most people's first encounter with the
word puerto rican
is a greek guy in brown makeup holding a
knife
in america nothing is impossible
[Music]
zoie zeldana has always been someone
that
i've looked to and i was like yo like
she's dominican she's puerto rican she's
afrolatina
she looks like people i know and like me
and i can do it
i can do that so tomorrow is one more
day i get to dance
selena when i first saw selena hello
the body i was like hey she has a big
old booty
that's me look all the singers are doing
it it's the style
i'm sorry in advance that jimmy smits is
gonna have to blush
because he is a part of my answers i
remember going with the hunter hispanic
club
on our half day to go see my family
me familia is that true well yeah like
technically speaking but
but hey it's not like for real or
nothing like that and to this day
bursting into tears thinking about jimmy
smits
going i know you i know you
um that incredible incredible scene
i mean i i followed jimmy from l.a law
to bobby simone to president santos
and here we are i made the right choice
and if i had to do it over again
i would vote exactly the same way
similar to lynn sorry jimmy but
um i remember as a kid i was like such a
huge
superhero like geek um and
one of the things that i really really
loved was star wars
and i remember seeing jimmy
and just thinking like wait that like
that guy kind of looks like me
and like he's in space and we're doing
all these awesome
things yes your harness i'm placing
these droids in your care treat them
well
clean them up have the protocol droids
mind wiped
what as a kid i just kind of like
wanted to reach for that and become that
person of power
there's always been every decade their
their their names uh my
mine would be desi arnaz because that
he came into our living room and he was
vibrant and he spoke the same language
that my mother did
oh
no no oh go ahead
the first time i got really excited
about seeing someone who looked like me
on screen was probably rufio
and hook i got pants sword on the pen
now
i love it when they chant roofio roofio
roofio and he lands and he has that
that dagger and he's like so badass
[Applause]
i have to say irene cara
and insane you know a black latina that
i thought oh my god she looks like my
mom
she looks like she could be related to
me that was
incredibly powerful i seem to have that
effect on people
what can i do when the dominant
narrative in the musical theater
canon for your people is west side story
which
kind of hurts us by virtue of being a
masterpiece
by being one of the best musicals most
people's
first encounter with the word puerto
rican is a greek guy
in brown makeup holding a knife every
one of you hates every one of us and we
hate you right back
let's get at it it's interesting because
growing up you know in mexico
i didn't have
the lack of representation i grew up
watching mexicans on mexican tv i didn't
understand the impact that the lack of
representation can actually have
and the trauma that it can create
because it's basically like an erasure
you made all of this this is me the
heights is written by two
first-generation latino playwrights
kiara and myself
and i think time caught up with us
in a way because i think we're we're
hungry for more
um experiences of telling our own
stories to ourselves
and it's a reminder of what it feels
like to be in community
we had to assert our dignity in small
ways
little details that tell the world we
are not invisible
trying to represent a whole community is
uh not for the fan of heart
um you know that there are things that
maybe you don't understand about a
community especially a latinx community
that i don't know i didn't grow up there
so there was a lot of listening and
there was a lot of knowing that i'm a
beginner
in this there's no shortcuts sometimes
it's rough john and lynn there's a
correlation between
you know what they've been able to do
single-handedly with their works
for for their respective communities but
for all people of color
john had the proof of concept that he
you know could do it that he could dream
that big with crazy rich asians he was
able to
prove that not only to the world but to
himself and he brought that experience
and and that vision to what lin had
already created so many years ago
lynn wrote this musical because he was
like i'm never gonna get cast on the
show on broadway so i'm gonna write it
you know i'm gonna write
what is missing lin single-handedly i
think has done so much
for our for the latinx community in the
industry
and and with his work it's a beautiful
thing to have
people behind the camera that are as
passionate and love the story so much
because it creates an environment of
love
and respect and just good energy and i
think that's what we had on the set of
in the heights
i've been saving up all my pennies in my
piggy bank for this day
this is going to be an emotional roller
coaster the odds are against you
thrilled to be talking to you on imdb
where the uh casting and production of
this have been rumors for 11 years and
now you finally have the final thing
um um and please check us out on hbo max
or in theaters june 11.
[Music]