The film that has been generating a lot of buzz leading up to today’s theatrical release is In the Heights, written by Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton) and directed by Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians). It releases today June 11 in theaters nationwide and on HBO Max. Its a film to be appreciated to the fullest on a “big screen” for many reasons.

Almost every single critic has raved about the film, the direction and the casting. You will see an amazing cadre of “new” talented actors (at least on he big screen), starting with the lead Anthony Ramos. Ramos is on his way up with a bullet. Ramos met Miranda when he was cast in his hit play Hamilton. Since then he has worked on four project with him. Even before the release of In the Heights, which is his first starring role in a movie, Ramos’ talent has already led to roles in HBO’s In Treatment, and the Paramount Pictures upcoming untitled Transformers project.

In addition to Ramos, the two female leads Melissa Barrera (Vida) and singer Leslie Grace make their film screen debut and they do it spectacularly! These are now two talents that will be getting a lot more work in Hollywood. As a matter of fact Barrera has already landed her next three films. She just finished shooting Carmen where she plays the lead in the Sony Pictures Classics while also just wrapping Scream for Paramount pictures. The actress just signed a deal to star in Breathe, a six-episode drama series for Netflix.

Grace is a Latin Grammy Award-nominated singer who in 2015 signed a distribution deal with Sony Music Latin and a worldwide contract with Sony/ATV. After her performance in In the Height, where she shines as Nina, we predict you will be hearing about her next role soon.

There is a wave of support for In The Height, which is literally “opening up” theaters with it’s release this weekend. Celebrities who have seen the movie and asking people to go see it include Oprah, Dwayne Johnson, Ariana Grande and Hugh Jackman among others.

Social media is a-buzz with excitement for the premiere with several organizations coming out in full force to support.

NALIP, an organization that addresses the professional needs of Latino filmmakers content creators, launched #LatinxGoldOpen Theater Buyout Movement. An extension of the campaign that began with Asian films, it is now expanding to help secure box office success for Latino movies.

Joining to the supporters are Eugenio Derbez who said, “Thanks to NALIP and Gold House we get behind our creative community and Lin Manuel Miranda is one of the creators we are all most proud of. I’m also in Atlanta shooting our next movie and selfishly want to see In the Heights on the big screen ASAP!”

Actress Tatyana Ali of The Young and the Restless fame stated, “Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jon M. Chu’s upcoming film, In the Heights is a much needed celebration of the diverse perspectives and identities that make up our Latinx communities. To experience the sounds and sights of one’s own culture on the big screen is a balm to the soul. This film is also an invitation to listen to the dreams of others—a declaration of the sueñitos we all share. Join the #LatinxGoldOpen movement to ensure that more stories like In the Heights are told!”

Several multi-cultural organizations including CAPE, African-American Film Critics Association, Define American, The Blackhouse Foundation, and more have joined the effort behind #LatinxGoldOpen.

“Countless studies have demonstrated that films with diverse casts in front and behind the camera tend to do better at the box office,” says Benjamin Lopez, executive director of NALIP. “While Hollywood knows this to be true, there is still a long road ahead for proper diverse representation. We’re excited to work with Gold House for the #LatinxGoldOpen initiative promoting Jon M. Chu’s film In the Heights, based on the stage musical by the same name by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegría Hudes. Added Lopez, “This partnership is a strong example of multicultural organizations coming together to support one cause, amplifying and supporting authentic stories and diverse talent in the media and proving that there is a worldwide audience for them.”

For decades studios and the Latino community have had high hopes for Latino themed film to succeed at the box office, only too see them fail. This time around there is also support from other communities, and even mainstream media. This time it feels different.

There is already buzz about Oscar nominations. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves and just get out there, especially if you are vaccinated, and enjoy In The Heights where it was made to be seen, on the “big screen”.

The post Where and why to watch the most talked about film in Hollywood ‘In the Heights’ this weekend first appeared on .

In In the Heights, Smits plays Kevin Rosario, the overprotective father of Nina, a struggling Stanford University student. The son of farmworkers, Kevin tries to avoid the same mistake his father did and owns a taxi cab company.

Directed by Jon M. Chu, of Crazy Rich Asians, the film is based on Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway musical hit, with music and lyrics by Miranda and a book by Quiara Alegría Hudes. The story takes place in New York’s largely Dominican neighborhood of Washington Heights.

