Emmy-nominated actor Lou Diamond Phillips chatted with #Powerjournalist Markos Papadatos about starring in the crime thriller “Gangland.”
The synopsis is: A weathered tribal cop, Teddy Sharpe (Lou Diamond Phillips) and his new trainee must find a ruthless fugitive, whose return to their rural Indigenous reservation has exposed its darkest secrets and could ignite a violent gang war.
‘Gangland’ experience
On starring in “Gangland, He exclaimed, “That was amazing. An absolutely wonderful film that, quite honestly, has paid more dividends than I expected. I knew it was going to be an absolutely wonderful film. The audience response has been unbelievable.”
“The critical response has been great as well… you put your heart and soul into something, and you give it your best. You don’t always know if it’s going to turn out good. This one exceeded all expectations and clicked on all cylinders,” he noted.
“Every single cast member kills it. Brandon Waddell, our first-time cinematographer, our composer, and just everybody brought their A-game. Vincent Greshaw is our director who I will work with anytime and anywhere,” he added.
Playing Teddy Sharpe
On playing Teddy Sharpe in “Gangland,” he remarked, “It has been interesting. I think at this point in my life and at my age, I still look for characters that challenge me. I look for characters that I find interesting and compelling. I’ve never walked through anything or phoned anything in. I look for something to stimulate me if I’m going to take the gig.”
“With Teddy, I absolutely saw that this character benefited from all of the mileage, all of the baggage, all of the experience I’ve had as a human being and as an actor. So, I was able to apply a lot of life lessons to this role. I didn’t have to manufacture anything. I feel like I knew him inside and out,” he acknowledged.
“I’ve known people like him. Playing him just became a matter of committing to his path and his worldview,” he added.
Lessons learned from the ‘Gangland’ screenplay
On the lessons learned from the “Gangland” screenplay, Phillips reflected, “Once again, at my age, I go, ‘Wow, what am I still learning about myself?’ I’d like to think that I know quite a bit already about what makes up me. That sense of duty, that sense of service, is important in my life.”
“It’s something that I do whether it’s for my family, for my community, my neighborhood, through the academy, or the fact that I’ve served on the SAG board. I realize that part of me very much needs to give back and to be a part of a greater community,” he noted.
“I’ve never been an iconoclast,” he admitted. “Teddy was a very stark reminder of that because his sense of duty overrides his own sense of guilt and whatever burden it is that he is carrying.”
Perennial success of ‘La Bamba’
Phillips opened up about the perennial success of “La Bamba.” “That is unbelievable. First of all, literally, 2027 is the 40-year anniversary of the film. It just blows my mind. I can’t even wrap my head around that. It’s been 40 years, but then I look at my resume and go, ‘Okay, yeah.’ We’re going to be having a lot of reunions at the fan conventions this year,” he said.
“Myself, Esai Morales, Danielle von Zerneck is joining us, Joey Pants, and I think even Rosanna DeSoto. We will be commemorating the 40-year anniversary quite a lot,” he noted.
“Also, just tangentially, but not even that far removed, there is a wonderful documentary out right now on PBS that had a beautiful little theatrical run, and I’ll be doing some more promo for it coming up very soon, called ‘American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez’,” he said.
“It chronicles how Luis Valdez started as a farm worker and then created the Teatro Campesino, and then wrote and directed Zoot Suit, both for the stage and for the screen. Then, that led him to do ‘La Bamba.’ There’s a lot of great behind-the-scenes footage of me auditioning at the age of 24 and how involved the family was,” he acknowledged.
“Sadly, and yet fortuitously, one of the fringe benefits right now of that particular documentary is that it also heavily features Dolores Huerta, who we just lost. What an absolute giant, what an icon for the labor movement and for the Latino community, and also for the Filipino community. People don’t realize this, but about half of the United Farm Workers Union are Filipino,” he elaborated.
“So, I had the great, great honor to spend time with her, to get to know her, and to march with her. So not only does this documentary talk about Luis Valdez, but it talks about all the other lives, Eddie Olmos included, that he drew around him that have really made a difference in the world,” he added.
Phillips on Esai Morales
Phillips had great words about fellow actor Esai Morales. “Esai is so great! I see him fairly often. I will see him again in mid-January. The first of our ‘La Bamba’ reunions is in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It will be on January 15th, so I will see him then,” he said.
Stage of his life
On the title of the current chapter of his life, he revealed, “I Ain’t Done Yet.”
“You know, ‘Gangland’ is going to screen at the Red Nation Film Festival on November 14th, and they’re giving me a Lifetime Achievement Award, and that’s beautiful. I’m truly, truly grateful for that. I’ve received a number of Lifetime Achievement Awards, and every single time I receive one, the first thing I say is, ‘You know, I’m not done.’ I’ve got more to do,” he elaborated.
Superpower of choice
If Phillips were to have any superpower, it would be “empathy.” “I think we need more compassion and kindness in the world today. I think we need to care about each other more. I think we need to work toward making life better for everyone,” he said.
Success
Regarding his definition of the word success, Phillips said, “Well, knock on wood, I’m living it. I’m doing what I love. I get paid to act. I write. I direct. I’m clicking on all my creative cylinders. I have projects with my wife, Yvonne. She is currently illustrating the third novel I’ve written. We have two already out there: ‘The Soldier of Endearment’ and ‘The Tinderbox: Underground Movement’.”
“I love working with other artists. I mean, one of the things that I really enjoy these days is directing, especially for TV, in that I can pop in, work with some great people, and pop out. It’s a quick gig. I’m in a place where, if something comes along, even a small role, if it’s with people that I like and people that I’m interested in spending time with, then it’s an easy ‘yes’,” he elaborated.
Message for the fans
For the fans, Phillips remarked, “Thank you. I say it all the time. I go to a lot of fan cons now, and I’ve always compared it to the stage door, because through the films, we have a shared experience. So many times, I’m hearing how somebody watched ‘La Bamba’ with their grandma, or they watched ‘Longmire’ with their dad. Some of my work has really, really affected people in their lives. Whenever I hear that, I am incredibly grateful.”
“The fact that I’m still doing this is because people are still interested. It means a lot that the fans are out there, they are still watching, and that they are still supporting,” he added.
Closing thoughts on ‘Gangland’
For fans, he remarked about “Gangland,” “Teddy is such a complicated character and this is such a complex film. What is beautiful is, Marcus Red Thunder, who I brought onto the project as an executive producer and technical advisor, is using the film at a lot of wellness seminars about breaking the cycle that creates the gang phenomenon.”
“Whether it’s alcoholism, or abuse, or violence, or whatever else, you can make a decision to step away from that, break the cycle, and make life not only better for yourself, but for your family and your community. That very much is at the heart of it. Teddy says it himself: he is trying to fix it. He is trying to fix the problem by going to the root, but by doing it in a humane way,” he elaborated.
“Laws are written and rewritten all the time, and they tend to be fashionable. What is right and what is wrong stays perennial. That is something that Teddy has been able to ascertain when it comes to dealing with his community. So, it creates a lot of very interesting dynamics with his new by-the-book partner, played beautifully by Dana Namerode,” he explained.
“There is a lot to learn. It will touch a lot of people. A lot of people have said they see themselves, whether they’re Native or not, because the story is universal. Movies like ‘Stand and Deliver’ or ‘La Bamba,’ I’ve made a niche story that actually has universal themes, and that’s very much what ‘Gangland’ is about,” he explained.
“It’s about a reservation and a gang problem but it could be the South Side of Chicago, it could be Seattle, or it could be Miami. The problem is universal,” he concluded.
