Hollywood Q&A

Q: Where is Lucas Black and what projects is he currently involved with?

A: He’s chosen to focus on a project with a longer term than even the most massive film or TV franchises (and he has experience with both). Former “NCIS: New Orleans” and Fast and the Furious series star Lucas Black has stepped back from acting to focus on his family.

In a full-cast interview video announcing his departure from “NCIS: NO,” Black gave a sense of his reasoning: “The show has been so good to me over the years, exceeded my expectations and goals. But this job isn’t easy for me. There’s a lot of priorities that get sacrificed for me to be there, but it’s time for me to focus on those priorities in my life.”

While he didn’t say the ‘f’ word explicitly, co-star C.C.H. Pounder (“Sons of Anarchy”) did it for him.

“[Through] the growing of becoming a movie star and becoming a this and becoming a that, the most important thing is to be a family man,” Pounder said. “And I think he’s chosen that over all the other choices.”

After he left the show in 2019, he had one more goodbye to say: to his character in the Fast and the Furious franchise. He reprised his role as Sean Boswell in 2021’s “F9: The Fast Saga,” his third foray in the sprawling series.

You can read all about Black’s decision in his Twitter feed. After he finishes promoting “F9” postrelease, all his tweets start dealing exclusively with domestic stuff like homeschooling and faith (he’s a devout Christian).

Q: Are Ron Perlman and Rhea Perlman related?

A: Despite startlingly similar backgrounds, no. Ron and Rhea Perlman aren’t related.

They’re about the right age for it, though: Rhea (best known, probably forever, as Carla from “Cheers”) is almost exactly two years older than “Sons of Anarchy” and “Hellboy” (2004) star Ron.

They also both hail from New York City, though to be fair, it’s a pretty big city. Ron’s from the Washington Heights neighborhood in upper Manhattan, while

Rhea was born in Coney Island in the south end of Brooklyn. They both also have Polish roots.

But one way you can tell they’re not related is via a third Perlman — Phil Perlman.

In an odd reversal of the usual story, Phil followed his daughter, Rhea, into the acting business. Ever since, he’s been in a number of her films and shows over the years (most notably “Cheers”), as well as those of her husband — his son-in-law — Danny DeVito (“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”), but he’s never worked with Ron.

Q: I remember seeing Benjamin Bratt in a gang movie in the ‘90s. I think it was called “Bound by Honor,” but I’ve never been able to find it since. Do you know why?

A: Discoverability seems to have long been a problem for this movie, thanks partly to some hijinks surrounding its title.

It was originally written and promoted as “Blood In, Blood Out,” but was given a limited release in 1993 as “Bound by Honor” instead. Director Taylor Hackford says the production company, Disneyowned Hollywood Pictures, feared that the original title sounded too violent for the period following the L.A. riots.

He also says this is the reason it only got a limited release, and why its release was delayed in Los Angeles specifically, due to the timing of the related Rodney King verdict. Those limitations, in turn, were why it tanked at the box office.

That could sound like a filmmaker looking for someone else to blame, were it not for the fact that

it later did very well on home video under its original title, “Blood In, Blood Out.” (To make matters more confusing, some vendors used the extended title “Blood In, Blood Out: Bound by Honor.”)

Disney certainly had a point about the film’s violence. It tells of three brothers (one of whom was played, as you say, by future “Law & Order” star Benjamin Bratt) growing up in L.A. in the ‘70s who get pulled into the gang culture plaguing the city.