Lou Diamond Phillips

 [on selecting roles] There`s very few things that I`ll turn my nose up at, because some of my biggest successes have been ones totally out of left field. Stand and Deliver (1988) was a tiny little film made for less than $1 million. If I can find something in the script or the character, or even in the cast, that I go, "All right, this is worth doing", then I`ll do it. Unfortunately, there was a time in my career when I felt responsible for how a film came out, and I`m just now starting to grasp the concept that there`s only so much you can do. You can only show up and do the best work that you can do, be responsible for your character, and be as giving and supportive of the cast and the crew as you can. But when all is said and done, did they have enough money to make the movie? Did the director have a clear vision of it? And even if it turned out to be not a bad film, is it going to be seen, or is it going to fall between the cracks? There`s some little films of mine that didn`t see the light of day, and yet I still think they were good movies. I think there`s this philosophy in Hollywood that if it doesn`t make $100 million, it`s not a success. And unfortunately, there`s quite a few $100-million films that just aren`t that good. 

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