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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. Before Hamilton, there was the groundbreaking, Tony Award-winning best musical In the Heights, which put both Lin-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, and I caught up with the cast and creative team, including Lin-Manuel Miranda
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what has being a part of this film of in the heights been to each of you personally
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Olga I'll start with you for me it's a blessing to have had this journey
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from from readings to workshops to all the way to Broadway and then to to portray it in the movie
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it's just a dream come true I feel I feel completely blessed and this is the movie that
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we need right now. We need it. It's a gift to me and it's a gift to the world. And I'm just
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so honored and so proud. Beautiful. Jimmy, for you. Well, I just want to say that Olga has had an incredible journey going through the different
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iterations of this. And it doesn't really happen a lot in terms of our industry. So
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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. For me, I am just happy that I was able to see it when I did
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and know 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
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to something that I think really resonates or is going to resonate with audiences on a universal level
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and still be able to be current, and innovative and, and, and John just
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John Chu just took the film to another level in terms of the
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the visual artistry that he, he brought to, uh, Chiara's and Lynn's story that has been, you know
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tweaked for our times. Yeah. I want to go back to Olga first. I, you know
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this doesn't happen. Like Jimmy said, very few people get to do create something on stage and then get to
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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 I would play this part because I always thought somebody else would do it but they they asked me
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if I wanted to audition at the last minute and this is what happened but the first day on the set
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I was I guess since I had done it so many times even though I always say that when you're an artist
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and you do a project, you give it your all. And then when you're done, you close that chapter
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and you move on to something else. This, I had to kind of go back
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And I was looking at my notes. I was trying to find my script and my music
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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 when I was ready to, because 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. It was. More than anything, Richard, the warmth
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The fact that we were actually shooting in Washington Heights and that the community was so, you know, they were part of this and in great, yeah, open arms
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And there was kind of like a realization in the air, not only from the cast, but from people that were in the streets washing that there was something important that it meant a lot to them, that it meant a lot
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Anthony Ramos always used to say, we're doing this for the culture, just before we would roll sometimes
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And also for us, we would say it was important to shoot in Washington Heights because we were where this story takes place in Washington Heights
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So it was very authentic, even though this story is a universal story
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And, you know, it's in Washington Heights, but this could be any community anywhere in the world
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but we would say walking down the street oh there's there's a Ustani there's a Claudia
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look she looks just oh there's Daniela it was like these these walls were like we would see
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them walking down the street it was great yeah I want to ask you each what was one of your most
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memorable days on the set of this film since I have you here Olga first what was one of your
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most emotional or memorable days? Definitely doing a night shoot of a
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chunk of in a subway tunnel when it was I think it was about 100 degrees
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outside and having to be belting at four 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 seven in the morning and I walked out and the producers
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were sitting in their chairs like this. They'd been up all night too
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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
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just so you know, such a glorious moment. Thank you so much. Jimmy, for you
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most memorable day? Well, I got, as a spectator, I was there when they shot 96,000 at the High Bridge Pool with maybe 500 extra
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And I'll tell you, Richie, it was like a testament to movie magic because it wasn't a great day
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It was a little overcast. It was raining. And John just, he's a force of nature, you know, to just make that happen
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And people, 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 Piraguero, Lynn was, John put him on a fire escape
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and there was this thing happening, 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 the seeds of his project being realized
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And it was very emotional. People started chanting his name. And it was very emotional because it was coming to fruition
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So when you first saw the finished product, Jimmy, what went through your mind after you saw the film
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I got well I cried several times but I got goosebumps because
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because of these these kind of like brushstrokes and odes to old Hollywood in some of the numbers
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and and at the same time being so current that I think that I really the stories just just
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resonated with me and I think that the themes are universal and 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 i was completely
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overwhelmed i had to go to the ladies room and take a moment because because of my personal
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history with the piece and also the way that john chew his cinematic vision the way he just
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he just, he, it's, it's a different, it's in a different platform, you know, it's just
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beyond what he did, I, I couldn't believe what he did with this musical, this Broadway musical
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you know, and, and like Jimmy, I, I cried, I cried, and I was overjoyed, and this movie is pure joy
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it's what we need right now and absolutely emotional moments but it also has a lot of light
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and and a lot of joy and I think um I so it was it was that intensity of feeling that I was just
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very overwhelmed and then 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. So we've got the summer
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Ice cold, piragua, palcha, china, cherry. We've got each other. On these blocks, you can't walk two steps
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without bumping into someone's big plans. I'm all alone. No people. You made all of this
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You're an artist. Start small, dream big. Because you can see a future that I can't
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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. We are not powerless
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We are powerful. Go show them who we are. In the Heights, rated PG-13
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In theaters and on HBO Max, June 11th
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