Leon Ichaso
About
Biography
Biography
A Cuban-born director whose work specializes in gritty urban realism, Leon Ichaso first made his mark with the independently made Spanish-language feature, "El Super" (1979), based on an Off-Broadway play about an immigrant building superintendent trying to make his way in New York City. It took six years for the filmmaker to follow up on this admirably honest and low-key study, but "Crossover Dreams" (1985), was a fine first shot at a somewhat more mainstream film. Marred somewhat by a conventional story of how a musician changes when he encounters success, the film was nonetheless an often hard-hitting look at different but mixed US Latino communities, life in the barrio and the potent drive of salsa music.
Imported into the Hollywood scene, Ichaso found his talent for telling tough stories of the big city slotted primarily into action series on TV (e.g., "Miami Vice," "Crime Story," "The Equalizer"). His TV-movies have been along a similar line, including the gangster drama "The Take" (USA Network, 1990) and the psychological thriller "A Kiss to Die For" (NBC, 1993). Ichaso returned to the big screen with the Wesley Snipes vehicle, "Sugar Hill" (1994), a character study wedded to a violent crime drama of a New York drug empire. The reviews were mixed but the box-office was disappointing.
For the next several years, Ichaso found steady employment in TV-movies, some of which were adaptations of acclaimed plays while others were biopics. "Zooman" (Showtime, 1995) was an excellent adaptation of an Off-Broadway play dealing with a family coping with the murder of child. "Execution of Justice" (Showtime, 1999) was also derived from a short-lived Broadway play that detailed the events behind the murders of San Francisco mayor George Mosconi and supervisor Harvey Milk. While told from the point of view of the assassin, Dan White, Ichaso's film remained neutral and demonstrated that the questions surrounding one of the most charged events of the 20th Century could not be reduced to simple answers.
Ichaso next tackled a pair of small screen biographies that were in some ways warm-ups for his return to feature filmmaking. The middling "Ali: An American Hero" (Fox, 2000) was hampered by its script, but the director managed to elicit a formidable performance from newcomer David Ramsey as the prizefighter just as "Hendrix" (Showtime, 2000) benefited from its unknown star Wood Harris. In the case of the latter, the film began strongly but frittered away its power to become a standard issue biopic, offering little than the bare facts of the musician's life. The spark that made him doesn't shine through. Ichaso employed an intriguing trick of shifting between black-and-white and color footage which was both effective and distracting. For the biographical feature "Pinero" (2001), he used the same technique with similar results. A look at the life of Puerto Rican author Miguel Pinero who had the soul of a poet but lived the life of a thief, the movie offered a prime role for actor Benjamin Bratt. Ichaso employed a collage-like approach to the author's life, including flashbacks, drug-induced dreams and scenes from stage performances to create a portrait of an intriguing, if difficult person.
Filmography
Director (Feature Film)
Writer (Feature Film)
Producer (Feature Film)
Music (Feature Film)
Misc. Crew (Feature Film)
Director (Special)
Cast (Special)
Life Events
1963
Immigrated to the USA with his mother and sister at age 14
1967
Dropped out of high school and moved to NYC
1979
Feature directorial debut, "El Super", a Cuban-US co-production, for which he also wrote the screenplay
1980
Was one of the writers of the screenplay for the Spanish-US co-production, "Fat Angels"
1985
Second feature, and first film produced entirely in the USA, the English and Spanish-language "Crossover Dreams"
1986
Earliest American TV directorial work, helming three episodes of "Crime Story" and two of "Miami Vice"
1987
Directed an installment of the "Great Performances" PBS series, "Tales from the Hollywood Hills"; segment entitled "A Table at Ciro's"
1990
US TV-movie directorial debut, "The Take" (USA Network)
1994
First primarily English-language feature, "Sugar Hill"
1995
Helmed the Showtime original movie "Zooman"; also contributed a song to the soundtrack
1996
Produced, directed and wrote the feature "Bitter Sugar"
1999
Directed the Showtime adaptation of Emily Mann's stage play "Execution of Justice", about the murders of George Mosconi and Harvey Milk and the subsequent trial of Dan White
2000
Served as director of the Showtime biopic "Hendrix", about rock great Jimi Hendrix
2000
Helmed the biopic "Ali: An American Hero" (Fox)
2001
Helmed "Pinero", a biopic of poet and playwright Miguel Pinero with Benjamin Bratt in the lead
2007
Directed the biopic "El Cantante" starring Marc Anthony as Puerto Rican salsa singer Hector Lavoe
Family
