I have to turn down the sure thing. What do 0:17:02.760 --> 0:17:07.280 you want to do? Wow? Yeah, so obviously I rolled 0:17:07.320 --> 0:17:10.240 the dice. Now. My mentor, Adam Roorke, he was a 0:17:10.280 --> 0:17:13.920 realist man. He was such a practical dude. He's from Brooklyn. 0:17:14.320 --> 0:17:17.760 He goes, Louke, you go out there, you kick their ass. 0:17:17.960 --> 0:17:20.040 There's not a snowballs chance in hell you get neither 0:17:20.080 --> 0:17:22.080 one of these roles, but go out there and impress 0:17:22.119 --> 0:17:23.359 them and maybe you play the drummer. 0:17:26.880 --> 0:17:31.960 That's great, you know. I mean he's not wrong, right, 0:17:32.000 --> 0:17:33.960 I mean, this is so wrong. That's that's why I 0:17:34.000 --> 0:17:36.600 said wow when you said that, because it's like, it's 0:17:36.600 --> 0:17:39.440 so rare that you get three or four medi scenes 0:17:39.480 --> 0:17:41.919 that will pay your bills. You know. I mean that's like, 0:17:42.480 --> 0:17:45.360 you know, you're teaching acting classes, like trying to make 0:17:45.480 --> 0:17:49.160 ends meet, and here comes a paycheck and and an opportunity, 0:17:49.320 --> 0:17:52.240 and you you know, you had the bass to say no, 0:17:52.600 --> 0:17:54.919 but you had an intuition. It sounds like about it. 0:17:55.000 --> 0:17:57.080 You felt you could feel something was different about this, 0:17:57.720 --> 0:17:59.240 or you were just a gambler because I know you 0:17:59.320 --> 0:17:59.920 like to play poke. 0:18:00.400 --> 0:18:01.520 Yeah there is that, but. 0:18:03.640 --> 0:18:05.840 And I am a pretty good poker player, you know, so. 0:18:06.359 --> 0:18:09.560 To do you know, the the gambler parlance. I was 0:18:09.560 --> 0:18:12.480 betting on myself, you know, just like everybody trying to 0:18:12.480 --> 0:18:15.280 talk me out of majoring in theater in college. I 0:18:15.359 --> 0:18:17.080 knew that I could do this. I knew I was 0:18:17.119 --> 0:18:19.359 destined to do this. I knew this was an opportunity 0:18:19.400 --> 0:18:21.520 to prove that I could go to the big leagues, 0:18:22.000 --> 0:18:24.720 you know. And I obviously had done so well in 0:18:24.720 --> 0:18:28.280 my audition that JUNI was willing to, you know, stick 0:18:28.320 --> 0:18:31.240 her neck out and say we'll be in touch, which 0:18:31.359 --> 0:18:34.240 they never they never do. You know. I knew I 0:18:34.280 --> 0:18:38.040 had nailed the initial audition and could only, you know, 0:18:38.119 --> 0:18:41.240 either improve upon it or screw it up, which you 0:18:41.240 --> 0:18:43.480 know wasn't really in my playbook. 0:18:46.200 --> 0:18:52.639 Pata by l La Bamba. The advertising money, the advertising money, 0:18:52.680 --> 0:19:09.120 com commercialeza ostead. We'll be back after the break, bim 0:19:09.160 --> 0:19:12.040 benitos d nuevo. I mean he goes to more than 0:19:12.040 --> 0:19:15.119 a movie. We're here talking about La Bomba with our guest, 0:19:15.280 --> 0:19:20.159 Blue Diamond Phillips. So then you fly out, But do 0:19:20.160 --> 0:19:22.679 you remember landing? Had you ever been to La before? 0:19:22.960 --> 0:19:26.760 Strangely enough, I had gone the year before because I 0:19:26.800 --> 0:19:28.640 heard of a couple of other auditions, one of which 0:19:28.720 --> 0:19:30.919 was Platoon, and I couldn't even get in the door 0:19:30.960 --> 0:19:33.520 because I didn't have an LA agent, right, couldn't even 0:19:33.520 --> 0:19:34.040 get in the door. 0:19:34.400 --> 0:19:37.119 So I but this time you're showing up. They're flying 0:19:37.160 --> 0:19:40.119 you out to La so exactly. 0:19:39.840 --> 0:19:41.760 You know, which is the same thing? You know, I mean, 0:19:41.800 --> 0:19:43.840 too many kids get off the bus storry. I think 0:19:43.960 --> 0:19:45.280 that you know they're going to walk in and knock 0:19:45.320 --> 0:19:48.320 people's socks off. You can't even get in a building sometimes, man, 0:19:48.680 --> 0:19:52.520 you know, So sure enough they're flying me out. What's 0:19:52.600 --> 0:19:55.960 funny is that for the next two or three days 0:19:56.400 --> 0:19:59.720 they're using me as the reader because they're continuing to 0:20:00.720 --> 0:20:03.520 Bob's and Richie's and Donna's. 0:20:04.040 --> 0:20:07.280 So you're reading, you're reading with other bobs and other richies. 0:20:07.600 --> 0:20:09.960 Uh huh, and all the donnas. You know, they flew 0:20:10.000 --> 0:20:11.280 me out. I guess they wanted to get, you know, 0:20:11.480 --> 0:20:12.560 the best bang for their buck. 0:20:12.640 --> 0:20:14.160 Do you remember who any of those people were? Were 0:20:14.160 --> 0:20:16.720 any did any of them pan out to have careers? 0:20:17.760 --> 0:20:22.200 Yes? Helen Hunt read for no really? Yeah? 0:20:22.240 --> 0:20:23.480 Wow yeah, wow. 0:20:23.560 --> 0:20:27.080 Yeah. She was great. Maybe a little too mature, yeah, 0:20:27.240 --> 0:20:28.800 you know, I mean it was just she just she 0:20:28.960 --> 0:20:32.120 just was so grounded, so grounded, gave a great audition. 0:20:32.320 --> 0:20:34.359 Just you know, you know, h have the kind of 0:20:34.440 --> 0:20:37.040 night you can pay. I think that Luis was looking 0:20:37.080 --> 0:20:41.000 for most of the richies. No, I will say, and 0:20:41.000 --> 0:20:42.520 this is one a few times I've ever said this. 0:20:43.000 --> 0:20:44.600 When I walked in, I didn't think I had a 0:20:44.640 --> 0:20:45.359