The cast of “In the Heights” including Anthony Ramos (Usnavi de la Vega), Jimmy Smits (Kevin Rosario), Dascha Polanco (Cuca), Corey Hawkins (Benny), Melissa Barrera (Vanessa), Leslie Grace (Nina), Daphne Rubin-Vega (Daniela), Gregory Diaz IV (Sonny), Olga Merediz (Abuela Claudia) and director Jon M. Chu discuss their new Lin-Manuel Miranda musical movie adaptation in this interview with CinemaBlend’s Corey Chichizola. Find out why Anthony Ramos prefers "In the Heights" over Lin-Manuel Miranda's "Hamilton" and more!
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00:00Congratulations. This movie is popping. I'm so excited for people to see it and fall in
00:19love.
00:20Corey, I'd like to start with you. One of the things that really strikes out with me
00:23about this movie is how elevated and magical it is. I mean, you get involved in some of
00:28the kind of trippiest, coolest sequences between, you know, your song at the end and
00:33then 96,000 and all that animation that happens. Could you speak to what it was like working
00:39with those fantastical elements and trying to nail the choreography for those like animation
00:44moments?
00:45Oh, wow. Yeah, I'll speak actually speak about 96,000 because we haven't really talked a
00:52lot about that. But like, I remember, you know, being with the guys and like, you know,
00:57we found this street that like leads to the pool. And John was like, Yeah, so we just
01:01gonna kind of, you know, figure it out with it. He had this vision of this of the story
01:07from the very beginning, both the you know, the at the very end when the sun goes down
01:12and all the other, like these, but he also allowed us to kind of like, tweak them and
01:18and just just be ourselves and bring whatever we ideas we thought we could bring to it.
01:23So like, you know, the whole being like walking down the street, I mean, we did it 1000 times
01:29because it can only imagine it has to be perfect. Like it was like all of the animation and
01:34like, we didn't know what it was going to be like, we didn't know what that was gonna
01:39be. Yeah, it just surprised us. And when we finally saw it, we were like, wow, it actually
01:43worked. Because at first, it was going to be something bigger, all these colors. And
01:47when we hit the golf club and all of this different stuff, and then he found a way to
01:51simplify it and just do just enough, just what the story called for. So but that's just
01:56the genius of Jon Chu. Like he gets that he understands that and lets us go and dream
02:03and be our biggest selves on screen. And dream our biggest dreams. You know,
02:08it was cool. We just have to use our imagination. And it was, it was cool to see like this
02:13element be added into the film, right? This in this use of VFX and this use of like, you
02:20know, Leslie and Corey scene where the building is on the side and we see them dance on the
02:24side of a building of they dancing and you see their feet on the window and the kid is
02:30like, you know, looking out the window like, yo, these people dancing on the side of this
02:33building, like, you know, to see, you know, it's not often that we get to see body
02:39roles and we get to see neighborhoods like Washington Heights or like even when I grew
02:44up in Bushwick and many neighborhoods all across New York, especially profoundly, you
02:47know, black and brown neighborhoods be portrayed in that way in a musical. And, and it
02:55was just so beautiful to see that. And to see Jon just really like, you know, push the
03:03boundaries when Melissa's running through the street, and you see the garments, you
03:07see the cloths falling, you know, beautifully off of the top of these buildings, and they
03:14represent her dreams, falling off these buildings that are so familiar to her. Like, you
03:19know, that was that for me, added a whole vibe to the movie that I didn't even know
03:26was going to be in there until we, you know, until we started shooting. And Jon was
03:30telling her, this moment is going to have this 96,000, you're going to create this golf
03:34club. And, you know, so I loved it. I loved it.
03:37Jon had told us beforehand. I mean, really, really early in the process before we even
03:42started shooting, when we were in rehearsals, just kind of going through the motions that
03:48he wanted to add this animation aspect to it. And he showed us a video and immediately
03:56Anthony, Noah, Corey, and I just fell in love with the concept and couldn't wait to see
04:01it.
04:0296,000, I finally fixed housing, rent is escalating, the rich are penetrating, we pay our
04:07corporations when we should be demonstrating.
04:13What's up, Corey? I love seeing them a bit blend.
04:16Oh, we will be right back. I was wondering if you could speak to why it was important
04:22for you to kind of add these fantastical elements to the movie.
04:26Well, it was never about adding big moments to this movie. It was always about going
04:32internal, actually. It was always about, hey, we're not going to have a villain in this.
04:36There's not going to be guns and knives, and we're not going to be fighting gentrification.
04:39Like, this is post-gentrification. Things are changing already. The question of what
04:44are you going to do now? That was a more interesting question, that everyone had different solutions
04:49for that. However, once you get into that, and Usnabi is telling this story to children,
04:56and he says the streets were made of music. Now we give ourselves permission to use this
05:01language of movement and music to express whatever we want, and each individual character
05:07can use it however they want. So if you're Vanessa, and you want us to feel what it feels
05:11like to feel trapped and unseen and unheard, then you can run on that street in the middle
05:16of traffic and scream at the top of your lungs, and no one noticed you one for one second,
05:22and you're not going to cry because you don't cry. So instead, tapestry is going to fall
05:26from the buildings in all colors and patterns, and we're going to feel the impact of that
05:30as big as it is, because we know how it feels to feel trapped. And then we're going to pull
05:34out of her eye and realize she hasn't gone anywhere. That's, to me, the perfect expression
05:40of why a musical should exist in the first place. And so we just try to do that for every
05:45character in every song.
