Watch The First 'In The Heights' Trailer

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

You'll still have to wait until summer 2020 to watch In the Heights on the big screen, but now you can finally see the trailer. Working on the film adaptation of his hit musical was a dream come true for Lin-Manuel Miranda. “It's so exciting. You have no idea how validating it is,”I've told People GIRL. “The show, which I wrote with Quiara Hudes, was a love letter to our neighborhood. We both lived in Washington Heights. I grew up in northern Manhattan, just a little north of Washington Heights, and the show is a love letter to that community - in the way in which it's always changing, in the way in which it never changes - but its debut was on a Broadway stage, so it was a Broadway version of that neighborhood. Now to go and take those same songs and those same characters and actually put them on the screen is amazing.”

The film, directed by Jon M. Chu of Crazy Rich Asians, is the epitome of Latinx representation, with a stellar cast that includes Jimmy Smits, Anthony Ramos, Dascha Polanco, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Marc Anthony, and Miranda himself as “the canoe guy”who sells flavored ice cones in the streets of Washington Heights. “We filmed entirely on location. We took over a block on 175th Street and filmed there all summer, and the way we were embraced by the community was so incredible,”Miranda added.

Dascha Polanco also talked to People CHICA about her role in the film. “I play one of the roles of the salon ladies. That's something that I'm really proud of,”the Dominican American star said. “These are crucial times when we need to be involved as a community, and I think that In the Heights is going to be very important for us, to tell our story, to remind [people] that we are all part of this country - as much as we feel attacked, that we do belong, and are part of the fabric of it.”

Mexican actress Melissa Barrera shared the same feeling with People en Español. "It's a beautiful reminder that we are a powerful community when we are united, that we have big dreams and can achieve anything we want," she said. “It's a celebration of our culture, of our people. I think people will cry in the movie theater because the film has so much heart. For so long we have been looked down upon and this is a celebration of us, of where we come from, what we have fought for and where we are headed.”

Bachata princess Leslie Grace also makes her acting debut in the movie. "I'm starting a whole new chapter of my career, which is the acting side. … I started auditioning for different things for a couple of years before I landed this role, which has been one of the biggest blessings in my life,”the Dominican American star told People CHICA. She plays Nina Rosario. "She is the girl who made it out," the singer said about her character. "She gets into Stanford, she has always been the smartest kid in the neighborhood and everybody puts the weight of all of their dreams on her." Start counting down to the premiere now!