![]() And this need or sense of wanting to belong to something-to recognize where you come from, to stay connected to the people that paved a path for you before you got here.” “I recognized these beautiful brown faces-albeit they’re animated figures-they looked like people I know, the people I come from.” -Benjamin Brattīenjamin Bratt is the voice of Ernesto de la Cruz in Disney Pixar’s Coco. That at the end of the day, for all the uniqueness that we have, and there’s a lot that’s vibrant and authentic and beautiful about Latino culture, we all at the end of the day are more alike than we are different. ![]() And so, in a way, it reintroduces who we are as a people in our uniqueness but also in our sameness to everyone else in the world whether you’re from China or Africa or Europe or anywhere else in the world. And it underscored the fact that that portrayal hasn’t been done yet on this kind of scale. And it affected me in a way that actually kind of surprised me because it was in that moment that I recognized these beautiful brown faces-albeit they’re animated figures-they looked like people I know, the people I come from. Way back when I was first given a tour of the Pixar Studios up in Emeryville, Lee and Darla and Adrian led me into this room that, from floor to ceiling, on every wall, was covered in Mexican iconography, Day of the Dead colors and images, and some of the characters that were drawn, illustrated that they were going to portray in the film. ![]() On What Coco Means for the Latino Cultureīenjamin: “What I’m most excited about with Coco is it’s finally an opportunity on a global scale to illuminate the beauty of the Latino culture. I was happy to do it, and I recorded every song that’s in the movie, I’m really proud of it.” And the first few sessions, I’ll tell you, they were horrible. And they just gave me the opportunity to fail. What better circumstances could I do that? They provided me with Liz Kaplan, who’s the instructor, mentor to the stars in New York. Then, of course, I became immediately terrified because Lee and Darla and Adrian wanted me to attempt it. So, when I was offered the role, I thought it was a bit ironic that I was meant to play the most, you know, famous singer and musician in Mexican history. He’s just a phenomenal, powerful singer and a friend but someone whose talent I admire immensely. And I’ve always said I’d give my left big toe to be able to be a balladeer like Marc Anthony, say. I don’t possess one when it comes to singing. And it translates across all language, all cultures because a beautiful voice is a beautiful voice. I just admire singers so much and musicians in general because with singing, your voices is your instrument. You know, I acknowledge that I’m a fairly decent actor but I’ve always wanted to be a singer. So I told him I didn’t know he could sing and asked him where he got those pipes.īenjamin: “Yo, I didn’t know that I could sing. His character, Ernesto de la Cruz, is Mexico’s most famous and beloved singer. I looked up Benjamin Bratt’s bio, because I didn’t remember him on Broadway or anything. My friends who attended D23 in California came home last summer raving about Benjamin Bratt’s performance on stage with Anthony Gonzalez, who voices Miguel. Photo Credit: Silvia Martinez, On Singing for His Role as Ernesto de La Cruz
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