by Paul Fischer
CrankyCritic
StarTalk The Big Hit courtesy TriStar |
Lou Diamond PhillipsAt the time of this interview, prior to the 1998 release of The Big Hit, Philips had just become a father -- he wasn't carrying pictures, but he did whip out his twins' first sonogram for us. As the eldest in a cast of young punks, and just off a multi-year run in Broadway's The King and I, we started out talking about returning to the big screen and the new crop of actors. . . |
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Lou Diamond Phillips: I had ten years on 'em. Fortunately for me I got into good shape for Courage under Fire and then went into The King And I. I figured, I'm taking my shirt off for a thousand people a night, I might as well stay in shape, and then segued right into this. So I've been a gym rat for the last couple of years.
CrankyCritic: Did that go through
your mind when you got to the locker room scene in The Big Hit?
Phillips: Totally. When I read this locker room scene I went oh man this
one's going down in infamy. There's gonna be a freeze frame scene on the
video. The grainy stills are gonna show up on the Internet.
CrankyCritic: Are guys like girls?
Is there like a vain thing-- where you worry are you too fat...
Phillips: Oh yeah. There certainly is. Especially when you know
what this is all about. This isn't like "I need to be naked for my
art in this scene" I mean this is so totally about "we're the
beefcake, fine, work it" You couldn't keep the pants on Antonio and
Bokeem, they were so ready. Mark was the one who didn't; y'know he said
"I'm Dirk Diggler guys, and you'll understand very shortly what I'm
saying". Antonio was like "what side do you want? Do you want
frontal?"
CrankyCritic: Did you look?
Phillips: ...Oh yeah, but I can't tell. Are you kidding me? Are
you kidding me? Let me put it this way. There is no touching up
in the Calvin Klein poster.
CrankyCritic: To change the subject,
the last time we talked, you had just moved from LA to New York, and you
didn't mention that you were trying to start a family...
Phillips: Well, we were trying, at the time, but that's not the
kind of thing you advertise like "Hi! I just finished a film and
my wife and I made love last night in an attempt to create children..."
CrankyCritic: You're in entertainment.
Of course you advertise that!
Phillips: And if you're Pamela Lee you make a lot of money off
it. I don't know if they were trying to make kids. But they managed it
didn't they? No, there's no videotape of me out there. You're gonna have
to live with the locker room scene.
CrankyCritic: You did talk a lot about
how much you loved working with those kids in The King And I.
Phillips: Yes I did, and that really sort of prepared me. Now I
have two little twin girls, Grace and Isabella, six months old.
CrankyCritic: What are you gonna do
with teenage girls dating?
Phillips: They're not going to date as teenagers. They're not going
to date until they're 35 [laughter] Honestly? I don't know what I'm going
to do. This part is easy -- feed 'em, burp 'em, change 'em all that good
stuff. The big questions are like "Well daddy I'm 13 and I want to
start a modeling career..." It's like "NO!" "Mommy
did!" "D'oh! Yeah, she did" or it's like "I want to
go into the film business" "NO!" "Well, you're in
the film business!" It's gonna be very difficult to go no to them
when they're ready to go off into these things. And they're gonna take
after their mommy and be gorgeous and I'm gonna have to buy a shotgun.
The intimidation factor is a real good thing -- "Hi! I've done a
lot of action films and I can kick your ass if you don't get 'em home
on time." [big grin]
CrankyCritic: Did their mom say "OK
you got two this time. We're done."?
Phillips: You know what? If we would've had a boy and a girl we
would've stopped. But my wife and I, it's not just a male thing, we both
want a boy so we're gonna have to go for that. Talk to me in about eight
years when I've got nine girls...
CrankyCritic: You'd still be happy
though..
Phillips: Oh gosh yeah. Are you kidding? I just bought four acres
in the Valley. We're gonna spread out. We're gonna be a clan.
CrankyCritic: Is this the first film
you've done since The King And I?
Phillips: Yes. I literally started this a week and a half after
I closed the show.
CrankyCritic: You have to really project
big when you're on stage. In this film you're doing the same shtick, aren't
you?
Phillips: Yeah, One of the reasons why Cisco is so big and so broad
is that I was coming off The King And I and had the cajones to go this
large with him. This flamboyant. But fortunately Kirk and I, this is where
we needed to go. He's just this bigger than life, bizarre character.
