But throughout her life, she has dealt and continues to deal with many obstacles bravely.

According to the dictionary, synonyms for the word rebel include: contrary, defiant, ungovernable, and willful. Yup, that sounds like Angelina Jolie, a woman I’ve admired since long before she was the Hollywood force she is now.

I was first wowed when she played the troubled supermodel that died of AIDS in 1998’s “Gia.” The following year, watching “Girl Interrupted,” I felt like I was in love with Angelina — and I’m straight. The actress seemed half-crazy and angry, sad, wild. She reminded me of my own disturbed youth.

I fancied myself a rebel in my self-destructive days but, unlike my twisted rebellion without a cause, Angelina Jolie became a rebel with so many causes.

It didn’t start out that way for her. Her parents, actor Jon Voight and model Marcheline Bertrand, split up before she was two-years-old. Her brother James Haven has said, “I have horrible memories of my father. He was so tough on our mother. He lived in the same town. We saw him around Christmas time or at school recitals. He was always around but he never did his job as a father.”

Read more

Written for Honeysuckle Magazine

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In 1980, he founded Olmos Productions and has produced a number of feature films and documentaries. Olmos was asked to produce the crime drama “Water & Power,” which premiered in May at CineLatino Film Festival. He’s been happy to do it but, surprisingly, he said, “We don’t need a Hispanic Heritage Month, and we need to eliminate Latino film festivals.”

When I asked, “Why?” he replied, “Because there is only one race, and that’s the human race.”

Is he active on social media? “Yeah, but I don’t really converse that way. I just post about things happening like I do on Facebook about my concern for our waterways and beaches. Once in a while I’ll be reading something and respond, but people freak out if I befriend them,” he said with a laugh.

His Twitter bio reads, “Had I followed my first love, I’d have been a professional baseball player, but a friend told me someone with a flair for the dramatic, should consider acting.”

I’d like to thank that friend of his. Olmos has entertained me since I was a kid via TV shows like “Hill Street Blues” and “Miami Vice” and later, “Battlestar Galactica.” And I gobbled him up as the insane Professor Gellar on the 2011 season of “Dexter.” He’s great at doing creepy.

But this is a man who has also dedicated his life to a number of causes including UNICEF, Juvenile Diabetes Foundation and children’s hospitals in Miami and L.A. He is an activist and advocate for Latino culture, and it was an honor to sit down to talk with this icon.

Dorri Olds: I loved seeing you in “Go For Sisters.”

Edward James Olmos: That was probably one of the greatest movies I’ve ever made in my life. John Sayles did a fantastic job.

I met with him for an interview when it came out.

Did he like “Go For Sisters?”

Yes! He was very proud of it. Where do you find the scripts for Olmos Productions?

Different places. Through friends. I do a lot of the writing, too. I produced a lot of my own pieces like “American Me” and “Walkout.” Also “Stand and Deliver” and “Selena,” “Mi Familia” and “Zoot Suit.”

What was it specifically about the writing in “Water & Power” that touched you?

The intellectual stimulus of words. The way they are put together. “Water & Power” was a play, so the language is different. It captures you. It’s the story of two brothers nicknamed “Water” and “Power” told like a poem, and it’s a tragic tale with comedy and drama. It has all of the ingredients that make people feel. This is a very powerful piece whether you saw it on the big screen or you see it digitally. It comes out Jan. 20 online. I’ve got to tell you, man, a lot of people are going to watch it. It’s not your normal filmmaking. It’s very Richard Montoya culture-wise. He’s part of a group called Culture Clash.

What’s Culture Clash?

It was founded on Cinco de Mayo [May 5] in 1984. It’s a Mexican-American performance troupe. It’s great. You’ve got to go online and check it out!

What are some of your favorite movies?

“Nothing But a Man” with Ivan Dixon, which was produced by Robert M. Young in 1964. It was the first African-American film ever made where an African-American man and woman were just normal human beings. They weren’t slaves or being abused; they were just regular people. I also really appreciate David Eick’s work and Robert M. Young’s “Saving Grace” and “Caught.” Young is the father of independent films in America. He invented documentary filmmaking in the ’50s. He was one of the first men to ever go underwater with a camera. Also, David Lean who did “Doctor Zhivago,” “The Bridge on the River Kwai” and “Lawrence of Arabia.” These were all master storytellers.

Are you working on any new documentary projects?

Yes, if you go online at Latino Public Broadcasting, you’ll see the amount of work that I’m doing now. I created Latino Public Broadcasting back in 1998. We create public television programming that focuses on issues affecting Hispanics to give diverse perspectives in public television. “Exile Nation: The Plastic People” is a film that just became available. It’s about what happens to people that are deported from the United States and sent back to Mexico, and they’re left out on the border. Oh my god. It will shock you.

You do so much for others. Do you ever try to recruit other celebrities to use their fame for good?

No, I lead by example, but there are a lot of us working for the betterment of humanity, like Sean Penn, Angelina Jolie and all of the celebrities who give great support to UNICEF.

Is there anything I haven’t asked you that you want people to know about?

No! I think you’ve done the best job of anyone in a long time. [Laughs]

Watch “Exile Nation: The Plastic People” trailer:

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Now, about Johnny Depp—People magazine was brilliant when they named him sexiest man alive in 2009. Because he was. He should’ve been named 2010’s sexiest man alive too. So, how the heck did I fall asleep watching these powerfully seductive superstars?

Here’s my theory. It’s not just that the movie has a lousy script, it’s the way Angelina’s character doesn’t even seem like a person. She seems like a mannequin, or a runway model, prancing instead of walking with her nose too high in the air. One of the things I’ve always liked about her is that she seems to put out this tough chick persona attempting to hide a vulnerable, probably overly sensitive woman underneath. Without actually knowing her there is no way to know exactly who she is. Maybe it’s her PR team that has painted that image. She’s made motherhood sexy, philanthropy cool, and playing with knives, wearing blood in an amulet, tattooing herself silly merely seem like neurotic quirks. In The Tourist she is still beautiful but gave off zero heat. She was wooden like an automaton—robotic like … well … a robot.

Johnny Depp had a dorky hairstyle and seemed more like a nerd who worked in a library than a man capable of having a sexual feeling for anyone. He was stiff (or perhaps I should say unstiff) like dead wood.

The problems with The Tourist are an inane script and poor directing. The movie was a boring bit of nonsense that should be skipped. Better to spend the $12 renting Girl Interrupted and Blow.

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