Not a professional dancer nor singer, Brooklyn-born Smits had extra help in his performance for the film. In an interview on ABC’s  Live with Kelly and Ryan, with Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest, Smits self-deprecatingly revealed he had “four vocal coaches for seven lines” in a musical number and laughed about it.

The unveiling of Smits’ Star on the Walk of Fame came just days before the world premiere In the Heights, playing theatres nationwide starting June 11.

With a show business career spanning over three decades, the Latino thespian is an accomplished film, TV and theatre performer.

Smits’ star is near the one of Gregory Peck, an Oscar-winning legend with whom the Latino actor co-starred in the film 1989 Old Gringo and whom he considers a “kind of a mentor” that helped him stay on the right path in his career. “That means a whole lot (to me),” he said in the same TV interview with Kelly and Ryan. 

“The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce is thrilled to be honoring one of the hardest working actors in show business,” said Ana Martinez, producer of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. “The fact that we placed his star near the star of his favorite actor and co-star Gregory Peck makes this ceremony even sweeter. We are proud to add Jimmy Smits to our Walk of Fame family.” The star is located at 6100 Hollywood Blvd. near the Pantages Theater.

The Golden Globe and Primetime Emmy-winning actor has appeared in over 20 feature films like Old Gringo and Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones and about 30 television projects such as L.A. Law and NYPD Blue. He is also a consummate stage performer whose credits include the Broadway production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Anna in the Tropics as well some Shakespearian works.

In a long, prolific career, Smits has earned more than 40 award nominations and critical acclaim and worked with renowned directors and Hollywood stars. His early filmography includes Peter Hyams’ Running Scared with Gregory Hines and Billy Crystal, John Schlesinger’s The Believers, Blake Edwards’ comedy Switch; and the critically acclaimed My Family/Mi Familia, directed by Gregory Nava, for which he received an IFP Spirit Award nomination.   

Smits’ later works include Carlos Ávila’s Price of Glory, George Lucas’ Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: Rogue One and Robin Swicord’s The Jane Austen Book Club. Other credits include El Traspatio (Backyard) by director Carlos Carrera and Who We Are Now, written and directed by Matthew Newton.

Smits, however, may be best known for his television work. He received six consecutive Emmy nominations, winning in 1990, for his role as Victor Sifuentes on the multi-award-winning drama L.A. Law. He received a Golden Globe Award and five consecutive Emmy nominations for his role as Bobby Simone on the critically acclaimed, Emmy-winning drama, NYPD Blue, and earned an Emmy nomination for his guest star arc in season three of Showtime’s hit series Dexter. 

Additionally, he received an ALMA Award and an Imagen Award for Best Actor in The West Wing, has four Golden Globe nominations and eleven SAG Award nominations, receiving the honor in 1995 for NYPD Blue. His highly-touted departure from New York police drama also won the Humanitas Award.

Smits last starred in the NBC-TV series Bluff City Law as a civil rights lawyer in Memphis and appeared in a season-long guest arc opposite Viola Davis on How To Get Away With Murder. Before that he co-starred in 24: Legacy, opposite Corey Hawkins and Miranda Otto, as a powerful and ambitious U.S. Senator. He also co-starred in Baz Luhrmann’s music-driven drama for Netflix The Get Down, a mythic saga of how New York at the brink of bankruptcy gave birth to hip-hop, punk and disco. He also portrayed Neron “Nero” Padilla in the final three seasons of the lauded FX show Sons of Anarchy and takes a comedic turn in NBC’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

In 2009, he finished a guest-starring stint in season three of Showtime’s hit series Dexter, for which he was recognized with his 12th Emmy nomination. In 2008, Smits’ El Sendero Productions company co-executive produced the CBS series Cane, which he also starred in. The show was critically acclaimed for its cutting edge and dramatic reflection of the family dynamic within a modern-day Cuban-American family. In 2006 Smits completed his role in the long-running and critically-acclaimed NBC series The West Wing. As President Matthew Santos, Smits brought to the show his infusion of energy and added even more depth to the well-written and politically relevant plotline.

