By Jeremy Arnold
Photos by Robert Hale
Recently, a packed house enthusiastically greeted the DGA Latino Committee's special screening of Piñero. Afterward, the audience was treated to a lively Q&A with director León Ichaso and actors Benjamin Bratt, Talisa Soto and Michael Irby. The discussion was moderated by Latino Committee Co-chair Rick Lombardo.
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From left: Latino Committee Co-chair Rick Lombardo, actor Benjamin Bratt, actor/associate producer Lisa Rhoden, director León Ichaso and actress Talisa Soto.
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In introducing the event, DGA Assistant Executive Director Rodney Mitchell explained that "a key goal of the Latino Committee is to convey to the entertainment industry and the public at large that a professional, creative Latino presence exists within our membership." But more than simply presenting the latest work of Cuban-born Ichaso, the evening also shone a spotlight on a Latino icon of the 1970s, Miguel Piñero. The Nuyorican poet/playwright/actor's explosive urban poetry and Tony Award-nominated play, Short Eyes, led to fame and notoriety (including time in jail) before he died in 1988.
With Piñero, Ichaso achieves the difficult task of not only painting a fascinating picture of the man (played by Benjamin Bratt) but also of doing justice to the poet's work. One of Ichaso's boldest choices was to present several poems in their entirety by having Bratt perform them as Piñero might have.
"Miguel was a very dramatic performer," said Ichaso. "He was not a man at a podium; there was movement, there was music. There have been other movies of poets, but you never see any of the work. In a movie like Barfly, for instance, you see a man fighting at a bar and drinking, but you never know what Bukowski wrote. The idea here was for people to walk away with a little bit of Piñero, to somehow discover him."
Ichaso's own discovery of Piñero's work, as well as their shared Latino culture, inspired him greatly in the writing and directing processes. Ichaso spoke of "the importance of having this documented for the Nuyorican poets, especially now, when we Latinos are somehow homogenized and have no nationality. The culture gets forgotten. Piñero was such an unusual character, but nobody seems to know who he was anymore. What really attracted me, as I began to do research, was what I didn't know about the man — his work. I began to see that the work was most important to put forward."
But Ichaso was stymied on how to incorporate the poetry until he saw fellow DGA director Mark Pellington's The United States of Poetry on PBS. "It had readings by so many great poets, almost like little videos of the poetry, beautiful interpretations, and I thought, 'this can be done.'"
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Benjamin Bratt, León Ichaso and actor Clarence Williams III.
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The director then devised a free-flowing, nonlinear structure that tosses many established rules of narrative right out the window. His idea was to create a feeling of "life flashing in front of a man who's about to die. I really went all the way. It helped that I never thought the film would get made!" Ichaso acknowledges that his film is challenging. "Some expect more of a [traditional] film. I don't even know if it is a film — it's something disguised as one!"
Matching the chaotic script structure was a staccato visual approach. The film cuts freely between black-and-white (shot on 16mm film) and color (shot on digital). To get a "film" look, Ichaso explained, "the production was lit like a movie. It was never that we just got to the place and started working. To get this kind of look without things breaking up you have to light it. I was kind of shocked at the amount of time we were spending, but I really think it is one of the prettiest video-to-film projects."
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TIPS - Darren Aronofsky: My mentor was Stuart Rosenberg. He directed Cool Hand Luke, The Pope of Greenwich Village and a bunch of great films. The one note he kept on his desk all the time was: "Where is my audience?" The point you always need to be asking is: "Where is the audience in my film?" You need to be aware of what the viewers are thinking, feeling and hoping for. Are they bored or excited? That's the question to constantly answer. |
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As for Benjamin Bratt's excellent turn as Piñero, Ichaso said he initially thought Bratt was wrong for the role. But he admired Bratt's "fearlessness," as well as his performance in the indie, Follow Me Home, and gave him a chance. He was rewarded with Bratt's total immersion in the role.
"Before we started production," Ichaso remembered, "Ben would be at home night after night, and I'd say 'what are you doing?' 'I'm working,' he would say. At one point I thought this guy maybe had another job! He was very secretive about it. Finally I told him he had to show me this work. I said, 'I've given you an incredible trust. We cannot just show up on the set and take it from there.' He kept refusing, but then, finally, I remember Benjamin Bratt walked out of the room toward the kitchen area of his apartment, and Miguel Piñero came back."
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