‘90s Movie Legend, 63, Reveals How He Landed His Role in Denzel Washington 86% Rotten Tomatoes Thriller

After breaking out as a star thanks to his iconic turn as Ritchie Valens in the biopic La Bamba, Lou Diamond Phillips was everywhere. He joined forces with Edward James Olmos for the acclaimed Stand and Deliver, was part of a stacked ensemble with Brat Pack member Emilio Estevez for Young Guns, and would even go on to earn acclaim on-stage with a Broadway adaptation of The King and I. Among his most memorable performances, though, was his appearance in the 1996 war thriller Courage Under Fire, starring the legendary Denzel Washington as an army officer responsible for a deadly case of friendly fire. However, despite having earned Golden Globe and Tony nominations, he wasn’t originally a shoo-in for the role of Staff Sergeant John Monfriez.

Over the weekend, Phillips took part in a panel with his old Young Guns co-star Kiefer Sutherland at FanX‘s Atlanta Comic Convention, where he shared the story of how he landed the role in the 1996 film. After Sutherland shared a story about how he got cast in Clint Eastwood‘s Juror #2 by sending a letter to the director expressing his love for his work, Phillips remembered a similar situation on Courage Under Fire, though this wasn’t entirely a case of asking for a part. He had already auditioned and wanted to share his gratitude for the process director Edward Zwick employed.

“Speaking of letters, that’s how I got Courage Under Fire,” he opened. While he wasn’t necessarily making an argument for himself over the other actors gunning for parts in the project, his thoughtfulness to reach out in writing apparently made an impression on Zwick. The director was initially opposed to the idea of bringing Phillips on board because he wanted the team around Meg Ryan‘s chopper commander Karen Walden to be relative newcomers to reflect their roles as inexperienced soldiers. Against all odds, though, that letter ended up tipping the scales in Phillips’s favor and earned him a call on location from Zwick when things weren’t working out.

“But the audition process was so wonderful and so supportive. Ed Zwick was amazing in how he really felt like he gave you an opportunity. So I wrote him a letter and told him so, and then he called me from location like, ‘Okay, this guy isn’t gonna work. You’re in.'”

What Is ‘Courage Under Fire’ About?

Phillips shared the screen not just with Washington, but also Matt Damon, Michael Moriarty, Seth Gilliam, Regina Taylor, Scott Glenn, and more with the film. Yet, as Monfriez, he still received plenty of praise against the stacked ensemble for playing the cowardly soldier who, like his peers, was desperate to hide the truth of what happened to Walden.

The film follows Washington’s disgraced Lieutenant Colonel Nathaniel Serling, who has been pushed to a desk job and is tasked with evaluating whether Walden is a fitting candidate for the Medal of Honor. Monfriez, having been chiefly responsible for Walden’s apparent death, is central to the mystery, giving plenty of chances for Phillips to go toe-to-toe with the Oscar winner. It’s hard to imagine another actor in that role, especially since Phillips has previously been described as a “game-changer,” cementing him as a go-to name from The Big Hit with Mark Wahlberg in 1998 all the way to more recent roles like Jo Koy‘s Easter Sunday and the upcoming HBO comedy The Chair Companyco-created by and starring Tim Robinson.

Courage Under Fire is currently streaming on Hulu. Stay tuned here at Collider for more on what comes next for Phillips.