Smits has involved himself in various charitable organizations over the years, such as Stand Up 2 Cancer, the Saban Community Clinic, Homeboys, St. Jude’s Hospital for Children among others. He has consistently been a strong advocate for education and co-founded the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts (NHFA) in 1997 along with actors Esai Morales and Sonia Braga and Washington attorney Felix Sanchez, to promote Hispanic talent in the performing arts. The organization offers graduate scholarships and cash grants at prominent colleges and universities to expand career opportunities and increase access for Hispanic artists and professionals while fostering the emergence of new Hispanic talent.

Featured Photo: In the Heights (Credit: Warner Bros.)

The post Jimmy Smits Shines in Hollywood first appeared on .

Beginning on Monday, June 7th, Anthony Ramos who plays the lead role of Usnavy, and who is already known to tens of thousand Broadway fans from his role in the Tony award-winning plays In The Heights, will start off the week talking to Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest on Monday, June 7^th. We will get some insight into shooting the film and what we can expect. Already the buzz is strong, with the reviews to discuss the film adaptation of the Lin-Manuel Miranda musical 

On Thursday, June 10, fresh off receiving his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Jimmy Smits joins Kelly and Ryan for some insight into why he agreed to smaller role in the major production. On Friday, two-time Tony Award nominated Daphne Rubin-Vega will close out the week of In The Heights talks, the day before the film’s premiere on June 11.

There is much buzz on In The Heights and which has a 99% score on Rotten Tomatoes while movie critics seem to be all on point with their praise of the film. “Movies and Shakers” summed up the critics’ consensus well when they said, “With Lin Manuel-Miranda’s genius, Jon Chu’s direction, and the fusion of talented cast and crew, this production, filled with exhilarating energy, more than translates from stage to screen.”

Jon M. Chu’s directs the much anticipated Warner Brothers’ adaptation of Lin Manuel Miranda’s Broadway hit musical In the Heights, which opens nationwide on June 11, 2021. 

The post Anthony Ramos, Jimmy Smits, Daphne Rubin-Vega ‘Live with Kelly and Ryan’ Starting Monday first appeared on .

By Marco Antonio Gonzalez 

While there have been a few films, and I do mean a few, inspired by and for Latinos in the Hollywood factory, never has there been a film, much less a musical, where Latinos are not only the subject matter but also the behind the scenes, front and center of a plot. The celebration of community, Latino cultural pride and heritage have rarely been depicted or delivered in such a majestic manner by Hollywood as it has been in Jon M. Chu’s much anticipated Warner Brothers’ adaptation of Lin Manuel Miranda’s Broadway hit musical In the Heights, which opens nationwide on June 11, 2021. 

To be fair, there have been some notable and remarkable films in the limited Hollywood archives that have been reserved for us in a dark corner of their basement and that are worth mentioning as legacy Latino films; some of these iconic films include Zoot Suit, Mi Familia, Stand and Deliver, La Bamba, El Norte, Selena, Frida, The Motorcycle Diaries and most recently, Disney’s Coco. But for the most part, our stories have been relegated to play second fiddle or simply stand in as extras on the sideline of American cinema–Think West Side Story, whose only redeemable element is the presence of our iconic Rita Moreno as the only real Latina in a reinvented Latino-themed Romeo and Juliet Broadway musical-turned-film. 

In the Heights stars Anthony Ramos (A Star is Born, Hamilton, Honest Thief, In Treatment), Corey Hawkins (Straight Outta Compton, Kong: ), Melissa Barrera (Vida, Scream, and Carmen), Lin Manuel Miranda, Jimmy Smits, Marc Anthony, singer/songwriter Leslie Grace in the lead role of Nina and Olga Merediz, who is the only cast member from the original Broadway musical that captures the essence of community and family in her reprised role as Abuela.

In the Heights marks a dramatic and most defined line between visibility and invisibility of the Hispanic experience in America as told by Hollywood, and while it may have taken some time to get here, it makes a bold statement about the importance, contributions and influence of Latinos in America.  In the Heights may take place in New York City’s Washington Heights, but it unites us all by subtly and elegantly embracing all Latinos under one beautifully wrapped bow; it could be the immigrant story of any of our families. Yes, language and culture are perhaps a common thread between the diverse and complex Latin American diaspora in the U.S., but in the end, as members of this rich and mixed culture, we understand that we all inevitably experience our “Latinoness” in a very unique idiosyncratic nationalist way, without failing to accept the fact that we still belong to a larger tribe, and that is the Latin American tribe, where the triumph of one is the triumph of us all. It’s hard for me as an American born Mexican to not move my hips on cue with the first note or beat of a cumbia or salsa track, or the contagious rhythms of Colombian vallenato, or feel pride when I see the Aztec dancers on Olvera Street in downtown Los Angeles or hear the dazzling and intoxicating notes of a Brazilian samba; that’s just who we are!

