Director of PBS’s “John Leguizamo’s Road to Broadway” and “Latin History for Morons” shares insight on working with the iconic performing artist and comic
By Elia Esparza
With the premiere of Great Performances and Latino Public Broadcasting’s VOCES new documentary, John Leguizamo’s Road to Broadway, on Friday, November 16th on PBS, we’re thrilled to have landed an interview with Ben DeJesus, the film’s director/producer.
It is an insightful conversation with a man who knew from early on as a boy, that his love of Broadway productions would lead him to pursue an acting career. How he would accomplish it was to study and emulate his Latino hero, John Leguizamo, who was breaking barriers and kicking obstacles performing to sold-out houses in his one man shows like Spic-O-Rama and Freak, not to mention his film and television work.
Today, DeJesus is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, music video veteran, and an episodic TV director. He has been at the helm of over 100 hours of content, television, commercials, and digital content. On YouTube alone, his music videos have reached over 800 million views.
Fast forward to the present, DeJesus was recently nominated for a 2018 Tony Award for Best Play for his work on John Leguizamo’s Latin History for Morons — so naturally, we had to start our conversation with this outstanding production.
LatinHeat: With how truly extraordinary Latin History for Morons is, can you share how this production affected or changed you personally?
Ben DeJesus: The beautiful thing about Latin History for Morons is that as a Latino it gives you a new sense of pride. When you start hearing about all the amazing accomplishments and contributions we [Latinos] have had into the birth and success of this country– from the very beginning all the way up until up to now and beyond– it really wakes us up! Once you hear all of the things that John [Leguizamo] has uncovered it really gives you a renewed sense of pride in your culture, in your roots, in your upbringing and almost a sense of responsibility to live up to the incredible things that our forefathers and foremothers sacrificed.
LH: Did John mainly write Latin History for Morons for non-Latinos?
BDJ: I think when John creates his shows, he does it for everybody, but It just happens to be that his perspective is from a Latino point of view. It is so obviously flavored and coming from that angle, on what it means to be a Latino and growing up and listening to history and even existing in the time that we’re living now. So yes, I don’t think he ever thought ‘OK I want to tell my fellow Latinos only Latin history’, but that’s been the beautiful kind of side effect of it that Latinos who typically support him have been to watch the show and have that same feeling that I had. Watching in live on stage or viewing the documentary there is no way Latinos won’t feel enlightened about how much of a positive impact that our people have had on this country.
LH: Tell us how the PBS special John Leguizamo’s Road to Broadway came to fruition.
BDJ: I’ve had a relationship for the last several years with PBS and in particular the organization Latino Public Broadcasting [LPB], which was co-founded by Edward James Olmos and is run by Sandie Pedlow and Luis Ortiz.
I first told LPB that I had been following John [Leguizamo] for a while, filming his journey to bring Latin History for Morons to Broadway, and they were excited to hear about it. They wanted to see a clip for the film and I showed it to them and they said ‘Wow this is something we really want to support,’ and they helped to bring it to the PBS Great Performances team. They were really the ones who helped make it a reality. So I give credit to Sandy and LPB for supporting my career since my first documentary, which was the Tales From a Ghetto Klown. They also helped to bring this film to PBS as well, because what happens is that LPB may come in very early in a filmmaker’s process and once they support a film, all of a sudden PBS and the powers that be on that side realize that there is something there because they know that LPB vetting process. Their standards are extremely high, so by the time you get past LBP, it’s already something that PBS is kind of interested in.
LH: How did you meet John Leguizamo?
BDJ: Well, I had always been a huge John Leguizamo fan. I idolized him. I was a somebody who grew up to be in theater—I love Broadway. I remember skipping school to see shows at half price in New York, and John was always my biggest hero in theater. For me as a Latino wanting to go into entertainment, he was really a huge influence on me. I eventually was introduced to him by a mutual business partner that we have, David Chitel and he told me that he wanted to do some web videos with John, where John would reproduce, recreate viral videos that had been big on YouTube and we would do them like shot-for-shot, but with John doing them instead.
