An Oklahoma Standard

If there’s one thing film festivals are good at besides showing movies, it’s handing out awards for them. And while giving an award to a lucky recipient is easy, having that award actually mean something is very difficult. 

That’s not the case for deadCenter Film Festival, Oklahoma’s biggest Oscar-qualifying film fest.

When rolling out its newest honor, the Legacy Icon Award, Executive Director Amy Janes wanted to clearly define who gets this award and, more importantly, why. 

“The deadCenter Film Festival Legacy Icon Award was created to honor individuals whose impact extends beyond their work on screen,” says Janes. “We have so many out-of-state people coming into the state that it was vital that we honored them because they unknowingly fit our Oklahoma Standard to a T.”

Essentially, the award celebrates filmmakers from around the world who demonstrate the Oklahoma Standard while completing projects in the state. Janes defines the recipient epitomizing the Oklahoma Standard as having “a spirit of professionalism, generosity, respect and genuine collaboration.” 

For the first recipient of the award, Janes and her team couldn’t think of a better honoree than actor Lou Diamond Phillips, who starred in and executive produced a project in Oklahoma in 2024.

“I am very touched and moved,” says Lou Diamond Phillips in an exclusive interview with Luxiere Magazine. “It’s a highly meaningful award, and I’m awfully proud that the festival organizers came up with this. And even more proud to go into the history books as the first guy to get it.”

Phillips’ film Gangland, shot on the land of the Cheyenne and Arapaho people near Concho in western Oklahoma, had its Oklahoma premiere at deadCenter on June 10. That evening, before the film screening, the deadCenter team presented Phillips with the honor.

“From literally the cradle of my artistic ambition, you know, Texas and Oklahoma, to be recognized in this way, it means a lot. Especially for this film, which I’m incredibly proud of,” says Phillips, who was also recently honored at the Dallas International Film Festival this spring. 

“It’s one of those milestones that, for me, cause a great deal of introspection; the fact that I’ve been doing this so long, and that I have the privilege of continuing to do it and people recognizing that. This film and the award, to me, are indications that I followed the right path.” 

Right Path

Considering his roots, Phillips is used to the excellence of the heartland. After all, the former Army-brat-turned-Texan grew up in the DFW commercial and dayplaying scene before catapulting into superstardom in his 1987 breakout role as Ritchie Valens in La Bamba.   

Iconic roles in successful films followed: Stand and Deliver, Young Guns, Courage Under Fire. 

After having leading and supporting roles in TV, film, video games and animation for decades now, Phillips also shone as Henry Standing Bear in A&E-turned-Netflix’s neo-western crime drama “Longmire.” As no stranger to westerns, crime dramas or police procedurals, stepping into the lead in Victor Grashaw’s Gangland was a natural fit.

An entry into the Native noir genre, Gangland follows a weathered tribal cop (Phillips) and his new trainee (Dana Namerode) as they look for a ruthless fugitive (Elisha Pratt) who could ignite a violent gang war. Phillips’ role as leading man and hardened law enforcement officer Teddy Sharpe, a no-nonsense non-Native cop policing the reservation, challenged him even after 40 years in the business. 

“A role like that requires not acting. It really requires a level of being for it to rise to the level of authenticity,” says Phillips. “I felt that this character was incredibly iconic and, in a weird dichotomy, bigger than life in a mundane way.”

The role on screen wasn’t the only thing demanding for Phillips. As an executive producer on the film, he and the Gangland team had only 18 days to shoot the film in the middle of an extremely bitter Oklahoma ice storm. So the film’s production, in a nutshell, can be described using just one word: scrappy. 

“It reminded me of doing small productions in Texas when I was just starting out,” says Phillips on the cast and crew. “People who were there—I mean, obviously, everybody wants to get paid—but they’re there for the arts. They’re there for the camaraderie, for the experience.”

Right Place

The film, written by former tribal cop Zach Montague, was discovered on The Black List, a platform featuring “Hollywood’s most-liked unproduced screenplays.” Originally titled Keep Quiet, the film was originally set on a reservation in Canada; selecting Oklahoma as the shooting location was motivated in part by the state’s film incentive. As a recipient of the Filmed in Oklahoma program, Gangland employed 149 Oklahomans throughout its different phases of production, according to the Oklahoma Film and Music Office. 

But, despite the film incentive being Phillips’ “brass tacks” reason for shooting in the state, he also stressed how much shooting in Oklahoma turned out to be a perfect fit for the film; including the opportunity to work with the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes. The perfect landscape of their lands near Concho and the tribes’ herd of buffalo facilitated a brand-new scene to include them.

“We worked it out with the tribes to shoot on a day that they were feeding them, and so we were just there to be plopped in the middle of the process. I came in a couple of days early to be able to do that and that became our day zero, wasn’t even day one,” says Phillips on shooting the “gorgeous” buffalo sequence. “Once again, that’s the universe telling you you’re in the right place.”

Second, Phillips highlighted how much the Oklahoma crew’s hard work paid off for a low budget film like Gangland. 

“I really want to bring flowers to the crew. I mean, this is a little film, man. But those guys went above and beyond. They exceeded expectations and really, really made this film that could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with any film. I don’t care what the budget is,” says Phillips. 

For the crew that worked with him, the feeling of camaraderie and professional admiration seems mutual.

“They say you should never meet your heroes because they might disappoint you. That doesn’t apply to Lou Diamond Phillips,” says filmmaker Laron M. Chapman, who acted as second second assistant director on Gangland. “As prolific and legendary of a performer as he is, there was no trace of ego. He had such a warm, genuine presence and treated the entire cast and crew like family.” 

Chapman explained Phillips was always a consummate professional, but someone who was also very approachable. Often, he would join the crew after wrapping for the day at local bars or restaurants. 

It’s that attitude and philosophy of kindness that made awarding Phillips the deadCenter Legacy Icon Award an easy choice, in recognition of his generosity and collaborative approach.

“I really want to start focusing on and pulling that Lou Diamond Phillips energy into our world, our community, because I believe that’s who we are as a state and as people,” says Janes. “He has been able to carry that class and that open heart through decades.”

Right Heart

Despite all his overwhelming success, Phillips has not lost touch with his connection to the humanity of the craft, nor his heartfelt way of interacting with the crew on films like Gangland—from the production assistants all the way up. 

“I got to say again, kudos to the crew, because they are not only really talented, but really, really lovely people. And when you’ve shot all over the world, you really do get a sense of whose heart is in the right place,” he says.

And for over 40 years, Phillips’ heart has also been in the right place—his philosophy of kindness has shaped how he approaches the work on screen and behind the scenes, helping people feel like welcome members of positive artistic communities. 

“We’re lucky to be doing this, man. We could be digging ditches, or being a coal miner or something,” says Phillips. “We’re telling stories and making movies. I mean, it’s like summer at band camp. I love being around people who love making movies.” •

Lou Diamond Phillips received the inaugural deadCenter Legacy Icon Award on Wednesday, June 10. Gangland plays at Circle Cinema in Tulsa on July 3 and will release video-on-demand on July 10.