Dreaming to ‘The Heights’
Trailers for June film show amazing musical ambition
The sky was the
Heights.”
The makers behind the film adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony-winning musical about a predominantly Latino community in Manhattan’s Washington Heights aimed to make a massive movie that matched the size of its characters’ dreams.
Director Jon M. Chu’s vision for the film is on full display in a pair of colorful and upbeat trailers released Sunday night.
“Jon, I think, dreamed bigger than any of us dared to dream in terms of the size and scope of this,” Miranda said Saturday at a virtual trailer preview event attended by the Daily News.
“When it comes to the production numbers, dreaming so big,” Miranda, 41, said. “I mean, this is a big movie musical. I think we’re so used to asking for less, just to ask to occupy space as Latinos, like, ‘Please just let us make our little movie.’ Jon, every step of the way was like, ‘No, this is a big movie. These guys have big dreams. We’re allowed to go that big.’ ”
Slated for a June 18 release in theaters and on HBO Max, “In The Heights” stars limit for “In The
Anthony Ramos as a young bodega owner who wants to make a better life for himself.
The new trailers show Ramos and costars Leslie Grace, Melissa Barrera and Corey Hawkins singing snippets of standout songs from the musical, including “96,000 and the titular opening number “In The Heights.”
The “In The Heights” stage show was a revelation when it arrived on Broadway in 2008, with hip hop music infused throughout the production to help tell the story. It won four Tony awards that year, including best musical.
Ramos, 29, was similarly moved by the movie.
“I’ve never seen anything where there’s 75 Latinos in the middle of the street dancing, full choreography, full everything, and singing about pride and where they come from,” Ramos said during Saturday’s event. “In my life, I’ve never seen it, so I get emotional when I think about this movie and what it means to me and the culture.”
Ramos previously worked with Miranda on the Broadway blockbuster “Hamilton,” in which he played the dual roles of John Laurens and Philip Hamilton.
The screenplay for the “In The Heights” movie, which Miranda produced, was written by Quiara Alegría Hudes, who also wrote the book for the stage production.
The film adaptation — shot in Washington Heights during the summer of 2018 — was originally scheduled to come out last June, but was pushed to this summer because of the COVID-19 pandemic. An initial trailer came out in December 2019.
Chu, who previously directed “Crazy Rich Asians,” said the filmmakers behind “In The Heights” wanted to build a cast with actors from “all walks of life.”
“We have legends. We have newbies. We have people who’ve been grinding,” Chu, 41, said Saturday.
“I think that energy, when that comes up on that screen, the audience will be filled. Filled when they need it, filled because they deserve it, and it’s all because Lin had this idea in his head that he wasn’t gonna get a part unless he wrote it for himself. ... That was more inspirational to me and more impactful for me about my career and what I want to do than anything I’ve ever experienced in my life.”