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Jimmy Smits & Olga Merediz Explain Why IN THE HEIGHTS Will Resonate with Audiences
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Oct 26, 2022
It took a whole lot of paciencia y fe for In the Heights fans to make it this far. Now, in just days, the highly-anticipated film adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda's first big hit arrives on the big screen. Equally patient have been the stars of the movie, who wrapped filming almost two years ago.
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Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World
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Before Hamilton, there was the groundbreaking Tony Award-winning Best Musical in the Heights
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which put both Lynn Manuel Miranda and the northern tip of Manhattan on the Broadway map
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Well, now the eye-popping, heartwarming, and dazzling film version, which is directed by John M. Chu, is coming to screens everywhere
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and I caught up with the cast and creative team, including Lynn Manuel Miranda
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what has being a part of this film of In The Heights
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been to each of you personally? Olga, I'll start with you. For me, it's a blessing to have had this journey
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from readings to workshops to Broadway to Broadway and then to portray it in the movie
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It's just a dream come true. I feel completely blessed. And this is the movie that we need right now
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We need it. It's a gift to me and it's a gift to me. and it's a gift to the world
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And I'm just so honored and so proud. Beautiful. Jimmy, for you
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Well, I just want to say that Olga has had an incredible journey going through the different iterations of this
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And it doesn't really happen a lot in terms of our industry
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So it is a testament to her talent and to the openness of Lynn and John
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and she just eats it up, as we say. It's incredible. I, for me, I am just happy that I was able to see it when I did and know that that that seed was just going to flourish into this beautiful tree that it's become, you know
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and to be able to offer a contribution in some small way to something that I think really resonates
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or is going to resonate with audiences on a universal level and still be able to be current and innovative
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and John just, John Chu just took the film to another level
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in terms of the visual artistry that he brought to Kiara's and Lynn's story that has been
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tweaked for our times. Yeah. I want to go back to Olga first
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You know, this doesn't happen like Jimmy said. Very few people get to do, create something on stage
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and then get to recreate that in the film. Olga what was your first day like on the set of the film Well I just wanted to say that I never thought I would play this part because I always thought somebody else would do it But they asked me if I wanted to audition at the last
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minute. And this is what happened. But the first day on the set, I was, I guess since I had done it
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so many times, even though I always say that when you're an artist and you do a project, you give it
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you're all. And then when you're done, you close that chapter and you move on to something else
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This I had to kind of go back. And I was looking at my notes. I was trying to find my script and my
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music to kind of go back to that time when I was working on it so intensely in the theater
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And so I, when I was, I was ready to, to, because she was, I had, she was back inside me
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And I was ready that first day. I was like, you throw anything at me, I'm ready
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I know this lady. You know what I mean? I am this lady. Beautiful
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Jimmy, for you, what do you remember about your first day filming on the set of In the Heights
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Heat! It was so hot. But more than anything, Richard, the warmth, the fact that we were actually shooting in Washington Heights
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and that the community was so, so. you know, they were part of this
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and in break, yeah, open arms. And there was kind of like a realization in the air
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not only from the cast, but from people that were in the streets washing
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that there was, there was, there was something important that it meant a lot to them, that it meant a lot
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Yeah. Anthony Ramos always used to say, we're doing this for the culture
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just before we would roll sometimes. And it just, it's just, it's definitely
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And also for us, we would say it was important to shoot in Washington Heights because we were
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where it's this, this story takes place in Washington Heights. So it was very authentic
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Even though this story is a universal story and it, you know, it's in Washington Heights
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but this could be any community, anywhere in the world. But we would say, walking down the street, oh, there's, there's a Luznadi, there's a
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Elvola Claudia. Look, she looks just, oh, there's Damila. It was like these walls were like, we would see them walking down the street
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It was great. Yeah. I want to ask you each, what was one of your most memorable days on the set of this film
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Since I have you here, Olga, first. What was one of your most emotional or memorable days
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Definitely doing a night shoot of a chunk of Pacianzsche fe in a subway total tunnel excuse me subway tunnel when it was I think it was about 100 degrees outside and having to be belting at 4 in the morning during the night
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And, you know, I would do it again in a heartbeat. But that was definitely a memorable moment
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And I remember after I finished, it was like 7th in the morning. And I walked out and the producers were sitting in their chair like this
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They'd been up all night too, but I had been working. And they were like, and I'm like, good morning
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And they're like. That was such a glorious moment in the film, just so you know, such a glorious moment
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Thank you so much. Jimmy, for you, most memorable day. Well, well, I got, as a spectator, I was there when they shot 96,000 at the high
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bridge pool with maybe 500 extra. And I'll tell you, Richie, it wasn't, it was like a testament to
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movie, what movie magic, because it wasn't, it wasn't a great day. It was a little overcast
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It was raining. And John just, force of nature, you know, to just make that happen. And people
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it's just incredible. And that sequence, when I watch that sequence, I get the chills
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because it is a testament to it. But the carnival sequence for me meant so much
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because there was a moment where Lynn's character, the Pira Guero, he was
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Lynn was, John put him on a fire escape, and there was this thing happening
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this sequence with all these flags and, you know, just sheer joy
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And people started looking up, and Lynn was just looking, down at his, the seeds of his projects being realized and it was very emotional. People started
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chanting his name and it was very emotional because it was coming to fruition. So when you first saw
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the finished product, Jimmy, what went through your mind after you saw the film? I got
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well, I cried several times, but I got goosebumps because, um, you know, it
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because of these kind of like brush strokes and odes to old Hollywood in some of the numbers
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and at the same time being so current, that I think that really the stories just resonated with me
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And I think that the themes are universal. And it just means a lot that we can be very specific and tell a broad story at the same time Beautiful Olga for you the first time you saw the finished product of this film what went through your mind
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I was completely overwhelmed. I had to go to the ladies' room and take a moment because of my personal history with
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the piece and also the way that John Chu, his cinematic vision, the way he just, he just
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it's a different it's in a different uh platform you know it's just beyond what he did i i couldn't
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believe what he did with this musical this Broadway musical you know um and and like jimmy i cried
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i cried and i was overjoyed and this movie is pure joy it's what we need right now and Absolutely
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It has emotional moments, but it also has a lot of light and a lot of joy
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And I think I, so it was that intensity of feeling that I was just very overwhelmed
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And then seeing my character up there in such a way, it was like, I can't believe this is happening
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Let me just listen to my block. Early July. Summer. Iceco, Piragua
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Pachina, Cheri. Pira, how's ta? And we've got each other. On these blocks, she can't walk two steps without bumping into someone's big plans
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No people. You made all of this? You are artists. That's when I'm..
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Start small, dream big. Because you can see a future that I can
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Let me take this moment just to say. I just want to change the world no day
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I just want to see the whole world through our eyes Tell the world we are not invisible
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Let's go There's something on your shirt Can we raise our voice tonight
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Can we make a little noise tonight We are not powerless. We are powerful
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We are powerful. Go show who we are. From Puerto Rico to Santa Domingo, we rap on people, let me go
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In The Heights, really PG-13, in theaters and on HBO Max, June 11th
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