€˜Camelot' star Lou Diamond Phillips talks about fame, destiny and resonance in new role

'The journey is what makes you better' 

By Richard Ferrara
Special to the Naples Daily News

Lou Diamond Phillips is hard to forget. For those of us who grew up watching movies in the '80s, his pronounced cheekbones, fiercely set eyes and his characters' penchant for rebellion are indelibly etched in our memories from some of the decade's classic films.

"La Bamba." "Stand and Deliver." "Young Guns."

Lately, Phillips' film career has taken the back burner to his roles on the stage. Not long ago, he played the King of Siam in the 1996 Broadway revival of "The King and I." Now he has replaced actor Michael York as the legendary King Arthur in Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's hit musical "Camelot," a role originally played by Richard Burton back in 1960.

He will be performing for Naples audiences when the current tour of "Camelot" opens at the Philharmonic Center for the Arts on Tuesday.

During a tour stop in Columbus, Ohio, Phillips talks about "Camelot," fame and what it takes to survive in Hollywood.

Daily News: So how did this role come about for you?

Lou Diamond Phillips: A lot of times this kind of thing is all about timing, and for me, it worked out really well in the respect that the writer's strike (had) left a lot of people at home twiddling their thumbs. So I feel very fortunate to have said yes to this because I love the piece and remember it from when I was in college. Michael York started the tour last January, but I think it became a little bit too demanding for him and he dropped out at a point, and that's when they came to me and asked if I would take over. I read the script and it was funny, it was touching, and a lot of what Arthur has to say was very relevant and very resonant to what's being done today in this country ? the fact that it's an election year, the fact that we're at war ? so all of a sudden it became a very exciting prospect and that outweighed the difficulties of having to go on the road.

DN: What does the role demand of you as an actor? What do you bring into it that's particular to you?

LDP: First of all, I'm very, very different physically to a lot of people who have done it before. One of the first things I said after I saw Michael York do it was that I wanted to bring a lot more energy to it; I want to bring a youthfulness to it. A lot of people assume that the role of Arthur is supposed to be an older man, but that's really because the actors who have toured with the show in the past like Richard Burton and Richard Harris made the image of Arthur older. He's written as still in his prime. In the first scene, when Arthur and Guinevere meet, they're supposed to be kids in their late teens and early 20s, so when Lancelot comes in it's not the handsome young guy stealing the old man's wife. They're all contemporaries, and I think that makes the love triangle that much more interesting. I also wanted to create King Arthur for the audience and not Lou Diamond Phillips. You know, I didn't want them looking up there and going, "Hey, it's Richie!"

DN: Can you carry a tune pretty well?

LDP: Obviously, I'm not someone who sings on a regular basis, like my co-stars Rachel de Benedet and Matt Bogart, who have tons of Broadway credits and amazing, beautifully trained voices. But, fortunately for me, it's been noted by a few people that I carry a tune better than Richard Burton or Richard Harris did back in the day.

DN: You mentioned the love triangle in the story, the Lancelot's betrayal of Arthur. Was there ever a time in your life when you had to choose between love and loyalty?

LDP: Yeah, you know, it's interesting. It's kind of famous now ? but there's a certain point where you have to say, "This is where fate has brought me." Merlin even says that to Arthur at one point. You cannot escape fate, you can either fight against it and become angry or you can accept it and do the best you can with it.

Back when (wife) Julie Cypher left me for Melissa Etheridge, it was like, "Wow, how do you deal with that?" That's not one you saw coming. There's this beautiful speech that Arthur has at the end of Act I where he talks about how angry he is and how hurt he is and that he wants revenge, but then he turns away from his anger and decides to be a better man about it. Not just a better man, but a better king, and to do what's right for his kingdom and his people and the two people that he loves. So there are a lot of truths in this that are really quite touching.

DN: Destiny plays a big role in the story, the boy who pulls the sword from the stone to become the destined king. Did you feel like there was something you were meant to do when you were young, something you had to actualize?

LDP: For me, from the beginning, I pursued this career and this was something that I wanted to do. What's nice is that I wasn't born into the industry, I was a middle-class kid from Texas, but I worked hard and I went to college and got a degree and started out as an extra in movies. So I can say to young actors that it can happen for you, you don't have to be born with a silver spoon in your mouth to be successful in this industry. You just have to be good enough and patient enough and tough enough, because it's never easy.

DN: Do you feel like pursuing acting or any art for the sake of fame itself is a virtue, or do you have to pursue something you have inside yourself and the result of that is either fame or it isn't?

LDP: You actually put it quite well, because I think today, unfortunately, we have a real "American Idol" mentality where people want overnight success. If it's not "American Idol," it's something else that's going to get them famous. They're really putting the cart before the horse these days. But that's lightning in a bottle and that's just not how it goes.

Unfortunately, we've supported this overnight success and instant riches idea in our country, but we've gotten away from actually paying your dues. Quite honestly, the experience and the journey is what makes you better. So, unfortunately, when it happens that fast it tends to go away just as fast, too. One day you're famous and then, boom, you're a footnote in history. So when I'm teaching young actors I always say work on your craft, work on your art, because that's what's gonna gratify you in the end.

DN: Talking about the transience of fame brings to mind Heath Ledger, because everybody's been talking about the tragedy of his death. Is there something inherent in overwhelming fame that gets tied to drugs and then becomes a fight for your own life and identity?

LDP: It's a shame. You know, I met Heath on a number of occasions and he was such a sweet guy and, like everybody else is saying, so down-to-earth and such a talented actor and really focused on doing good work.

The difficulty of this career is that fame in Hollywood is not just about the art and the craft, there's so much other pressure. I have to say, I really do think it's gotten tougher than when I was younger doing the Brat Pack stuff, "Young Guns" and "Stand and Deliver," things like that. We didn't have packs of paparazzi chasing us around all the time. It's really gotten out of control. There's this pressure to always be on and always be glamorous, but people in the industry are just real people like anyone else.

I've always said to young actors, you know, if you've got issues you need to deal with them because fame and more money are not going to solve your problems, they're just going to exacerbate them.

Now you've got more time and more money to get into trouble. All those things you couldn't do before, you can do now. Not only that, but because you're famous there's a lot of people who won't say "no" to you. So you need to get your own stuff together before you can handle the rest of it. I'm thankful that I'm still standing and still being asked to do things after 20-something years. It gives you a bit of perspective.