Mondo Cinema

WorldFest honoree Edward James Olmos reveals Blade Runner's big secret, true love for Filly Brown

Edwards James Olmos is on the line – because he’s on his way to Houston.

Specifically: Olmos is calling while en route to the airport because he’s bound for H-Town to receive a special lifetime achievement award Friday at the 46^th annual WorldFest/Houston International Film Festival.

And while he’s here, he’ll be presenting WorldFest’s opening night attraction: Filly Brown, a streetwise indie drama co-directed (with Youssef Delara) by Olmos’ son, Michael D. Olmos.

He’s happy to chat briefly about his signature TV roles, but Filly Brown is what he’s most eager to discuss.

Michael’s dad has a supporting role in the film as an attorney who aids the title character. But the real star of the piece is newcomer Gina Rodriguez, who gives what The Hollywood Reporter describes as “an empowered performance” as Majo Tonorio — a.k.a. Filly Brown — a Latina hip-hop artist who’s eager to land a record contract so she can help her hard-working father (Lou Diamond Philips) and substance-abusing mother (Jenni Rivera, the Mexican-American entertainer who died tragically last December in a plane crash).

Time is short, and Edward James Olmos wants to make every minute count. He’s happy to chat briefly about his signature TV roles – Admiral William Adama in Battlestar Galactica, Lt. Martin Castillo in Miami Vice – and joke a bit about his small but memorable part as the enigmatic Gaff in the sci-fi cult-fave Blade Runner. But Filly Brown is why he called, and Filly Brown is what he’s most eager to discuss.

CultureMap: Edward, you’re the executive producer as well as the co-star of Filly Brown – but your son is the co-director. So who hired whom?

Edward James Olmos: [Laughs] He hired me. He came up to me with the script, and told me: “Read this, tell me what you think of this story.” And I said: “Oh, my God! This story is incredible. I’ve never seen a story like this. Thank you, son, this is incredible. The only problem you’re going to have is finding someone to play Filly Brown. How in the world are you going to find somebody who can act dramatically, has comedic timing, and at the same time sing and dance and do poetry – and rap? Good luck. You guys have written a great script. But I don’t know if there’s anyone out there with the talent to do the role.”

CM: So just how difficult was it for them to cast the role?

EJO: Actually, it didn’t take that long. I was very surprised. They were at it a little over a month. And then, all of a sudden, they came across Gina Rodriguez. And then the whole world changed for them. Just like the whole world’s changing for Latinos in the film industry. They’re the next vanguard. Basically, I just play a small supporting role in it – a lawyer, which I’ve never played before. But the music is phenomenal. And the acting is really amazing – not only by Gina Rodriguez, but Jenni Rivera and Lou Diamond Phillips. Amazing people playing amazing characters. And I’ve got to tell you – I’m so proud of what this story represents.

"Get a load of this: The [mainstream media] has no interest in the picture. None. None."

CM: The film’s being shown twice at WorldFest – at 8 p.m. Friday and 5 p.m. Saturday. But it’s also set for a regular theatrical release, right?

EJO: Yep. It opens in theaters next Friday, April 19.

CM: So, what, we’re going to be seeing you promoting Filly Brown on all the talk shows, in all the newspapers?

ELO: Maybe not. Get a load of this: The [mainstream media] has no interest in the picture. None. None. I’ve done one other interview, with someone from the Miami Herald – the only other mainstream person who’s called to interview me. That’s it. CNN? No. CNN Latino? Yes. Every Latino show in the United States of America? Yes. The Spanish-language stations are eating this up like gangbusters. If this film works, it’s going to work because it comes out, and the Latino community’s representing it – and then the rest of the world finds out about it. But it’s not going to be because of information given to us by ABC and CBS and the rest of the mainstream press.

CM: That’s surprising – and disappointing. Hell, remember when the Los Angeles Times sent me out to San Antonio to talk with you and Jennifer Lopez for a story on the making of Selena?

EJO: Yeah. But there’s been nothing on this one.

"The older people go for Miami Vice, and the younger people go for Battlestar."

CM: You mentioned this is the first time you’re playing a lawyer – even though you’ve played quite a few characters who needed lawyers.

EJO: [Laughs] That’s true.

CM: So how did it feel to play the attorney instead of the accused?

