Ben Bratt.com

Hey guys, I’ve decided to quit maintaining this website. My enthusiasm has been lacking for a quite a while now, and I’ve decided I need to put my energies elsewhere.

I know Teresa & Kati are really good about keeping up with Benjamin Bratt news, so if either of you are interested in keeping some sort of Ben site up, that’d be great. It wouldn’t even have to be standard website.  It could be just a bulletin board. And with all the blogs, bulletin boards and photo galleries programs available, you really don’t need to know anything about web design to run a website.

Of course, the offer isn’t restricted to just Teresa and Kati. If anyone else would like to take over the site, I’ll be happy to pass it on.  I do ask that you put your own personality into the site by starting your own website rather than use this one.  (I’ll be happy to help with setting it up and transferring it.)

The domain benbratt.com isn’t due to expire until July 30, 2008. I don’t plan to renew it, but if someone is interested in buying it, please do so prior to the expiration date. Otherwise it’ll be immediately snatched up by some web domain name business, to be sold at a higher price than necessary. (This happened with benbratt.net, and I’m kind of sorry I’d let it expire.)

Lisa found this site that says The Andromeda Strain is scheduled to appear on A&E Memorial Day weekend, May 26th and 27th (Monday & Tuesday). Thanks, Lisa!

The site also has a new (i.e., different) trailer that features short interviews with some of the cast members. It looks exciting!

In looking over my Benjamin Bratt Google alerts, I’ve come across a few articles about The Andromeda Strain. This article says the show will premiere on May 10th and 11th on Sky Movies; but it says says nothing about A&E. I still haven’t the A&E date (which may be the same?).

The DVD is set to be released on June 3rd. Here is a look at the DVD cover art, featuring, of course, Benajamin Bratt. At the bottom, it states that the broadcast of the finale is May 27th. And this site shows the art for the DVDs themselves. Looks like there will be 4 discs.

You can preorder the movie from Amazon right now.

Hi all –

Let’s keep in mind the important spring holidays:

March 27 was Talisa’s 41st birthday!

April 13 (this coming Sunday) is Wedding Anniversary #6 for Ben and Talisa! I understand from happy-anniversary.com that the traditional gifts for this one are candy and iron. Marriage.about.com says that the modern gift is wood.

We send our best wishes for both of these!

Any specific ideas we can give to the happy couple? (Remembering that this site has a G or PG rating, of course!!!)

Hello all –

Thanks to Google, we know a little more about “Mission Street Rhapsody,” a film in the works written and directed by Peter and starring Benjamin:

1) The nuts and bolts are described on the IMDB website: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1200272/combined

2) SFMission.com also shared the basics at http://www.sfmission.com/cgi-bin/gallery/imageFolio.cgi?action=view&link=San_Francisco/Mission_District?=ben-bratt.jpg&img=&tt= :

Throughout the month of March and April a feature film called “Mission St. Rhapsody” is shooting on location. It is about a traditional ex-gangbanger Latino father in San Francisco’s Mission District who discovers and comes to terms with his son’s homosexuality. MISSION ST. RHAPSODY a 2008 feature film starring Benjamin Bratt and directed by Peter Bratt is the story of Jes Rivera: 16-20 Male Latino. A straight up San Francisco mission homeboy. He’s an all around good kid who has a loving relationship with his Father. He works hard to get himself out of the Mission and to hide his homosexuality. When his Father discovers the truth their relationship may never be the same.

3) Two bloggers have shared their experiences as part of the recent casting call for extras.

Here’s part of the first — from http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.ListAll&friendID=141722371

Joey and I participated in the “gay bar scene” Monday.

“Mission Street Rhaspody” tells the story of Che (Benjamin Bratt), a older Latino man who still kicks it with San Francisco’s low riders.

When his son begins to have feelings for other men, Che’s relationship to his friends and culture unravels.

Our scene takes place as the son first discovers Sf’s gay night life.

When we arrived at the Kat Klub the set was still being lit.

Sarah, the casting director, suggested the extra list needed more population and asked us all to get on our cell phones and call anyone willing to dance around all day.

Director Peter Bratt (Benjamin’s brother) greeted us and explained his vision for the film and why he felt it important for independent Hollywood to address homophobia within the Latino community.

Promptly at 10:30 craft services arrived with plates of food. All the utensils, cups, and plates were fast compostable. The crew wants to keep down the amount of landfill-based trash.

The second is from http://maskedcongressman.blogspot.com/2008/03/this-weekend-was-interesting-one.html

Yesterday was filming for Mission Street Rhapsody. I met Benjamin and Peter Bratt, as well as the two people starring in the film. They are all very nice people who are deeply involved in this really nice project.

