Part 12: • Lou Diamond Phillips Explains Why $90... Part 10: • Lou Diamond Phillips on What Makes De... Part 1: • Lou Diamond Phillips on Many Military... -------- Lou Diamond Phillips reflected on his time working with Mark Wahlberg on the 1998 action-comedy film "The Big Hit." Filmed before the release of Wahlberg's acclaimed role in "Boogie Nights," Phillips described the project as a unique mix of Hong Kong action and hip-hop-infused black comedy. Directed by Kirk Wong, the film allowed for a great deal of creative freedom, with Phillips recounting memorable improvisation sessions, particularly with co-star Avery Brooks. Phillips fondly recalls the camaraderie among the young cast and the exhilarating, unpredictable nature of the film.
Highlighting the experience further, Phillips shared a pivotal moment in Toronto, where he and the cast attended the premiere of "Boogie Nights" during the Toronto Film Festival. Witnessing Wahlberg's performance, Phillips recognized that the young actor was on the brink of stardom. Despite his prescience, Phillips admits he couldn't have foreseen Wahlberg's enduring success and A-list status, which he has maintained over the decades in Hollywood's competitive landscape.
Well, two years later, 1998, you were in the big hit.
Yeah.
Starring Mark Wahlberg. And this is right after Wahlberg did Boogie Nights.
But Boogie Nights wasn't out yet.
Oh, it wasn't out yet.
It wasn't out yet, which was sort of amazing. It's like, so, you know, Mark Wahlberg,
you know, said, OK, you know, that's great. And he was a great guy. And, you know,
we had a wonderful time together. That show was probably the most fun I've had on a movie,
in addition to the Young Guns films, because it's a bunch of young guys just doing crazy stuff.
Kirk Wong, really, nobody knew what the hell to do with this movie,
because it's a Hong Kong action hip hop black comedy. You know, I mean, it just defied description.
And Kirk was amazing. And just gave me kind of carte blanche. I mean, they literally cast me,
he and Terrence Chang, because they saw me on Broadway in The King and I,
and they needed that kind of big presence, you know, for that character. And he just let me
improv a lot. I mean, that one wonderful scene between Avery Brooks and I, you know,
that was the result of three nights of rehearsal after filming, you know, because he wasn't
thrilled with the scene, you know, and letting me and Avery, you know, improv and, you know,
write down everything we came up with. So it was such a great experience. And during that film,
and I love this, we shot it in Toronto and the Toronto Film Festival was happening. And so
Mark says, Hey, you know, my movie's, you know, gonna, you know, this movie Boogie Nights is
going to premiere at the Toronto Film Festival. So a bunch of us went to see it. And I remember,
you know, after I saw that film, I went, Oh my God, this kid's about to blow up. He is about
to blow up. You know, it put him on the map as a serious actor. Well, yeah, I mean, fast forward,
what, 27 years later, he's still an A-list leading man in Hollywood, still doing big budget films,
action films, even at his age, like he's killing it. I mean, did you know back then that he was
going to be as big as he is now? No, no, I had no clue. I had no clue. I didn't know that Matt
Damon was going to become, you know, such a superstar. You know what I'm saying? I mean,
these were just, you know, real, real good, you know, basic guys, you know, committed to their
art. They didn't, they didn't reek of, you know, superstardom. Brad Pitt? Yes. You know, Brad Pitt,
okay, yeah, that guy's, you know, forget about it. It's only a matter of time, you know,
because Brad hung out with me before he did, you know, Thelma and Louise back in the day.
So Clooney, it's like, yeah, matter of time, you know, you just know that's going to happen.
Mark and, because he had come from music, you know, and Matt, you know, Harvard guy, you know,
just, but so polite and so nice, you know, yeah, they didn't have superstar written all over them.
And so it was sort of amazing to watch them blow up, obviously, just because they worked with me,
of course.
