The trailer for the highly anticipated film, In the Heights from Lin Manuel-Miranda of Hamilton fame and Jon M. Chu, director of Crazy Rich Asians has just dropped. There’s singing, dance routines in the middle of intersections and subway tunnels, and tons of filming locations New Yorkers will recognize. It’s a musical based on the Broadway show of the same name that Manuel-Miranda wrote a decade before Hamilton. The story takes place in Washington Heights, where Manuel-Miranda was raised and is based on the book by Quiara Alegría Hudes.
COREY HAWKINS as Benny and LESLIE GRACE as Nina in Warner Bros. Pictures’ “IN THE HEIGHTS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo by Macall Polay. © 2019 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
The story follows a bodega owner in Washington Heights and the neighbors who live and work on his block, including a salon owner, a cab company owner, a Stanford dropout, and more, facing real-life scenarios that New Yorkers, especially immigrants and children of immigrants battle. There’s even a very New York City blackout. There will be dreams made, dreams broken, and plenty of uplifting moments framed within present-day questions like the fate of the DREAMERS.
ANTHONY RAMOS as Usnavi and MELISSA BARRERA as Vanessa in Warner Bros. Pictures’ “IN THE HEIGHTS.” Photo by Macall Polay. © 2019 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
For filming locations, we already see the George Washington Bridge, the street art covered tunnel at 191st Street (one of the deepest stations in the subway system), the pool at Highbridge Park with High Bridge Water Tower looming behind, and of course the streets of Washington Heights, a neighborhood that is predominantly Hispanic and Latino. With Manuel-Miranda hailing from Washington Heights, we bet the locations and how the neighborhood is portrayed is going to be spot-on.
ANTHONY RAMOS as Usnavi in Warner Bros. Pictures’ “IN THE HEIGHTS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures.
The movie stars Anthony Ramos (from the original cast of Hamilton) as Usnavi de la Vega, Leslie Grace as Nina Rosario, Corey Hawkins (from Walking Dead and Straight Outta Compton) as Benny, Melissa Barrera as Vanessa, Jimmy Smits (NYPD Blue) as Kevin Rosario and Olga Merediz as Abuela Claudia. Marc Anthony and Manuel-Miranda also have roles. In the Heights will be released on June 26, 2020.
Next, check out 20 must-visit locations in Washington Heights.
