Overcoming a question of color

Benjamin BRATT’S bicultural roots run deep, he says, affecting not only his professional choices but how he sees himself.

Hollywood, as he’s experienced it, has rarely been colorblind. So he was heartened when, despite the high stakes, Warner Bros. cast him opposite Halle Berry in “Catwoman,” a film based on the venerable comic book character, to be released on July 23. In it, the 40-year-old heartthrob plays a detective who falls in love with a meek graphic designer (Berry) while hunting down her feline alter ego.

“That a big movie like ‘Catwoman’ has two ethnic leads proves that, at a certain point, even people of color become green,” Bratt says. “That’s what it’s all about. That nobody said a thing about it was a relief to someone like myself who’s been up against walls of discrimination.”

The movie is what it is, Bratt says, downplaying the female empowerment angle. Though young girls, especially African American, may find it uplifting, it’s basically an “over-the-top, visually stunning piece of entertainment.” Does casting Berry as a summer superhero mean that talent and looks supersede race? Depends on the day of the week, Bratt replies. Things are getting better, thanks to pioneers such as TV producer Dick Wolf (“Law & Order”). But, citing his experience with Wolfgang Petersen’s “Troy,” there’s still a ways to go.

“About a year and a half ago, I read a wonderful script called ‘Troy’ and, though the leads were set, even the tertiary roles, smaller in size, were of interest to me. I succeeded in getting a meeting but was told that I was too ‘brown.’ What do people in Asia Minor look like? If they all look like Brad Pitt ... fine. After the major roles were established, they said, they were only going to hire British actors.”

Warner Bros. confirms that British actors were hired but provides some context. To qualify for a lucrative British financial incentive, “Troy” had to use film locations in the U.K. and employ a predominantly British cast and crew.

“We had an international cast with extras from all over the world,” said a Warner Bros. spokesman. “What disqualified Bratt from consideration for a smaller role was his high profile. You couldn’t cast him as a nameless soldier with two lines because it would have been distracting.”

How did he add texture to the cartoonish mix of “Catwoman”? In TV shows such as “Law & Order” and movies such as “Traffic,” after all, he’s been ultra-reality-based.

“Working with this kind of material is much harder than doing something dramatic and representational,” Bratt says by phone from New York, where his wife, actress Talisa Soto, and their 17-month-old daughter, Sophia, spend much of their time when not in his native San Francisco. “With respect to the writers, it’s all on the surface. My cop was just an expositional device, a guy who asks questions -- much too soft on the page. I told the producers and writers that no one likes anything that comes too easy, so we made him more mysterious and dangerous -- building up the sexual tension. Halle’s character would never be with someone who doesn’t push back, so we gave him a bit of sass.”

A student at ACT

Bratt always identified as an underdog -- and that feeling is with him still. Growing up, he recalls, his family was on welfare and, while studying at San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theatre, he drove a Super Shuttle to make ends meet. The son of a Peruvian Indian mother who came to the U.S. at 14 and an English-German father, he participated in a takeover of Alcatraz Island at age 5.

Though he embraces Native American culture, he’s primarily been cast as Latino in movies such as “Bound by Honor” (1993) and “Pinero” (2002), a breakthrough role in which he portrayed the famed poet-playwright. As Jerry Orbach’s partner in “Law & Order” from 1995 to 1999, he was “NBC’s answer to Jimmy Smits” of “NYPD Blue,” a critic observed.

“One label doesn’t express all that I think I am,” he said. “And the more people we laud as true American heroes refuse to wear the ethnic label of the moment, the better off we’ll be. Tiger Woods is of African American and Thai descent, but he refuses to be the hero for either. In 30, 40 years, we won’t be having this conversation. With intermarriage on the rise, we’re truly becoming a melting pot.”

Another detective role wasn’t exactly part of Bratt’s game plan. But his desire to work with Berry persuaded him to come aboard. In the past, economic necessity has made him a “hired gun,” he acknowledges. But he’s trying to make a course correction, taking responsibility for his roles. He and his brother Peter are collaborating on a love story set against San Francisco’s Latino community. The goal: to make it sufficiently formulaic to succeed yet infuse it with their politics.

“It’s dangerous for an actor to stand on a soapbox,” he says. “You have to strike a balance -- like Tim Robbins, who occupies an enviable niche in this industry. He manages to exercise his freedom of speech and cross over into something trivial and satiric like ‘The Player’ and ‘Bob Roberts.’ While I don’t want to shout the ‘right’ point of view from the rooftops, motion pictures are a powerful tool transmitted worldwide that help to shape perceptions.”

Naivete and luck

Starting out, he “naively” assumed that, with discipline and talent, he’d make it, says Bratt, whose grandfather George Bratt acted opposite James Cagney and Myrna Loy on Broadway. Though that’s true in law or engineering, acting is an exception. You can prepare and prepare and “when you’re ready to leap, there’s no one there to catch you.”

“I’ve been very lucky,” he adds. “Here I’m playing a love interest, at 40, opposite one of the most beautiful women in the world. At 85, I’ll still be playing love interests ... opposite a 17-year-old -- it’s the Hollywood way. And personally, I have a wonderful family that relaxes me, helps me focus, frees me from worrying about what people say. I don’t need to take over the world. It’s about the work -- not results -- these days. I’m happy with where I am.”

There’s been a lot of water under the bridge since he and Julia Roberts split three years ago, we observe -- saving the tough one for last.

The actor momentarily skips a beat. “The whole subject of Julia has no relevance in my life anymore,” he replies evenly. “People move on.”