CrankyCritic: There were a few scenes
in Courage Under Fire that are that big.
Phillips: Yeah. Just before Courage I made a decision to
start going after quote unquote bigger roles. I think Hollywood got to
a place where they thought they knew what to expect from me. I thought
that maybe a few things would come to me. Well, they didn't. I said "fine"
from now on I'm going to identify what's out there; I don't care if it's
written for a blonde haired blue eyed guy. If they'll let me in the door,
I'm going to take a shot at it and show people what I can do. I'd never
done comedy. I'd rarely done romance. Courage Under Fire, The King
And I and The Big Hit, all of this was an effort on my part
to expand the perception of my range. The range has always been there.
CrankyCritic: Now you're going to
do an NBC series?
Phillips: Yes, Adversaries is from John Wells, who created
e.r. and it has a lot of the creative team behind e.r. The
pilot script is one of the best I've ever read.
CrankyCritic: It's about lawyers
Phillips: Yes. It revolves around a public defenders office in
Washington D.C. and the U.S. attorney's office. Like e.r. it's
very life experience based. It's not about guilt or innocence. It's not
about black or white. It's about this moral ambiguity that surrounds the
law and the letter of the law and the people who practice it and are the
victims of it. I'm excited about it and again, here we are looking at
a character who is not ethnic. It doesn't matter where the heck I'm from.
It's just about me doing a role. I've had a number of people throughout
my career who have accepted me only as an actor and have gotten past whatever
I am at face value. This role expands the perception of who I am. I'm
thrilled with it.
CrankyCritic: Were you surprised that
people were so surprised when you knocked their socks off in The King
And I?
Phillips: A little bit, yeah. It was naive of me because I know
what I'm capable of doing. I did theater for years. I used to be a dance
guy. I've done comedy. People are surprised at my comedic ability. But
I cut my teeth doing comedy in college. I was part of a repertory company
that wrote and directed and produced our own comedy revue for three years
running. It was called "The Zero Hour" which eventually became
"The Front Room" company at Stage West in Ft. Worth. I was one
of the founding members. It's nice for people to go "Oh I didn't
know you could do that" and it's like [laughing] "well, did
you think I sucked before?" That's the other side of it. It's gratifying
but at the same time it's not about expanding my range. It's about getting
some material that I can really sink my teeth into.
CrankyCritic: How did you get your
first break?
Phillips: It depends on what you call a break. I had a degree in
theater. I did extra roles in Dallas Texas and blah blah blah. I guess
my big break was La Bamba. They literally did a national talent
search. I was teaching acting in Dallas at the time. They put me on tape
and flew me to LA and that was it.
CrankyCritic: Did The King And
I slow down any chance of other offers?
Phillips: No. There were offers that came in but they weren't
the right roles for me. Some nice films, though. When you look at what
I've done, the Courage Under Fire, King And I, Big Hit trilogy,
every one of those roles, forgetaboutit, is an out of the park role. Even
Adversaries, as far as I'm concerned. I had an out, in King and I,
to do a film, but I didn't see anything that was worth leaving the show.
When I did Courage under Fire, I missed two performances, and the
letters I got -- "I brought my son to see the show and you weren't
there and we came from Minnesota" -- I took that very personally.
I said I wasn't going to take a break from the show unless the film was
worth doing. Strangely enough, I got offered a lot of action stuff but
it wasn't what I wanted to do. Even though the big hit is an action film,
it's all about the character and the comedy, for me.
CrankyCritic: What gives you the biggest
blast, your TV, stage or screen work?
Phillips: I don't know about the TV yet, cuz that's just happening.
I do know that it's going to add a lot of stability and let me see my
girls grow up which is the most important thing to me now, cuz you don't
get those years back. The Gypsy in me still loves going on location; loves
meeting new people; loves the three month, "I'm in summer camp"
kind of thing. As far as the immediate jolt goes, there's no beating theater.
I'm just fortunate that I'm able to do all of 'em. I haven't met a venue
I haven't liked.
More StarTalk with
the stars of The Big Hit:
Mark
Wahlberg Christina Applegate Antonio
Sabato Jr. The
Big Hit website