“In the Heights is more than a movie to me,” said Barrera exclusively to Latin Heat. “It represents honoring our people, it represents honoring our culture, it represents honoring generations of our ancestors that have long felt erased from the narrative and I love that the world will get to see our community in all of our complexity, in all of our beauty and glory too, and to see us celebrate each other and lift each other up because I feel that’s the essence of the Latinx community.” 

When you watch In the Heights for the first time, you feel that type of sensation and a warm fuzzy feeling, and you forget about your own Mexicanness, Puertoricanness (if those are even words), or your own family’s immediate national heritage and you embrace that rich culture that we all call Latino (or Hispanic, Latinx or whatever term you prefer), a culture that is expressed by this musical film in an explosion of color, music, dance, emotion and raw honesty. It took two influential and talented people of color, Miranda and Chu, to get Hollywood to finally tell our story with dignity and respect. 

In the Heights, the musical film is the product of two brilliant minds that bring to life our Latin experience in the U.S., the life of hard-working immigrant families who have been a quintessential part of the American fabric and the greatness of this nation. It is also a celebration of community, family and cultural pride, and heritage. The film is brilliantly directed by Chu as a musical of colossal proportions, with a crescendo effect of color and music that result in an explosive cinematic masterpiece with musical choreographies and numbers that are reminiscent of some of Hollywood’s most epic musicals of yesteryear. 

While the Broadway musical focused on the life and aspirations of Nina (played by Dominican singer Grace) and her personal conflicts between fulfilling her academic dreams and leaving her barrio behind, the film actually pivots its attention to the romantic storyline between the film’s lead characters Usnavi de la Vega (Ramos) and Vanessa (Barrera). The on-screen chemistry between Ramos and Barrera is pure magic and seamless. You believe their romance and truly fall for their love story from the opening of the film to the last frame that closes this unapologetic musical. 

In her film debut, Barrera steals every scene she appears in and unravels her singing, dancing and acting abilities in a similar fashion that Moreno must have done in 1961 when she swept Hollywood off its feet with her performance as Anita in West Side Story, which won her an Oscar for best actress in a supporting role that year. Barrera is not the next anything, she may very well be Hollywood’s newest quadruple threat, singer, actor, dancer and perfectly bilingual, a feat not seen or accomplished since Moreno’s successful and legendary career in entertainment. “I’m so excited for all the world to see us, to see our stories and to empathize with us, because I feel like we’re so much more similar than we are different,” said Barrera.

The film opens with the title track of “In the Heights,” and it is then that you immediately realize that you’re in for a very exhilarating and unforgettable cinematic experience because what comes next is an amalgamation of stellar choreographies, great music and a beautiful story that will endure the test of time. The grandeur and colorful performances of the “96,000” musical number in the community swimming pool are simply mesmerizing, and perhaps one of the most memorable moments in recent cinematic splendor. It truly is difficult to pick just one favorite moment, because Chu practically makes any plot fragment a gem without even trying, as is the case with the musical number “When You’re Home” with Hawkins and Grace dancing away on the side of an apartment building with the sunset as a golden backdrop or “It Won’t Be Long Now” with Barrera and Ramos. The art direction and the clever, timely insertion of the Dreamers storyline, which is not part of the original Broadway musical, are undoubtedly both carefully crafted characteristics that give the film and its characters a breath of depth and dignity you would never come to expect from a musical. 

Like Barrera said, In the Heights is more than a movie, it truly is an experience, the collective narrative of a group of people that have long been ignored by and intentionally left out of the Hollywood storytelling machine. In the Heights is the story of all Latinos living in the U.S. and a celebration of our communities, our cultural heritage and our powerful voices. In the Heights is truly the story of all of us. 

Featured Photo: ‘In the Heights’ (Credit: Warner Bros.)

The post ‘In the Heights,’ an Instant American Classic, Breath of Fresh Air first appeared on .