From the first moment, the first day I met John, I’m literally at his house setting up cameras in his master bedroom and having to direct my hero– run around to keep up with him doing his kind of big freakout like the viral video that we were recreating. Here he was performing his version of Freakout jumping up and down on his bed and this is literally the first day that I’m meeting my hero. LH: Wow, that was some first introduction of your hero!
BDJ: That’s exactly how we first connected. We hit it off from the first moment. I knew that he was doing his one-man show– the first one in ten years, Tales From a Ghetto Klown— so I got his cell number and asked, ‘Hey man do you mind if I come and shoot the rehearsal like from behind-the-scenes,’ he agreed. Once I shot the rehearsal, I realized there might be a documentary here, so the next day I came in with a full treatment for a documentary film and he read it and shared with Fisher Stevens, his Ghetto Klown partner. They both said, ‘Sure come along.’ And, I pretty much never stopped showing up and now we’re business partners NGL Collective and working on many other projects.
LH: What an amazing story!
BDJ: I love it! I’m living the dream!
LH: You’ve got an American Masters documentary heading our way, can you tell us a bit about film and when it will broadcast nationwide on PBS?
BDJ: It’s a film on Raul Julia’s life and extraordinary career — he was so much more than Gomez on the TV hit, The Adams Family. I was fortunate to meet his wife and four years later, here we are ready to hit the film festival circuit and will probably broadcast in 2019 on PBS as an American Masters along side of other Great Performances.
LH: Out of all of the projects you’ve produced and directed, which was most challenging and which is your most rewarding?
BDJ: All are challenging as anybody who’s a filmmaker can attest. The odds are totally stacked against you from the beginning to the very end. The Raul Julia project has been most challenging, simply because he’s not around any more and the fact that some of the archival materials are not as easily accessible. Going back 30, 40, 50 years has been a challenge. But at the same time, I feel it may be my most rewarding project when it comes out because I’ve poured so much passion and love and determination into it.
Latin History for Morons is an accomplishment I’m very proud of because it represents why I’m a filmmaker telling our stories… it’s my calling. This film is so that the wider viewing audiences can better understand that Latinos are not a flash in the pan… there’s no Latino explosion… we’ve been here all along and that’s why the entire premise of Latin History for Morons is the most informative and entertaining way to orient everyone that our [Latino] contributions matter. John created this production to fill a void — Latino contributions are not celebrated or highlighted as easily as other cultures have been.
Latin History for Morons, corrects this slight.
LH: And, thus why you’re a filmmaker on the fast track–
BDJ: In my own way, that’s why I take on these type of projects, because I don’t want to be a person who is afraid of a challenge or be a person who just complains about being underrepresented. I want to represent. By making my films and leaving my mark in other parts of the industry, then I’m doing my part to better represent us. I do not want to complain about it and not be a person of action.
So, yes, Raul Julia film is most challenging and Latin History for Morons is most rewarding. I was able to take my love of theater, Broadway and my respect and love for John, his legacy and my love for documentary films and combine it into this one project.
LH: And you got nominated for a Tony! How surreal was that for you?
BDJ: I know! My work has brought me to this point where I’m now a producer on a Broadway production and I got nominated for a Tony! Growing up, I don’t remember knowing any Latino Broadway producers anything in that realm. So for me to be one of them, well that hands down is the most rewarding.
LH: Tell us a bit about the internships and fellowships that had a positive impact on your career.
BDJ: In the beginning, I was an actor working in theater and I always thought that was what I was going to do career wise. I was in my early 20’s and I was acting, auditioning and doing my best to make a living as an actor, but then I had an epitome: I didn’t just want to always be that guy in line hoping to land the next job. I knew that wasn’t in me for the long haul, but I also knew that I wanted to stay in the industry. It was then when a life changing internship offer came my way.
