a far away land called washington heights lights up from washington heights up at the break of day
i wake up and i got this little punk i gotta chase away pop the great at the crack of dawn
sing while i wipe down the awning hey y'all good morning it was dope it was amazing filming up
there because that was like that's where the stories the stories about washington heights
so the fact that we were there shooting there and you can't make it up right the the the music
coming from people's windows right the fire hydrants open for real kids splashing cars on
when they're driving through the block you know like people riding motorcycles through the shop
you know that's what you want that's the pulse the pulse of the neighborhood you're hearing the
sounds of the traffic and and horns beeping like you can't make that up you can try but
but there's you know there's nothing like being in the mix and being in the place that you're
telling the story about washingtonite is the main character of the story and i'm glad that the main
character in the story was in it to see the ladies in the salon like to see vanessa strutting down
the street to have nina be across the street and looking at real awnings of like oh her father's
storefront is shrinking and gentrification is happening here it was incredible and then i
mean to have like filming for instance the car dispatch benny's dispatch and they're in that
location they're they're in a retrofitted i mean we did some design on it but it was a car dispatch
and it was so sweet seeing benny and nina flirt in that location it was it felt more real you know
and you could imagine oh this is where they were when they first started flirting when they were
you know younger teenagers one of my favorite things was being in abuela claudia's house we
don't do that in the stage production it all takes place out on the block basically um and so to get
to go into abu laklalia's personal space because that personal space has been claimed by the block
because she has claimed the block as her children so i think for them to mourn her in that apartment
i think for them to play bingo in that apartment i think for i would have to give nina advice
you know very personal advice in that apartment it just for me that lands a lot heavier than only
seeing in the in the exterior locations of the stage play there's nothing like the real thing
i mean you know that's that's like a full stop washington heights is really it got some beautiful
beautiful vistas and and a lot of heart and soul in its landmarks you know like the high bridge
pool you know that that pool like so many people have stories that are in centered in that pool
i mean people you know went into labor people got you know engaged people got into fights who
knows you know broke up whatever um family's love happened um it's a big cup filming in the heights
in the heights just brings such an authenticity that really you can see through the screen
and honestly you feel like you're a part of it you feel like you've lived in this neighborhood
your whole life and you're like watching the story about you and we would actually have a cafeteria
at the dominican bakery you know and we we would see our characters walking down the street
oh my god there's a will of claudia it's like she's almost dressed like me and there's daniella
and there's umi and and and we were contributing also economically and it's so we they were it
was like we were mirroring each other it was the perfect place well there was just an an
energy that i'm so glad that linden and johnny fought for doing it actually in the heights i i
couldn't can't conceive that it would be done any anywhere else but you know there's nobody
in toronto yeah exactly yeah you got stoops there in toronto you got stoops
there wasn't there was an awareness you know the audience the community was aware
of the fact that the movie was being made they were aware of the fact that the creator of the
film who lives in that neighborhood the writer of the film she also lives in that neighborhood
i'm so there was this there was a sense it was palpable that that sense of positivity and i think
it just kind of boosted us in in a great way we didn't have we didn't have dedicated uh our lunch
that was very different for me our lunch periods were not you it's usually on movie sets it's
usually catered and they were very specific about using uh local restaurants local restaurants
i thought that was not big ups it was important to john and lynn and kiara and all of us that we
actually go to washington heights and film there and not only film there for the authentic
locations but also to bring the neighborhood in as a character and to support the neighborhood i
mean we we ate lunch in local restaurants every single day for months um we didn't we didn't do
catering hauls intentionally because we wanted to support the community we wanted to use the local
small businesses in that in that community and there are a lot of people from the neighborhood
who were extras in the movie and and uh artists a local gr artist noah who plays graffiti p is a
local artist in that neighborhood so it was really important to bring as m as much of an authenticity
and a a true life character representation in the movie fun fact i am in the i am the voice of
the announcer at the top of the play uh of the musical the broadway off-broadway where uh the
radio announcer goes it's gonna be a scorcher you know it was it was fun being able to do it
um in both of those ways you know to be to do it on the stage and as well as do it on the screen
they're definitely different mediums but you know this guy is uh it's just really about
just just doing your best to tell the truth to just tell the story like the story's there and
and and those characters were different the way i did it on stage was different from the guy that i
you know did on the screen obviously you know you have a different director you have different cast
me you know your vibe with your cast mates right the the the lines were different in the film
right it's not even it was funny like i talked to chris scott our choreographer and i said you
know snobby doesn't typically dance and he said let's not be an hour in our movie he's gonna dance
okay he's gonna get down and that was because chris scott and i were at a salsa club in l.a
and he saw me dancing uh at the club and was like yo bro we gotta get you we gotta get you out here
getting down i i live in washington heights and so when when we went to do the location scouts
i joined and we hit a lot our location scout guy was also from washington heights so we
hit a lot of wonderful areas you know it's a very interesting the topography of the neighborhood is
fascinating um the geology like there's very old bedrock that they basically not figured out how
to totally flatten so there's these steep streets and there's a lot of lookout points and cliffs um
and so you get this kind of like very urban feel right next to something that is as spectacular as
any vacation you would take anywhere in the world in terms of natural landscape
um so it was raining and cold on those locations there was like a lot of umbrellas we're in the van
we're done we're cold i wouldn't say we're tired because we're all excited we looked at a lot of
good spots we had to choose a block that was that was hard that was a big goal of the location scout
and jojo was like is there anywhere else is there anywhere else kiara that i should see so i know
what it life is like in this neighborhood and we were actually very near the block that we ended
up choosing for our block in washington heights and that's just around the corner from the high
bridge pool and i was like well you know we're not too far from the high bridge pool it's not
