La MISSION, an American Spectrum film starring Benjamin Bratt and directed by his brother Peter, takes place in the Mission District of San Francisco, and tracks the relationship between an ex-con bus driver named Che (played by the former Mr. Julia Roberts), his son and a sexy neighbor lady who “challenges Che to reconcile the life he thought he had.” We asked Peter Bratt the 4 Questions We Ask Everyone, and his answers touched on everything from American Graffiti to Marvin Gaye to Ki-duk Kim. More after the jump.
Tell us about your movie: who did you work with, what did you shoot on, why did you make it? Give us the reductive, 25-word or less, “It’s like [pop culture reference a] meets [pop culture reference b]!” pitch, then explain what the quick and dirty sell leaves out.
We shot La MISSION on HD entirely on location in 26 short days. The core team was made up of myself, brother Benjamin Bratt (who was doing double time as lead actor and producer), and force of nature/producing partner Alpita Patel.
The “dirty sell”: Imagine the old cars and music from American Graffiti (but with a bit more funk), the working class, ethnic flavor of Saturday Night Fever, and the soul searching of Peter Weir’s Fearless, and you have La MISSION.
The real skinny: The story takes place in an urban Latino community, and centers on a violent patriarch (“Che”) who discovers that his only son (“Jess”) is homosexual.
In the San Francisco Neighborhood that bears the film’s name, Che is a reformed bad boy of the street, who at middle age, finds beauty building classic lowrider cars. His son, and the friends he’s had since childhood, are at the center of his world. In many ways, Che personifies the dominant patriarchal culture that surrounds him, and like that culture, is at the threshold of great change. He is faced with a choice: maintain old habits and attitudes, OR adapt, grow and mature. In order to make this choice, Che is forced to stretch beyond his comfort zone; and it’s only from this place that he discovers what might be at stake if he doesn’t chose wisely. As a filmmaker living in an increasingly violent and dangerous world, I was drawn to the idea of transformation and the pain that often goes with it. I also wanted to fulfill a life’s dream, and make a movie with a Marvin Gaye jam in it!
If you funded your film through a “day job” or through working on projects that were not your own, tell us about that. If not, tell us a story from your past work life, before you became a professional filmmaker.
I worked as a carpenter before and after I made my first film. Before that, I had applied and was admitted to NYU film school. Weeks before I packed up and headed East, I sold my truck and all my tools, confidently thinking I would never need them again. It took me less than a semester to learn that film school wasn’t for me, and I dropped out and returned home to San Francisco with my chin on my chest. Carpentry was the only way I knew how to make a living, so I started all over again from scratch, buying and collecting tools as more jobs came in. After I saved enough to live on for a year, I held up in a work-for-rent, sub-basement apartment, read every “how to write a screenplay” book under the sun, and then sat down and wrote the screenplay I would eventually make into my first feature. But the moral of the story is: “never say never…and most definitely never sell your tools!”
Have you been to Park City before? If so, tell us your best moment (or worst, which ever is funnier).
I’d been there once before, in the pre-internet days, with my film Follow Me Home. We got the film in the can for a little over a $200,000, but had to raise more for post. Needless to say, it was a long process that kept us busy almost up to the day we premiered at the Holiday One theater. I was very naïve and didn’t have an agent, a lawyer, a publicist, or any other veteran consultant, and my editor and I simply showed up with a 35mm print and NO promotional material. When we walked through town, we saw that nearly every other film team had postcards, one sheets, flyers, etc. Later that night, in a panic, we high-tailed it to Salt Lake and found an all night Kinko’s. We stayed up half the night making flyers and posting them throughout the streets and store fronts of Park City. Every morning we would rise at the crack of dawn, before the crowds filled the streets, and plastered any empty space we could find. This time around the team is a bit more seasoned, so I’m hoping to slow the pace down enough to enjoy my morning coffee.
Let’s get hypothetical: You’re on death row. The night of your execution, you’re allowed to watch any two films of your choice. What would you pick for your last-night-on-Earth double feature?
Good hypothetical. Rather than going with a couple films about family, friendship, or how sweet life is, I would be focused on meeting death and preparing myself for the ultimate journey. For that I’d want a road map to navigate the “hell worlds” I would surely encounter due to my evil ways. I would go with Jacob’s Ladder (based on “Tibetan Book of the Dead”) and the South Korean film that examines each stage of a person’s life, Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter … and Spring. Then get on my knees and pray.
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