I started with an internship at MTV Networks and it got me inside the building… inside the room. And when you’re starting out, that’s more important than the fact that you’re making a little bit of money, or at that time, I was making no money. I was doing it for free, and that’s what people have to realize that sometimes the free opportunities are worth more than the paid ones because they can lead you on a different path, a more worthwhile destination. I would encourage everyone interested in pursuing a career in this or any industry to not worry about how much money they’re going to make or chase money because if you do that, you’re going to end up making yourself unhappy.
LH: But they have to be able to support themselves–
BDJ: Yes. I understand that and at first I did what a lot of industry people do in the beginning, I waited tables and worked odd jobs with flexible schedules to earn money to live. These type of jobs also freed me up so I could intern for free at MTV. Remember, once you’re inside the building, you have a different perspective. I realized just how huge of an opportunity the internship really was. After the internship ended, I stuck around, worked my way up to Production Assistant and at that time I also started writing for Latino Urban magazine, again basically for free, and that’s when my bosses at MTV realized that I had skills in writing. Again, I was writing for free but the people who mattered noticed.
LH: This led to your first writing gig at MTV?
BDJ: I was an Associate Producer and writer for MTV Cribs. I did that for three seasons and I also wrote for MTV News, VH1 and many of the VJ’s on-air.
LH: Then you got into the ABC/Disney Episodic Director’s Program? BDJ: I was rejected the first time I applied but the second time in 2014, I was selected as one of 10 directors from over 1,300 applicants. This opportunity led to me directing an episode of the multi-cam sitcom Bunk’d, one of the top-rated series on Disney Channel.
LH: Aside from documentaries, is there a commercial feature film in your future? With John?
BDJ: We’re developing several feature film projects and a non-fiction TV show where we delve really deep into John’s search for Latin history around the world– think Ghetto Klown meets Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown. We are going in and digging deep into the Latino culture. Taking John’s idea of celebrating our people and laying it out for the mainstream audiences. The content that we develop is Latino centered because that’s who we are and those are the stories that we need to catch up and tell, but they are also universal stories not just Latin stories for Latin people. Latin stories for everybody!
LH: Working with a performing artist genius like John Leguizamo must have its challenges. What is it about your business relationship that makes it work?
BDJ: It does have its challenges but only in the sense that John is a tough guy to keep up with. John’s work ethic is like no one’s I’ve ever seen before. He has so many projects going at the same time, yet he’s able to focus on each of them at the right moment so they are the best that they can possibly be. He has different sets of priorities, where like most ideas are the least set of priorities and once some of those ideas start percolating to the top, he becomes really single-minded and focuses on that specific one. That’s one thing that I’ve learned from John, we can have a lot of things spinning in the air but when it really comes down to making great art and great work, you have to have a singular focus on the project in order to create the best product you can. With John, you have to buckle up and be ready to work hard, speak up and step up.
LH: I know you’re young but I’m wondering if you’ve ever thought of what you hope you’re legacy will be at the end of your career?
BDJ: A hard question because I have so many stories I want to tell. But, I guess it would be that I really want to shine a light on Latino stories for a mainstream audiences… that’s really my calling. I believe in using film, television to bring any facet of our culture to mainstream America, that’s my goal. I really want to make an impact across TV, film and beyond. My career now has a very singular focus: To tell our stories and how they impact the USA. And, I hope that goal and objective carries me for a really long time.
LH: What words of wisdom can you share with our readers?
BDJ: For other Latinos who want to have a future in entertainment industry or any industry for that matter, they have to be willing to commit to make it a reality. It is important to figure out WHAT your dream or goal is, and the HOW will magically appear. I would have never imagined that I would somehow meet and be working with John Leguizamo, my hero. The WHAT helps you get to the HOW.
Don’t worry about being underrepresented, represent your own and be the best you can be.
Thank you, Ben DeJesus!
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