Finally, this mini-bio of Peter from IMDB.com notes a MacArthur award … not sure if it’s the same of the famous genius ones, but still!!!:

Aside from being Benjamin Bratt’s brother, Peter Bratt is a growing force in his own right. With his critically acclaimed independent first feature film Follow Me Home (1996), he dared to explore race and identity from the multiple and intersecting perspectives of Chicanos, African Americans, and Native Americans. When no major studio would distribute this film, Henri Norris, an African American woman who was an attorney then engaged in malpractice litigation, created New Millennia Films so that Bratt’s film and message could reach a significant audience. Bratt was honored for his artistic genius with a 2000 Rockefeller Foundation Film/Video/Multimedia Fellowship, further demonstrating that he is poised to become one of the twenty first century’s major filmmakers.

I suppose we’ll now start to be inundated with news about “The Andromeda Strain” and Benjamin Bratt.  Hey, I can live with that. 

Here’s a sort of preview from a science fiction-oriented blog site by someone who loved the book and the first movie.  And she (I think the author is a she) has nice things to say about Benjamin.

A&E has put up an official website for The Andromeda Strain, complete with an exciting trailer. A&E says the 4-hour, 2-night “event” is slated to air this spring, but no date has been set (that I can tell).

There is also a blog-style announcement you might want to check out, where you can read (sometimes less-than-stellar) comments and even provide one of your own.

As for me, it looks like I’ll be making a trip to the library to pick up the book for some light, early spring-time reading.

It seems that Benjamin Bratt news always comes in waves.

1. Benjamin Bratt’s new movie “Trucker” is set to appear at the 7th Tribeca Film Festival. The festival runs from April 23-May 4, and will be the movie’s world premiere. It will be featured in the “World Narrative Feature” competition. A mini-review says the movie is “eloquent and uplifting.”
2. “Love in the Time of Cholera” comes out on DVD Mar 18.  (That’s next Tuesday, folks.)
3. And Teresa provides this little nugget (but I don’t know where she got the info from):

A call for extras has gone out for a feature film: “Mission Street Rhapsody” (directed by Peter Bratt and starring Benjamin Bratt) Casting: Sarah Kliban, 415-354-4217 (Extra positions are unpaid for this project.)

I just finished watching “Refuge” on TNT. It’s one of my favorite Law & Order episodes, and Benjamin Bratt’s last with the series. I didn’t find out it was on until the last 30 minutes of the 2 hours, but turned to it anyway. The police work portion had already taken place, and the final minutes focused on Jack McCoy and Abbie Carmichael trying to bring down Russian organized crime through a very intricate series of legal moves.

But I watched for the final two minutes. Rey Curtis first talks with Lieutenant Anita Van Buren, telling her he’s leaving homicide to be with his wife, who has Multiple Sclerosis. As gets up to leave, Lt Van Buren gives him a heartfelt hug. Then Rey heads heads out to the area where the detectives’ desks are. Lennie Briscoe is waiting for him. Rey & Lennie exchange good-byes, but their voices break and tears are in their eyes. Then Rey leaves.

It’s a very powerful scene on many levels. When Rey Curtis first came to homicide, he was young, brash and a bit arrogant. Both Lt Van Buren and Lennie had their difficulties with him. But over the course of the 4 years, Rey grew up, Lt Van Buren came to appreciate Rey’s abilities, and Lennie and Rey grew close. And when Rey walked out of the precinct, he walked out as a man with a heavy burden on his shoulders.

I remember the interviews with Jerry Orbach and Benjamin Bratt about that episode. They both said the tears in their eyes were real.

Sometime after Jesse L. Martin came on the show, someone asked Jerry Orbach who his favorite partner was, expecting him to say “Mike Logan.” But without hesitation, Jerry replied “Benjamin Bratt.” Now, whether he meant he enjoyed working with Benjamin the most, or that Rey Curtis was his favorite pairing, I don’t know. And I don’t care. I knew there was a special friendship with Jerry and Ben, just as there was a special friendship between Ben and S. Epatha Merkerson. And it delighted me to know he was appreciated.

I haven’t watched Law & Order much since the Rey Curtis days. But I like to consider the time that Benjamin Bratt was on the show as some of its best years. It was during that time that Law & Order won its Emmy for best drama, and Sam Waterston a SAG award for best actor in a drama.  And for me personally, I made some new and wonderful friendships through our mutual interest in the show and Benjamin Bratt.

Both Teresa & Kati just informed me that Cleaner (or The Cleaner, depending on which article you read) has been picked up for 13 episodes, which will air on A&E over the summer. (Personally, I prefer the title Cleaner, because it’s an adjective used to describe the goal of the program. The Cleaner sounds like it focuses on the man rather than his clinic and it’s purpose. [Plus, it reminds me of the Cleaners on Charmed, who were portrayed as meddling overlords. ])

Here are links to a few articles announcing the news:

• Digital Spy
• Hollywood Reporter
• Broadcast Newsroom

Looks like we’ll have some television watching to look forward to this summer.