REAL L.A. STORY `QUINCEANERA' BRINGS A HIGH DEGREE OF REALITY TO FICTIONAL SLICE OF LIFE IN ECHO PARK.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Writer

There's an old adage: Write about what you know.

It was just partially followed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland, the writer-directors of the acclaimed independent film ``Quinceanera.''

Two middle-age white guys from, respectively, Long Island and Leeds, England, they knew jack about the coming-of-age ceremonies for 15-year-old Latin American girls.

But they did know something about being a gay couple in L.A.'s predominantly Latino Echo Park neighborhood -- a good portion of the $400,000 film was shot in their house there. And ``Quinceanera'' captures quite persuasively both the culture that has thrived in the area for decades and the gentrification that's now threatening to displace it.

``It was inspired by us moving to that neighborhood and feeling kind of at home in L.A. like we haven't felt before, and then seeing the neighborhood change,'' says Glatzer, whose extensive work in the reality TV field includes co-creating ``America's Next Top Model.''

``And it was inspired by our next-door neighbor's quinceanera and being asked to photograph it, and finding it a really moving experience.''

Though it only opened commercially in a handful of theaters Friday, ``Quinceanera'' has been moving viewers at film festivals and overseas for a while now, too. In January, it became only the second film to ever receive both the Dramatic Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival.

And, according to the filmmakers, Latino audiences have been just as impressed.

``We've had great responses from that community for having verisimilitude,'' Glatzer says. ``I don't even think we realized the limb we were going out on because the whole thing just came to us in this rush. It's really only in retrospect that we realized we could have fallen on our faces.''

But don't just take his word for it.

``They're practically Mexican,'' one of the film's young stars, Jesse Garcia, says of the directors.

``They're not experts,'' acknowledges Chalo Gonzalez, an octogenarian Hollywood veteran who plays the lovable Tio Tomas in the movie. ``But they have captured what the Latin American people are like. If there were some mistakes in the film, everybody connected, like myself, would try to help show them what was right and what was wrong.''

``Everybody'' included dozens of neighbors, friends and even domestic employees who filled numerous roles in the movie, as well as its leading lady Emily Rios, whose teenage Magdalena's plans for her own quinceanera get complicated by a mysterious pregnancy.

`I grew up in a city very similar to Echo Park -- El Monte,'' Rios, now 17, explains. ``So it was kind of like a second home.

``People might enter these two cities with extreme intimidation and might want to stereotype them. But when you get to know these people in the community, it's very family-oriented.

``It's like how the community came in on this movie. We cast Richard and Wash's cleaning lady, her nephews and their cousins,'' Rios said.

The movie's quinceanera also included the court of a neighborhood girl who'd just had her quinceanera. ``So it was a very family-oriented set,'' she added.

Interestingly enough, Rios can only speak from observation, rather than personal experience, about how well Glatzer and Westmoreland stage the film's quinceaneras and their all-important after-parties.

She comes from a family of devout Jehovah's Witnesses who do not celebrate holidays or personal events.

``Regardless of my religious background, I'm Mexican,'' Rios says. ``I know about these traditions. I know there's a religious element to it, I just have no idea what it is. I just know it's a girl's coming-of-age celebration.''

Coincidentally, Garcia's folks are Jehovah's Witnesses, too. And he grew up in small towns in Wyoming, where quinceaneras are few and far between.

More crucial than the big party element were the sexual implications of the script. Besides Magdalena's ``miracle'' virgin pregnancy, Carlos gets involved with the two guys (David W. Ross and Jason L. Wood) who buy the property on which Uncle Tomas' modest bungalow is located -- and where he and his cousin move to get away from their disapproving parents.

Would Rios' pious folks let their daughter act in such a thing?

``Ultimately, it wasn't really up to me,'' she admits. ``My parents had to read the script and approve of it before I could even think of doing it. ... Luckily, my parents loved it. Mom cried when she read the script. I'm like, `What're you crying about? It hasn't even been made yet.' She cries for everything.''

As for playing a tough proto-gangster with homosexual leanings, Garcia had no hesitation.

``As you watch the movie, you kind of forget that Carlos is gay and this cholo,'' the actor says. ``He just winds up being this kid from Echo Park, and it's a coming-of-age story for him, too.''

Any sex in the film is presented discreetly. This despite -- or, perhaps more accurately, as a consequence of -- co-creator Westmoreland's early experience directing pornographic films.

``I went into the adult industry to develop my film skills and do research for a screenplay Richard and I ended up writing, `The Fluffer,' '' Westmoreland says. ``It never came up as an issue, and I didn't present it as one, because I don't really feel like it's part of my life.''

```Quinceanera' is really a very modest film about what it shows sexually, and I think the people involved respected that. The first time I knew about (the pornorgraphy connection) was when a newspaper reported it,'' Gonzalez says.

Potential distributors had issues with ``Quinceanera,'' though.

``They were reluctant to pick the film up because they thought the gay subject matter would turn off the Latin audience,'' Glatzer reports.

``That is so racist, to say, `Latin people are homophobic, they won't accept this','' Westmoreland adds. ``We've lived in a Latin neighborhood for five years, and every single person we have met has been very accepting of us. We hope this movie will open up the kind of discussions that break that stereotype down.''

Well, that and maybe show us some crucial aspects of life in L.A. as it's lived right now.

``This is a particularly L.A. story because it's centered on a community in L.A., and it's really all about real estate,'' Westmoreland observes. ``It's sometimes difficult to find a sense of community in L.A. Our movie takes place where there is one, in Echo Park, but it also looks at the threat of the encroaching, hot real-estate market on that community.''

Oh, and if you're feeling sorry for the girl who didn't get to have a real quinceanera, don't.

``I've had the best quinceanera,'' Rios says, laughing. ``It's still going on a year and a half later -- still having receptions for the movie and finding an excuse to party!''

Bob Strauss, [phone]

bob.strauss(at)dailynews.com

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(color) Emily Rios and Jesse Garcia are both dealing with life-altering circumstances in ``Quinceanera.''