open this time of year but there's a gate that you could peek in i'm sure the pool's empty
i was like do you want to check it out like that's pretty central like my kids go swim there in the
summer like there's a lot of memories there's a lot of party happening there and then even people
who aren't in the pool are like picnic uh like they have tents and family picnics and stuff all
around it and he's like yeah let's go see it so we rolled up and we kind of snuck around to the back
and could see through the gate and the pools were empty but then we get back in the van and he's
like where how could we use it though how could we use like what haven't we solved yet and i was like
96 000. and he was like huh he was like you mean like a big number i was like yeah you know we
could do like hip-hop synchronized swimming that's how i put it and so then we kind of laughed that
was one of by the way 250 detailed conversations we had that day so he was like let's sleep on it i
was like great let's sleep on it and then a day or two later i got a text from john and he was like
you know are are you serious about this because it's a big budget ask
but what do you think could we make it work story-wise i was like yes absolutely
and in fact that really got us out of the bodega got us to somewhere new and it feels like
summertime is when you're dreaming big you're like floating on your back and imagining you
know you're in the caribbean or something it just really seemed aligned with the vibe of the song
and the party vibe of the song so yeah he was like all right let's do it and we got the budget and
the city was able to make it happen i found out about in the heights actually through hamilton
and you know through lynn um looking through his discography i saw in the in the heights album it
was like oh you know let me get this to listen and just immediately immediately fell in love because
the music it just sounded like what i hear every day you know out in the street it wasn't your
stereotypical musical theater music and from there i kind of took it upon myself to go and
do the research and immediately fell in love with the story because there were so many similarities
between my childhood and my neighborhoods when i started writing in the heights the stage play
um i was new to new york city i had moved i moved to new york in august 2004 and i started writing
in the heights in october 2004. uh i was still in my 20s i had no children um and the world was new
to me and i was possibly like a little timid and a little apologetic for like breathing error you
know and i've just uh i've become a mature woman since then i've had two kids i've you know written
plays that have been successful i've written plays that have not been successful i've i've earned my
stripes and i think i'm much more confident and so as i developed in the heist the stage play
and then just lived with what i had created and saw what i had created i understood what
i had created in a different way you know i mean people are like oh you're nina you're nina and yes
because i'm first generation college student um and it was a it was a big culture shock for me
getting to college um but i'm also kevin and camila who did not make it to the movie
um because i create jobs my jobs are roles but i do consider myself a job creator in the community
like kevin and camilla you know so i i'm i'm more than one character and i'm in a lot of the
different generations you know the actors do they peel back new layers of the onion
with every production but i will say i wasn't for instance seeing anthony ramos in the kennedy
center production and having ideas about the screenplay so much those those ideas came more um
as i really wrestled with how do i not make in the heights feel like a xerox copy of
a different experience but make it its own film experience with the integrity of a film
um i just didn't want it to feel static or like a museum piece or something like that like some sort
of like weird wax figure in madame tussauds museum you know so and it was in solving those sorts of
questions scene by scene what scenes work in a screenplay and what scenes all of a sudden
honestly are like boring for lack of a better word in a screenplay okay so what do we do about that
and why is that so that was those were some of the um the considerations that go into like developing
the characters and thinking in new ways before i did these interviews this morning i looked at my
calendar it was 2011 uh i was on the set in atlanta georgia with a movie that i was producing
for disney and we uh engaged lynne to be an actor in that movie and so we were on the set one day
that summer and he um he came over to me and said another studio was uh was going to make
in the heights as a movie but they've decided not to make it and he asked me would you like to do it
and i was so honored and flattered because i i did not produce the musical on broadway
and uh and i thought wow this is a great opportunity i love this story and so
it began the journey and i remember thinking about okay so who can direct this movie and i had just
met john m chu about a year earlier and i remember hearing from him how passionate he was about
musicals and how passionate he was about music and dance and and i and he was just working on step up
and i put a little note in my brain i wonder if i'll work with this guy one day on broadway or
in a movie musical or something so i called lynn and i said what do you think of john chu directing
the movie and he said oh my god my wife vanessa and i had our first date at step up i love him
that's a great idea so it was kismet it was very clear that lynn wanted to uh i'm that john wanted
to honor this story honor this community honor the spirit of this story and yet understanding that we
had to open it up and widen the lens from you know a 50-foot proscenium stage to now multiple set
pieces going outside in washington heights being on street corners being in locations in washington
heights shooting the bridge itself the real bridge not a drop of a of a painting of a bridge so all
of that was really important and also the casting was it was really essential we were all aligned in
authenticity let's make new stars let's bring artists from all over the world that that have
represent latin culture and let's bring some broadway faces in but let's bring some folks in
from the music side or other areas that have have not been seen in america uh and then of course
lynn what are you gonna do um he you know day one he said i'm not gonna play usnavi and we're
like john and i are like you've gotta be in this movie dude somehow we've got to figure it out uh
yeah it's been it's been a really ten a great 10 year journey but that that also had a lot of bumps
in the road you know we we were supposed to come out last year and we were delayed a year and when
that happened there was a lot of disappointment but we understood and it was the right decision
and here we are coming out um again serendipity this this great little engine that could is coming
out right when everybody's ready to you know hopefully they've been vaccinated they're ready
to start their summer they're ready to be in a room with other people they're ready to enjoy that
communal experience of a movie theater and uh i just got to see it mother's day at a sneak preview
and it was i started crying it was being in a room with an audience and hearing the
laughter and hearing i mean they applaud after the opening credits come up and so
it's it's just great i i'm really excited for the world to get to see this very soon
this is the moment when you do better than me because you can see a future that i can
tell
oh