EJO: Fantastic. It’s one of the great roles that I’ve had. Very small, very intimate. But it’s very poignant inside the storyline. It really needs to be there. Only three scenes. But those three scenes are invaluable to the story.

CM: When people recognize you in public, do folks in different age groups know you for different roles? Like, do Baby Boomers want to talk about Miami Vice, and Gen-Xers want to talk about Battlestar Galactica? Or is there a mix?

EJO: There’s kind of a mix. But mainly, you’re right – the older people go for Miami Vice, and the younger people go for Battlestar. Big time. But let me tell you right now: They’re both great roles. I love Lt. Castillo, and I love Admiral Adama.

CM: Finally, in Blade Runner – let’s settle this once and for all: Gaff knew all along that Deckard really was a replicant, right?

EJO: [Laughs] Yes, Deckard was a replicant. And I was the only blade runner in Blade Runner. That’s what people are finally finding out all these years later. Deckard was a replicant, man.

(Filly Brown will screen at 8 p.m. Friday and 5 p.m. Saturday at the AMC Studio 30, as part of the 46^th annual WorldFest/Houston International Film Festival.)

Edward James Olmos in a scene from Filly Brown

ReleaseDonkey.com

Edward James Olmos in a scene from Filly Brown

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cult classic

Performer John Cameron Mitchell celebrate 25 years of Hedwig at Houston show

Courtesy of John Cameron Mitchell

Hedwin and the Angry Inch will celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2026.

Next year will mark the 25th anniversary of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, the 2001 cult queer musical and directorial debut of veteran stage actor John Cameron Mitchell. First debuting in Sundance before hitting theaters later that summer, Hedwig (based on the 1998 off-Broadway play Mitchell co-wrote and starred in) became a favorite for those who like their rock musicals anarchic and androgynous.

Mitchell will be celebrating Hedwig’s anniversary early – right here in Houston. This Sunday, December 28, the film will be shown at legendary Montrose club Numbers, and Mitchell will be there for a live director’s commentary and a post-screening live performance. The screening is one part of a day-long event for Mitchell, who will be teaching a sold-out master class at Cafe Brasil later that day.

Local nonprofit Arthouse Houston reached out to Mitchell about revisiting Hedwig in H-Town. “I got good buddies from there,” the El Paso-born military brat, 62, tells CultureMap during a Zoom call from his New Orleans home. “My friend Amber Martin, who's from the area and who I’ve sung and DJed with for many, many years, is coming – especially for this. She used to go to Numbers as a kid. My friend Jonathan Caouette, who directed the film Tarnation, lives there. He used to go to Visions in the '80s. So, it's kind of fun to come to an old, classic club and show the film, do some songs, hang around, and do a drunk live director's commentary – or maybe stoned, depending on my feelings that day.”

John Cameron Mitchell will perform at Numbers this Sunday, December 28.Courtesy of John Cameron Mitchell

For Mitchell, revisiting Hedwig takes him back to a simpler time, when an actor/playwright could get a film about a gay, East German rocker whose signature song is about his botched sex reassignment surgery (now you know where “angry inch” comes from) financed and distributed by a major studio. Even though Hedwig flopped in theaters, it would eventually gain a cult following. Mitchell would follow it up with an even more provocative film, the 2005 ensemble comedy Shortbus, which featured actors engaging in graphic, unsimulated sex.

“That was the last golden age of independent film in the U.S.,” he says. “It was the '90s and 2000s, which pretty much ended at the financial collapse of 2006, which coincided with the rise of the streamers, which really put the final nail in the coffin for independent film as we know it in terms of it being a viable commercial thing. So, a lot of people made fewer films. They had to have more stars. They had to have more Oscar gloss. And the habit of going to see the best-reviewed film that week just because the critics were telling you went away, of course.”

MItchell still does the acting thing from time-to-time – in February, he’ll take over as Mary Todd Lincoln in Cole Escola’s Broadway drag hit Oh Mary!. But, these days, he;s been teaching master classes and film courses at various colleges (like his “Problemagic Cinema” course at the University of Michigan).

Along with teaching them film history, he encourages his students to take things – whether it’s a film they want to make or a movement they want to start – in their own hands. “I'm telling my students it's like this: now is the time to create a new kind of underground film, and other things,” he says. “The big question, of course, is how do you get them out there? How do you monetize them so there can be more? I can't quite answer that, but I also know that when corporations abandon a certain form, that's the time to step up and take it back.”

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