Cuban director Leon Ichaso believes in rocking the boat.
With his new movie Pinero, about the Puerto Rican poet/playwright Miguel Pinero who died at the age of 42 of liver disease, Ichaso gives us a moving but often disturbing account of a talented soul who was on a one-way path to self-destruction.
Pinero, whose urban poetry is recognized as a precursor to rap and hip-hop, grew up on the streets of Manhattan’s Lower East Side, relying on his talents as a thief to get by. While in jail, he wrote some of his most memorable works, including the Broadway play Short Eyes, which opened to critical acclaim in the ’70s, and was later made into a movie starring Bruce Davison.
Ultimately, Pinero‘s addiction to heroin and alcohol tragically cut his life short.
Best known for directing 1993’s Sugar Hill with Wesley Snipes, Ichaso talked to us about delving deep into Pinero‘s psyche to bring the writer’s story to life and about casting the surprisingly powerful Benjamin Bratt as the lead character.
How did Pinero come to be?
Leon Ichaso: What I knew of Miguel Pinero was very little at the beginning. I knew of the madness of Pinero–the notorious gangster, the poet and playwright. He was a very chaotic type of person. And everybody in the business, or even on the fringes, knew those stories. He got arrested on the day of his play’s premiere [Short Eyes on Broadway]. He was a writer who spent half of his time in jail. Eventually, I was talking to people about his life and I thought, “This would be a fun character to do a movie about.”
He got so much inspiration from his time in jail. It was as if he wanted to be in jail so he could keep writing.
Ichaso: I don’t think he wanted to be in jail, but he had more affection for that life than the normal life. And I’m not a normal person, so I identified with him in very many things. I thought this could really make an interesting movie. Then I began to read and really learn about his work. And even though it wasn’t a huge body of work, there were so many fascinating poems and plays. He made an impact on a lot of people and I thought it would make a good movie.
It’s a shame Pinero had to spiral downward like that…why was he so self-destructive?
Ichaso: I think the pain of being uprooted from his country [Pinero left Puerto Rico at a young age], losing his father, made him feel like a transient. He never wanted to settle down. Also he feared he would ruin his “legend” if he went into rehab. Miguel Pinero at an AA meeting, admitting he was a dope fiend? Never. Has Hunter Thompson redeemed himself? No. I think Pinero was incredibly frightened of recovery.
From my perspective, I wasn’t familiar with Pinero’s work at all, so the film sort of taught me about his work–
Ichaso: You discover him, it’s true. He was considered a writer’s writer and was a ghost-writer for a lot of stories, to give them that “street” thing. He wrote the “Smuggler’s Blues” episode of [the TV series] Miami Vice. And I wanted people to say, “That’s Pinero? Oh wow!” I thought there were all these connections to him. So, I started putting together a script. And when it was finished, [GreeneStreet Films, the production company] understood that this could be a good movie. They put up the money, very little money, but they were brave, believing this story could find an audience.
You cast Benjamin Bratt as the lead character, but you weren’t necessarily sold on him at first, were you?
Ichaso: Benjamin did a movie called Follow Me Home, directed by his brother where he played a totally dysfunctional hero, artist, crack-head. He had prosthetic teeth. He had to shave his head and he was full of tattoos. I was just blown away. The perception of him is this pretty boy, so-in-so’s boyfriend, Detective Curtis from Law & Order. I would have never paid attention to him. He seemed so bland. But when I saw the film, he totally changed for me and I had to talk to him about the film.
Bratt wasn’t the only one you talked to, was he?
Ichaso: No, there were always a few other people in the mix. Marc Anthony, Benicio Del Toro. But Ben brought a lot of charisma to the character. I think he really allowed you to get into Pinero. There was something very kind and vulnerable about him but he transforms. He becomes unrecognizable.
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I’m sorry, I still think he’s gorgeous.
Ichaso: [Laughing.] You’re right. And I think he was even better looking as Pinero.
Ben and co-star Talisa Soto really steamed things up on screen–
Ichaso: You know, they are now an item. They are very serious and madly in love with one another.
Really? Good for them!
Ichaso: Talisa has been around a long time but she’s never done anything close to this; to actually play as a Puerto Rican, her own nationality.
Rita Moreno was wonderful too [as Pinero’s mother]. I really loved the scene where she is dancing on the rooftop with her young son–reminiscent of her West Side Story days.
Ichaso: That was improvised. On the first day working with her, I said “I’ve got to get her on the rooftop.” I didn’t know her all that well and I told her I had this idea. I thought it would be so pretty. In the midst of all this adversity the characters were going through, they could go up on a roof and dance. I think that’s the kind of mother you want to have. Pinero’s mother was a huge influence in his life and on his writing.
How do you feel about the recent Latin explosion in the entertainment world?
Ichaso: For me it’s like a fad that keeps coming and going. It really never does anything but make it harder because those Latinos around become terribly expensive to work with. You can’t get to them. Benicio Del Toro is getting, what, $1 million for a movie? He’s not going to come down and do an independent movie. What I do think is exciting is the reception Latin movies are getting from American audiences–movies like Amores Perros or Before Night Falls and the films of [Spanish director Pedro] Almodovar. But I don’t believe in a Latin movement–I believe the term is misused.
Who has influenced you in your career?
Ichaso: [Frederico] Fellini, [Martin] Scorsese, [Michelangelo] Antonioni. Hal Ashby. John Huston. I grew up watching those people. It was the films of the ’60s, that’s where I got my education, watching these movies. I never went to film school. But I love movies. I love going into a theater and being dazzled. Like seeing Moulin Rouge–Jesus Christ! It was so beautiful, so daring. This guy [director Baz Luhrmann] is so against the establishment because, against all odds, he has done something so personal. That to me is wonderful. I take my hat off to people like that because I learn from them. I really do think Hollywood can be pathetic. I just have hope that they are people out there that will always rock the boat.
Well, you’ll keep pushing the envelope, won’t you?
Ichaso: I hope so. I hope I have the health!