05:47This is me.
05:47Melissa, your character's story got really fleshed out as well, and we learned more about
05:52Vanessa's dreams. What was it like bringing that new element to the story?
05:56I loved it. I thought it was a great gift to be able to know her a little bit more,
06:02and the fact that I'm the first person that gets to live out these new sides of Vanessa
06:10was a beautiful thing, and it gave me so much to work with. And it made it so much easier
06:17for me to make this character my own, because it was, you know, I think Vanessa in the musical,
06:26she's a little bit of a mystery. You don't really know a lot about her. You know she
06:29wants to leave, but you don't know why. And so getting to know a little bit about her
06:34dreams and her ambitions is, I think, beautiful, and it goes to show how every character has
06:42dreams and they're all equally as important.
06:45I saw In the Heights first. I saw it on Broadway. I was a huge fan. So when Hamilton came out,
06:49I kept being like, y'all are sleeping on the show. That came out first. So now that Hamilton
06:56went crazy again last summer with your performance, for those folks who loved Hamilton, who don't
07:02know In the Heights, what do you think is going to really bring people in?
07:06Number one, it's the same guy that wrote both of them, right? Bruno Mars, 24K Magic hits.
07:13We're trying to hear the next record, right? So it's like, you know, it's, you know, this
07:18is Lynn, but this, you know, it's funny because like you said, this was Lynn's first baby.
07:24And this one took him longer, if I'm remembering correctly, you know, eight years as opposed to six,
07:30you know, that Hamilton took. And, you know, I think there's something so special about this
07:37show because not only is it personal to the person who wrote it and made it, right? Like more
07:42personal, right? Like, I think, you know, Lynn took a story from a book with Hamilton and really
07:47created it into this fantastical thing with these larger than life concepts and, you know,
07:53and with a casting that broke barriers and really like showed the world that, you know, we can tell
07:58this story that's always been told this one way, this way, you know, and that reflects the world
08:05nowadays. But for people who love Hamilton, who haven't seen In the Heights, you know, this is,
08:10I think, on a more, this story is a story that we, this is a film, this is a piece of art that
08:19I've never seen, the kid in me has never seen, the movie going child in me has never watched a film
08:27like this. This post and the music that we hear and the combination of Latinos from all over the
08:37world and like how colorful this cast is and this vibe and this music that feels like the music we
08:43listen to right now and, you know, and feels, and the story just feels so current. I think,
08:50you know, people have a lot to look forward to, you know, especially folks who have seen Hamilton
08:54and loved it. I'm like, yo, this film is, you know, dare I say, I mean, this is my favorite
09:00piece of Lin's, you know, without that, if I, without... I've had that hot, I've had that hot
09:06take as well. Don't worry, I'm with you. I'm definitely, I'm like controversial opinion is
09:12like my number one, but you know. You know you love me. I was very curious to see if there were
09:18any points where Sunrise was involved in this, in the movie or if you tried to fight for that song
09:24because I just think that one is just so gorgeous. We all love Sunrise. Like we were all upset about
09:34that song not being in this, in this adaptation, but we knew that there were gonna, there's so
09:40many beautiful songs in this musical. We knew that some of them weren't gonna be able to make
09:43it in. Like Nina doesn't have a mom in this version and, you know, we feel like a lot of
09:50those decisions that, you know, obviously very hard decisions that John, Lin, Kiara had to make
09:55in order to make our movie, you know, fit. They amplified and only like heightened the stakes
10:05for every character and also really made the moments where you do get to see them in these,
10:12in songs like, you know, When the Sun Goes Down and When You're Home and like they made those
10:18moments so important. It made us give all of our, all of our characters like their due emotion and
10:26like bring, bring all of us. It made us bring us, you know, all of ourselves to our characters in
10:32the moments that they did have their song or their songs because we knew that, you know, you weren't
10:38gonna be able to get the full, full context of Sunrise, you know. Yeah, well I think it did,
10:44it succeeds so well, like there's all this stuff gets cut but yet the characters feel deeper.
10:49So yeah, I think that is really interesting and that's, that's to Kiara's, you know, genius writing as
10:55well and like them going back and forth with us. Lin also giving us context to how he wrote and
11:00what he envisioned for every song and what each line tells of every character. Right. It made us
11:05dig deeper, you know. Any songs or moments that didn't make it into the movie that you wish, oh
11:13if we just had an extra however many minutes and we could squeeze this bad boy in. So many, so many.
11:19But you know, I love that you talk about moments because that's what makes all these, you know,
11:23the moment where Usnavi looks out the window and we're pushing in and it's, you know, that shot is
11:28sort of a meet me in St. Louis that everything's framed in that movie. It's about home. We're
11:33pushing in on him and he's looking out and he's yearning for something and there's a glass in
11:37front of him. He's trapping, trapping him in his bodega and yet the reflection in it is his community
11:42and they're not just like being solemn. They're actually daring him to break that glass.
