Key Points
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John Stamos was originally cast as the lead in La Bamba, reveals Lou Diamond Phillips.
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Phillips was auditioning for the role of Bob, the brother of Ritchie Valens, until Stamos dropped out of the 1987 biopic.
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Stamos, who is Greek, previously said he didn’t “really feel right playing Ritchie Valens, a Mexican.”
Forty years ago, La Bamba was Lou Diamond Phillips‘ “big break,” and he’s now dishing on what went down behind the scenes — including that his role almost went to another actor: John Stamos.
Phillips actually had no idea he was auditioning for the biopic of Ritchie Valens, the promising singer-songwriter killed in a plane crash alongside Buddy Holly and “The Big Bopper” on Feb. 3, 1959, otherwise known as “The Day the Music Died.” As he explained on Taboo’s Comics & Kicks podcast, he was erroneously told the film was about Four Seasons singer Frankie Valli.
Lou Diamond Phillips as Ritchie Valens in ‘La Bamba’
Credit: Columbia Pictures/Everett
When the Texas native arrived in Los Angeles, he learned the truth about the project — and that he would be reading for the role of Bob, the half-brother of Valens who became envious of his success.
“John Stamos’ picture was already up on the wall as Ritchie,” Phillips revealed. “I thought they had cast John, and so I think, ‘Okay, well, you know, my shot is Bob.'”
A few days later, the young actor was pulled aside and told there had been a change of plans.
“‘Tomorrow you’re going to read for Ritchie,'” Phillips recalls writer-director Luis Valdez telling him. “And I’m like, ‘Oh? Did negotiations break down or something?’ [I] ended up doing the screen test and, you know, the rest is history.”
La Bamba, costarring Esai Morales as Bob, was a critical and commercial success, and went on to earn a Golden Globe nomination for Best Motion Picture, Drama.
Stamos, who is Greek-American, previously revealed his missed opportunity to portray Valens, a Mexican-American, and why he dropped out of the biopic.
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“I was supposed to do this movie, La Bamba,” he told the Los Angeles Times in 2022. “I just thought, this is not right. I don’t really feel right playing Ritchie Valens, a Mexican. My father goes, ‘Anthony Quinn — a Mexican played a Greek [in Zorba the Greek]. A Greek can play a Mexican.'”
At the time back in 1987, the future Full House star was best known for his role as Blackie Parrish on General Hospital. Coincidentally, the actress who played his love interest on the soap, Danielle von Zerneck, was cast in La Bamba as Valens’ girlfriend Donna, who inspired his hit “Oh Donna.”
Check out Lou Diamond Phillips’ full interview on Taboo’s Comics & Kicks below.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly