The exotically handsome Lou Diamond Phillips is coming to town in the Broadway/San Diego production of the hit Lerner & Lowe musical “Camelot” Sept. 25 through 30 at the Civic Theatre.
Phillips has had a wildly successful film career, having burst onto the scene in “La Bamba” as musical icon Ritchie Valens and later in the hit “Stand and Deliver.” He has starred in “Picking Up the Pieces” with Woody Allen and Sharon Stone, “Brokedown Palace” with Clare Danes, and “Hollywood Homicide” with Harrison Ford and Josh Hartnett.
Through the courtesy of Broadway/SanDiego’s chief publicist Susan Chicoine, the La Jolla Village News was treated to an in-person interview with Phillips.
Lou Diamond Phillips: Without tooting my own horn, I have been an award-winning or nominated actor since the beginning of my career in Hollywood! Yes, I’ve been nominated for a Tony, a Spirit Award and a Golden Globe. It’s not something I wear on my shirtsleeve or constantly remind people of, but there are a number of people out there who are ridiculously surprised when I actually turn in a good performance. People have seen ‘Bats’ and they think that’s what I am!
LJVN: When you do a film, it lasts forever, but when you do a stage role, it’s gone when you finish.
LDP: That’s part of the beauty of it. It’s a curio and wonderful, and people still come up to me and remember that night. They remember who they saw it with, what they had for dinner. Seeing a good film over and over is effective as well, but there is something very special about the theater. Each performance is different. You aspire to make it the same quality every night, but little things happen. Even the quality of the audience affects what’s happening on the stage.
LJVN: Do you ever get tired doing the same role every night?
LDP: The stage is a moment in time and then goes away. It’s a fairly romantic thing. I never get bored. I did ‘The King and I’ for 500 performances, and I’m committed to seven months for ‘Camelot.’ I don’t expect I will be bored a single night. You create that magic over and over again.
LJVN: When you do a film, you can do a scene over and over and get no reaction. Do you prefer the reaction of an audience in the theater as opposed to the crew on the set?
LDP: Well, the crew on the set can’t laugh, and I’m a laugher! I did a ‘Psych’ (TV series) recently and I can’t believe what those people get away with! I don’t think anyone got through a master shot. They give you the latitude to improv and adlib. Everybody was laughing on that set.
LJVN: Are you keeping up with your writing efforts while doing ‘Camelot?’
LDP: Yes, I’ll probably do some writing while on the road. We just recently did a reading of a play I wrote called ‘Burning Desire’ at the Hayworth Theater in Los Angeles. Things like that spark other creative juices in me.
LJVN: Do you sometimes feel like a gypsy?
LDP: It is such an odd existence. Making movies is an odd existence, too, in respect to that is all you do. You work 15 hours a day, you go home to bed, and get up the next day and do it all over again. Sometimes you do that for months. It’s debilitating in and of itself. But theater life is an amazing life. You don’t have to be there until an hour before the performance. I like to skip rope on stage. It clears my head. The Teamsters all think I’m bizarre!
LJVN: What do you do after the show?
LDP: You’re wired after the performance, so you’re up till two in the morning. But, you get to sleep until noon, but that’s OK because that’s your job. So, I’m looking for the place that has last call in San Diego! I like pedestrian life and love to walk around.
LJVN: You’ve played a lot of bad guys both in film and on stage.
LDP: There was a time in my career in the 1980s when I would carry a bandana and a switchblade when I went to auditions! I played Mother, the Pimp in ‘Hatful of Rain’ in Texas. I was the resident bad guy. That’s what I did most. I love a bad guy even now. They tend to be meatier parts.
LJVN: Do you have difficulty leaving a role on the stage?
LDP: No, no, not at all. Except now I expect people to bow and scrape when I come into a room because I am the king in ‘Camelot!’