11:47They're daring him to dream bigger and so I love those kind of moments, that pressure that we get
11:52to feel there. There are moments where him and Nina have some scenes together that were just
11:57so adorable because they're basically brother and sister talking about the future and she says to
12:02him like, how do you know it's going to be the same when you get back to the DR? And he's like,
12:06it's fine. It's going to be the same when he gets out. We didn't need it but I loved seeing them
12:11together. So some of these character pairings, even Jimmy Smits and Corey, they had some scenes
12:17together that were really adorable that I thought was great but you know, we already had a long
12:22movie so we had to make some choices. When this project was coming together and it came out that
12:26you were playing Kevin Rosario, I was like, that casting is unbelievable. So you know, I was so
12:34Come on, Corey. You said what?
12:40Well, I mean, it was nice to hear you singing the voice in the opening number.
12:48Nice voice, by the way.
12:50Beautiful. I was kind of ready. I didn't know which songs we're gonna,
12:54we're switching or switching order. I didn't know what was gonna be in the
13:01song. Was there ever a part of you that wanted to dig your teeth into Kevin's big number?
13:08Well, Corey, so you obviously got that musical thing happening, which is so cool.
13:16It's a wonderful thing that you're talking about with regards to the iteration and change from
13:24the Broadway musical, which is two and a half hours to this film version that we have,
13:31that has become with Kiara's draft, Lynn and Kiara's work was expanded and become much more
13:43current in terms of the themes. I mean, the basic storyline is there with the neighborhood and all
13:50of those things. And then John's visualization on the cinematic level, and he is these odes that
13:57you have that you talked about, Corey, in terms of old Hollywood and what audiences. I was totally
14:04fine when I saw that script. I said, this, they found a way to, they cracked this nut,
14:12this nut, which is a gem to begin with, but they found a way to really crack this nut. So
14:17I just, I can't wait for our little, this is our little joy as the pandemic, as we open up in the
14:25pandemic and hopefully people will get to see it in theaters. But it was a joy to work on.
14:34Olga, I was so pleased to see you back in this role, but like many characters in the movie,
14:39Abel Acadia's story goes down a little different, the timing of Sensei Faye is a little later.
14:45And I just, just wondering how it felt for you, what your process was like in this new version of
14:50the story. Well, you know, when you're used to doing it one way, and then you have to kind of
14:56adapt and go with the flow. But I think the way the, the way the movie and the way they decided to,
15:03to get that little surprise of the placement of Paciencia Faye, I think it has much more impact now.
15:10And it's much more powerful. For me, it was much more emotional the way the movie, it has the
15:18placement versus the play. And, you know, there's some little surprises for, for the, for the, the,
15:26the people that are fans of the show and a couple of changes. But I think that this John Chu's
15:33version is just, he really brought it to another, a height that I never even imagined with his
15:40visual creativity and genius. It just, we never thought it could be a scene this way. It's just,
15:51he's amazing. You know? There were a lot of actors, you know, who like are solid in, in their chops
15:59that participated. You know, I think we all came ready, right? With A-game when you have
16:05Lin Kiara and John helming a project. You know, the difference, the first thing that comes to
16:14mind is that the rehearsal process and the preparation is, is different. So in a way,
16:21you have to, you know, do your preparation ample time prior and then kind of keep it idling
16:27so that when it's go time, it's go time. But, you know, this support, you know, we had,
16:35we had all the support in, in place.
16:44Dasha, I was so excited to meet your new character. I loved Kuka. I just loved her,
16:51you know, eating that ropa vieja, watching all the drama happen at dinner.
16:55I just saw her chow down while everything was going down. What was it like creating
16:59this new character for the movie? It was fun. It was empowering. It was a true,
17:08you know, I did my due diligence to ensure that I showed the light of not just the salon
17:15woman or part of the salon ladies. I wanted it to show the, the figures of our communities,
17:21of the women that are constantly there, that watch us grow, that raise us, that,
17:25you know, are the therapist who are loved ones then and beyond. And so for me being the life
17:31of the party, but also celebrating and being led by Daniela, Daphne and Stephanie, it was, it was
17:38so, you know, it was so free and to see, to look to the left and to look to the right and see,
17:45wow, this is a really, this is a true resemblance of what we are, you know, it was so racially
17:51diverse and the music, the, the intentions behind, the energies were high, the stakes were high,
17:58but everybody was prepared, like Daphne said, and we were ready with the guidance of Lynn,
18:03Chiara and John, that, that just makes the job fluid. It makes it just vibe out. It's easier
18:10for you to just perform. I'm so excited for everyone to see the movie and fall in love with
18:15this experience. Thanks for taking the time. Go have some ropa vieja. I already placed my order
18:21with the in-laws. I got out of that movie and I was like, I'm going to need some ropa vieja
18:25immediately. Today's all we got, so we cannot stop. This is our block and our rights.