Edward James Olmos, who plays Commander Adama in "Battlestar Galactica," is preparing to direct a film for HBO while continuing his acting role on the successful SciFi Channel series, according to DailyNews.Com.

Olmos has signed to helm "Walkout," an HBO movie about the 1968 East L.A. event in which 10,000 students protested educational conditions and complained of anti-Mexican educational bias.

Working on two projects at the same time can be difficult, especially since the actor is working on only the eighth episode of 20 of "Galactica's" second season. In fact, Olmos insists there are no plans to write out or reduce the role of his character while he's shooting the film.

Even for someone as talented as Olmos, how can he be two places at once?

It takes "a lot of cooperation between Universal and HBO," said Olmos, who is flying to Los Angeles for a day of preproduction and location scouting, then jetting back at night to
Vancouver to the "Galactica" set for work the next day.

"Walkout" features Alexa Vega from "Spy Kids" as student activist Paula Crisostomo. An important role yet to be case is that of Moctezuma Esparza, who has been the producer of such noted projects as "Gettysburg," "Selena" and "Introducing Dorothy Dandridge." Now one of the film's producers, he was among the student protesters in 1968.

Friday, July 15, will be an important day for both projects. Production begins on "Walkout" during the day, then "Galactica" airs its first episode of the second season on the SciFi Channel at 10 p.m. that evening.