For nearly 40 years, it has been difficult to imagine anyone other than Lou Diamond Phillips as Ritchie Valens in La Bamba.

Phillips’ performance in the 1987 biographical drama helped turn him from a young working actor in Texas into a recognizable Hollywood star. His face became inseparable from the story of the teenage rock-and-roll pioneer behind “La Bamba,” “Donna” and “Come On, Let’s Go.”

But when Phillips first arrived in Los Angeles to audition for the movie, he saw something that suggested the starring role was already gone.

John Stamos’ photograph was on the wall as Ritchie Valens.

Phillips assumed Stamos essentially had the part.

So instead of imagining himself as the young singer at the center of the movie, Phillips believed his best opportunity was playing Ritchie’s older half-brother, Bob Morales.

Then, a few days into the audition process, everything changed.

Phillips Didn’t Even Know He Was Auditioning for La Bamba

Phillips revisited the unlikely casting story during the August 25 episode of Taboo’s Comics & Kicks podcast.

Even before he saw Stamos’ picture, there had already been confusion.

Phillips said his agent’s assistant initially told him he was auditioning for a musical involving Frankie Valli, the singer associated with the Four Seasons.

That was wrong.

When Phillips learned what the project really was, he discovered it was about Ritchie Valens, whose extraordinarily brief career had produced several enduring songs before his death at just 17 years old in the February 3, 1959 plane crash that also killed Buddy Holly and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson.

Phillips went to Los Angeles, but there was little reason for him to believe he was about to become the movie’s star.

His own mentor had warned him that getting the lead seemed extremely unlikely.

And once Phillips entered the casting process, what he saw appeared to confirm that assessment.

John Stamos’ Picture Was Already on the Wall

For roughly a week, Phillips recalled, he read the role of Bob while other actors auditioned as Ritchie.

Meanwhile, John Stamos’ photograph was already displayed as Ritchie.

“I thought they had cast John,” Phillips recalled on the podcast.

From his perspective, the situation seemed straightforward: Stamos was Ritchie, and his own chance was Bob.

At the time, Stamos had not yet become Uncle Jesse on Full House. He was primarily known to television viewers for playing Blackie Parrish on General Hospital.

But he was clearly far enough along in the La Bamba process that Phillips arrived believing the central casting question had already been answered.

Then writer-director Luis Valdez gave Phillips unexpected news.

The following day, he would read for Ritchie.

Phillips’ reaction reflected just how surprising the change seemed. He wondered whether negotiations had fallen apart somewhere along the way.

He screen-tested for the role.

And he got it.

The actor who had arrived thinking he might have a shot at playing Ritchie Valens’ brother was suddenly playing Ritchie Valens himself.

Why John Stamos Walked Away

There was also a deeper issue behind Stamos’ involvement in the movie.

Years later, Stamos explained that he had reservations about portraying Valens because of their different ethnic backgrounds.

Stamos is Greek-American. Valens was Mexican-American.

In a 2022 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Stamos recalled thinking that accepting the role did not feel right to him. His father offered a counterargument, pointing to actor Anthony Quinn — a Mexican-American performer who famously played a Greek character in Zorba the Greek.

Stamos nevertheless stepped away from La Bamba.

That decision created the opening that ultimately changed Phillips’ career.

There is even a strange connection between the two casting paths.

Danielle von Zerneck, who had worked with Stamos on General Hospital, was cast in La Bamba as Donna Ludwig, Ritchie’s girlfriend and the inspiration for his song “Donna.”

Then the Real Bob Morales Showed Up

Getting the part was only the beginning of Phillips’ immersion into Valens’ world.

While actors were screen-testing, Phillips remembered standing outside a soundstage when a red Thunderbird convertible arrived.

A man stepped out wearing a leather vest and white tank top.

Phillips immediately realized he was looking at the real Bob Morales.

Later, Phillips said, Morales told him that the moment he saw Phillips, he believed the young actor was going to win the role of Ritchie.

Once Phillips officially got the job, the relationship went much further.

Phillips had packed for only a short stay in Los Angeles. Suddenly, he needed enough belongings to make a movie that would keep him there for months.

After returning from Texas, he arrived at Los Angeles International Airport and found Morales waiting for him.

Morales took Phillips to the home Ritchie had purchased for his mother in Pacoima.

There, Phillips met members of the Valens family and found himself welcomed into the world he was about to portray onscreen.

That family connection became one of the most important parts of the experience.

Ritchie Valens’ Family Gave Phillips Something Hollywood Couldn’t

For Phillips, the approval that mattered was not only coming from casting directors, producers or audiences.

It came from the people who had actually known Ritchie.

The new Comics & Kicks episode recalls one of the most meaningful responses Phillips ever received to the performance: Ritchie’s mother told him, “You gave me my son back.”

Phillips has also described an intense experience involving Ritchie’s sister Connie Lemos during filming.

When the production filmed the scene surrounding Ritchie’s final flight, family members had reportedly been asked not to attend because of how emotionally difficult the material would be.

Connie nevertheless came to the set.

Phillips later remembered her becoming overwhelmed and collapsing into his arms as decades of grief surfaced. He viewed the encounter as a deeply cathartic moment for her.

Those experiences gave Phillips’ casting story a meaning far beyond simply beating another actor for a part.

He was portraying a real teenager whose family was still living with his absence.

La Bamba Changed Everything

Released in 1987, La Bamba became both a commercial and critical success and earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Motion Picture — Drama.

It also made Lou Diamond Phillips a star.

Phillips has described the role as the project that established the direction of his career. Even decades later, he continues to encounter fans who shout Ritchie’s name when they recognize him.

For many viewers, La Bamba was not merely a music biopic. It introduced a new generation to Valens and gave his short life a human story beyond the famous songs and the tragedy that ended it.

Phillips has said that the film still occupies a special place in audiences’ hearts decades later.

Which makes the picture on that audition-room wall all the more fascinating.

Today, Phillips as Ritchie Valens feels inevitable.

It wasn’t.

He walked into that audition believing John Stamos already had the role.

He spent days reading for the brother.

Then one unexpected instruction from Luis Valdez changed the entire direction of the movie — and Lou Diamond Phillips’ life.

Nearly four decades later, audiences can still watch the result.

But somewhere in the history of La Bamba is another version that almost happened — one in which the face already hanging on the wall belonged to the man audiences would forever remember as Ritchie Valens.